Lackoff Reading

After reading Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant" I have come to a new understanding of politics. I really found the piece interesting and the way he explained things helped me better understand where the parties where coming from and why they vote the way they do. I really thought Lakoff had a good undestanding of the parties. I found it very interesting when he mentioned that Democrats value transparency in politics. Obviously this holds true to some extent because our two assigned readings for this week were both manuals on how to use language to get people to vote for your candidate. The Manuel from the Republicans was leaked on the internet while the Manuel from the Democrats was not only printed but was a New York Times Bestseller. I also saw the Ideas of Bernays in this book. One of the faulty ideas that Lakoff claims liberals have is that " The truth will set us free. If we just tell people the facts, since people are basically rational beings, they'll all reach the right conclusion." Just like Bernays, Lakoff says this is faulty reasoning because people vote with their identities, even if that means voting against what is in their best interest. If their was any doubt that Bernays' work was still relevant in our society, this piece showed that it is.