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Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives
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Sales rank 23,464
Customers rating (based on 203 reviews)
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Don’t Think of An Elephant! is the antidote to the last forty years of conservative strategizing and the right wing’s stranglehold on political dialogue in the United States. Author George Lakoff explains how conservatives think, and how to counter their arguments. He outlines in detail the traditional American values that progressives hold, but are often unable to articulate. Lakoff also breaks down the ways in which conservatives have framed the issues, and provides examples of how progressives can reframe the debate. Lakoff’s years of research and work with environmental and political leaders have been distilled into this essential guide, which shows progressives how to think in terms of values instead of programs, and why people vote their values and identities, often against their best interests. Don’t Think of an Elephant! is the definitive handbook for understanding and communicating effectively about key issues in the 2004 election, and beyond. Read it, take action—and help take America back. About the Author George Lakoff is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a founding senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute. He is one of the world’s best-known linguists. Since the mid-1980s he has been applying cognitive linguistics to the study of politics, especially the framing of public political debate. He is the author of the influential book, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, (2nd edition, 2002). His other books include Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About The Mind (1987), Metaphors We Live By (1980; 2003) [with Mark Johnson], More Than Cool Reason (1989) [with Mark Turner], Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge To The Western Tradition (1999) [with Mark Johnson], and Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics Into Being (2000) [with Rafael Núñez].
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| Publisher | Chelsea Green | | Release date | 09/2004 | | Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours | | Edition | Paperback |
| | List price | $10 | | Our price | $8 (you save 20.00%) | | Used price | from $0.01 |
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 An important and insightful book
This book is important and insightful, but Lakoff's most recent book (as of late 2009), "The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics", is even better, because it incorporates more recent research.
In "Don't Think of an Elephant", Lakoff emphasizes that our political views are shaped more by metaphors than by facts. In particular, he emphasizes our metaphor of the nation as a family. He describes a strict father model of the family used by conservatives, and a nurturant family model used by liberals. Lakoff also conveys the importance of framing political arguments properly. He argues that conservative politicians were successful at the time the book was written because conservatives framed their policies in appealing ways, while liberals relied on logic and facts that voters often ignored.
"Don't Think of an Elephant" does have a few weak points. It is rather repetitive and it gives less scientific evidence for the author's views than some of his longer books. In my opinion, it also exaggerates the importance of the metaphor of the nation as a family. Lakoff's more recent book "The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics" takes advantage of research conducted after "Don't Think of an Elephant" was written, and places the family metaphor in its proper context.
 "People do not necessarily vote in their self-interest. They vote their identity."
This book was recommended to me by a friend of mine. I found it an interesting read, and useful in the sense of remembering how to frame a debate. Should be useful advice for nearly anyone in the business of persuasion. I found it particularly timely to read, given the ongoing healthcare discussion. It works very well if you take this book and use it as a lens for evaluating a current conversation in the public sphere
This is a short book, and to the point. It is clearly designed as a handbook for how to have a discussion with the center, and not a philosophical or political tract. And it works, so that's okay.
I'm curious to read more Lakoff. Can anyone recommend some of his other works for me?
Miced reception...
Overall, I love the intention and content of the book. However, George Lakoff seems to be too snug and arrogant in unfolding his theories. Some of the frames he comes up with, like the "Dirty Skies Act," sound more awkward than convincing and just don't seem to carry the same allure their counterparts do, and others sound plain radical-liberal. Overall, however, I would recommend to any progressive who is interested in understanding why his or her republican friends just can't seem the to grasp the reality of matters, since it has helped me in my discussions so far, but it's also a goood read for any pedagogical mind or anyone unfamiliar with linguistics.
It's short and it's written for the everyman, so there's not much to get confused about in here.
Absolutely necessary for every American
This could change the world...if everyone read it...wow, how great it would be if we would learn to communicate better.
Good framework for framing
This is a book by one of the world's pre-eminent linguists about the way current political issues are framed by the parties. Republicans, Lakoff asserts, are much better at framing the issues, thanks to years of well-funded think tank work, skillful planning and organization. The model he uses to describe the underlying belief systems of the Republican and Democratic parties are based on types of parenting. The GOP philosophy is based on the "strict parent model," where the father of a family protects the family in a dangerous world, supports the family, teaches them right from wrong, and enforces punishment when necessary. The Progressive metaphor is that of the nurturant parent, who believes that the world is basically good and that it and people can be made better through cooperation and empathy.
I was a bit skeptical at first when Lakoff set up this metaphor. It seems like a stretch as the overarching narrative of our political system, but it fits the debates as he lays them out. What I found more interesting and useful, however, was when he gets into specifics. He makes the point that, counterintuitively, people do not vote in their self-interest. They vote their identities. This is why you have poor rural people in Kansas voting for candidates who hurt them economically--because they identify with that candidate's beliefs.
In terms of the issues, Lakoff gives examples of how specific issues have been framed so that in discussing them, with the language we use, the debate is already slanted in favor of conservatives. For instance, tax cuts sound like a good thing. Who wouldn't want less taxes? That's because we speak of them as tax cuts. Why not, instead speak of it as an investment in our future? After all, that's money that goes to building our infrastructure, maintaining our healthcare system and educating the people who will one day run this country. He also points out that tax cuts are one of a number of conservative strategic initiatives--issues that affect other issues. Because by cutting taxes, you're basically starving progressive programs--education programs, homeless initiatives, environmental programs, for example--of funding. Taxes is an issue that is stacked for conservatives. Conversely, alternative energy is a potentially great progressive strategic initiative, because along with it come jobs, environmental protection, and a decreased dependence on foreign oil and big oil corporations.
Lakoff covers all the major issues and discusses the current framing and how those frames can be shifted. He also gives good concrete examples of how these issues have played out in recent politics. Because the book is a collection of essays, it is at times a little disjointed and repetitive. But overall, what he's saying makes a lot of sense. And although it is written for progressives, and Lakoff is himself a progressive, it felt fairly non-partisan considering our current political environment. You get the impression that, had he wanted to, Lakoff could have just as easily written a guidebook for conservatives.
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