One of the books we read as part of Reading Liberally was George Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant”, which talked about not just the language used by conservatives, but also the “frames” they use in order to change the whole perspective of an issue. It’s an intersting, quick read, and if you haven’t already read the book, I highly encourage you to do so. However, Lakoff’s book might be good at telling us what we need to do to re-frame the debate, but he just might lack the charisma to spread the word far and wide.

Today on KRCL I happened to catch a production by a group called Bioneers that focused on a speech given by a man named Thom Hartmann. Many of you have probably heard of Thom via Air America or another way, but this is the first I’d heard of him. Thom is a student of NLP and the tools of communication, and while he may not be a linguist like Lakoff, he understands the way people think and relate.

It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission, so I’m posting the program I heard on KRCL here [MP3, 28:22]: Frame or Get Framed. If you enjoy the production, please consider purchasing it at www.bioneers.org - it’s just $1.99.

Also, this article on Common Dreams by Thom I highly recommend: CommonDreams.org. It talks about the need to “brand” the things that liberals stand for in order to help people realize that they’re probably more left-leaning than they think. Even if America *is* educated on the issues enough to confidently vote Repubican, Hartmann offers us the tools we need to change their way of thinking.