From Pine View Farm

He Was Framed, Metaphorically Speaking 0

Conventional wisdom, which may be correct, has it that the right is better at “framing” issues–that is, twisting issues in their favor–than is the left. Andrew Sullivan cites an article that their shamelessness might have something to do with:

One thing they understand very well at Fox, and in the conservative movement more generally, is the political value of shamelessness. As long as you say what you’re saying with conviction, it doesn’t matter how absurd or hypocritical it is.

A piece from the latest On the Media investigates how this may work; it casts some light on how an issue’s “framing”–the language used to describe it–serves to influence subconsciously persons’ reactions. From the OTM website:

While editors and journalists worry about whether a simple word choice could influence their readers, politicians take another tack. They use metaphors all the time, explicitly in order to persuade people to view things their way. Lera Boroditsky, a psychology professor at Stanford University, conducted an experiment to see just whether this kind of metaphorical framing really works.

Follow the link to listen or to read the transcript, or listen below:

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