>>"Moral values" is a _mere_ name, and it is a name for something
>>vicious: anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-foreigners, anti-black.
>
>Exactly, and it is a negative under the guise of a positive. So is
>it possible to reclaim it as our own with a Leftist definition,
>e.g., redefining it to replace the "anti" with economic equality,
>accessible healthcare, aid to the poor, etc., a la the reclaimation
>of the word "queer" by gays, or do we reinforce the fundamentalist
>propaganda?
>
>Example: "Hate is not a family value," was a good sound bite and
>bumper sticker, but it wasn't given legs or extrapolated into the
>larger picture for everyone, and it told people what "not" to do.
"The title [of Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakoff's surprise best seller about how to frame the debate] 'Don't Think of an Elephant!' comes from a classic experiment Dr. Lakoff conducts in Cognitive Science 101. He tells his students not to think of an elephant, and he has yet to find one who has managed it. Thinking about elephants is the frame, and negating it simply reinforces it. This was the problem, he says, with President Richard Nixon's famous declaration, 'I am not a crook'" (Adam Cohen, "Why the Democrats Need to Stop Thinking About Elephants," <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/opinion/15mon3.html>, November 15, 2004). -- Yoshie
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