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You must buy this book. I don't say that often, but I'm saying it now.
Okay. New Orleans. Last night, we were listening to a radio interview the mayor of New Orleans was giving. It's here:
http://www.zen41771.zen.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/WWL-AM%20Interview%20Nagin.mp3
Listen to it. Listen especially to the part where he's describing how the Feds are insisting that they didn't send help faster because the proper forms weren't filled out by the proper officials of the city ASKING properly for help.
Then go read the first chapter of this book:
Don't Think of an Elephant!:Know Your Values and Frame the Debate by George Lakoff
You can read the first chapter from a library copy. But then go out and buy the book, so you can recommend it to friends, and loan it to them so they can start reading it before they buy their own copy.
Although I had bought the book a month ago, I hadn't gotten around to it yet. I sheerly by coincidence started reading it this morning - next up on my shelf of things to be read. And I felt like I was being hit by a bolt of lightning. It explains completely why conservatives honestly think it's moral to prevent help from being given to New Orleans. Why helping poor people is "immoral."
Honestly, you need to read this book and start acting on it. Beginning with dealing with a federal government which currently thinks it is a strict father that needs to punish undisciplined children, of which cities like New Orleans is one. Why our administration thinks it is actually helping the country by punishing the poor and rewarding the already rich.
It will make you go gaaaaaaah!! How can people think like that!!! But at the same time, once you see that framework, you can begin replacing it with a better one, and you can't get people to see things differently until you DO acknowledge the way they currently think.
Okay, end of lecture. Do your homework, people. Thank you.
http://www.zen41771.zen.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/WWL-AM%20Interview%20Nagin.mp3
Listen to it. Listen especially to the part where he's describing how the Feds are insisting that they didn't send help faster because the proper forms weren't filled out by the proper officials of the city ASKING properly for help.
Then go read the first chapter of this book:
Don't Think of an Elephant!:Know Your Values and Frame the Debate by George Lakoff
You can read the first chapter from a library copy. But then go out and buy the book, so you can recommend it to friends, and loan it to them so they can start reading it before they buy their own copy.
Although I had bought the book a month ago, I hadn't gotten around to it yet. I sheerly by coincidence started reading it this morning - next up on my shelf of things to be read. And I felt like I was being hit by a bolt of lightning. It explains completely why conservatives honestly think it's moral to prevent help from being given to New Orleans. Why helping poor people is "immoral."
Honestly, you need to read this book and start acting on it. Beginning with dealing with a federal government which currently thinks it is a strict father that needs to punish undisciplined children, of which cities like New Orleans is one. Why our administration thinks it is actually helping the country by punishing the poor and rewarding the already rich.
It will make you go gaaaaaaah!! How can people think like that!!! But at the same time, once you see that framework, you can begin replacing it with a better one, and you can't get people to see things differently until you DO acknowledge the way they currently think.
Okay, end of lecture. Do your homework, people. Thank you.
no subject
Now I may actually go and get it.