Why Liberals Suck At Communicating Their Message

I found this post over at Andy Wibbels’ Blog:

George Lakoff (author of the stupendous Don’t Think of an Elephant’) if back with 12 reasons why progressives keep screwing up their campaigns. Regardless of your party affiliation, this is valuable stuff to know because it applies so much to business marketing.

Progressives often argue that “truth doesn’t need to be framed” and that the “facts speak for themselves.” People use frames — deep-seated mental structures about how the world works — to understand facts. Frames are in our brains and define our common sense. It is impossible to think or communicate without activating frames, and so which frame is activated is of crucial importance. Truths need to be framed appropriately to be seen as truths. Facts need a context.

I think this is right on the money — and extremely important — so I’m going to be talking a lot more about framing and reframing in the upcoming weeks.