Word Scrabble- Final Draft!

I love to hear different opinions. I thrive on public discourse and how it's framed, shaped, and managed in various ways. Whether progressive or conservative, agent or bystander, innovator, leader, or special pleaders, we all are given the opportunity to use public discourse as a tool. Nearly every person has been influenced from a manipulator. Go ahead, try and deny the last time you weren't manipulated.

Let me help you out on this one: I bought that damn iPod because Apple uses catchy slogans and commericals, drink Starbucks purely for the green straws, and oftentimes read the Huffington Post as my real news of the day because it's more interesting, and snarky, than the NYTimes. But just as these various outlets have taken it upon themselves to be the role of the manipulator by extracting their opinion on the public, we too can be 'that guy/girl.' But what exactly does does this framing & managing mean? To be manipulated, you must be open to reason. But every manipulator has to have been manipulated first, because even new thought & reasoning has been recycled from previous arguments. I'm also staunchly against the evil empires of McDonald's and Walmart, have a firm dislike for lobbyists, and can be content with a cup of plain ol' regular Joe. But where did I learn that from?

Lakoff told us framing is mental structures that shape the way we see the world. Not only that, framing is how you say what you want to say to a particular group of people. Take some people (ME), who read celebrity gossip. While some might find that vapid, or merely excuse it as a 'guilty pleasure,' I'd like to think of it as one of the most influential manipulations of our generation. Perhaps this is justification. But isn't that one of the backbones for manipulation- appealing to an audience in a way that makes them conform, or at least sit up and listen without prejudice? The focus America puts on celebrity worship is at an alltime high, and while some people might be appalled that I'm comparing this to real-life politics, some might argue that what these bloggers say can unfortunately have more impact on our country than the Obama's, Hillary's, or John's of the world. The fact is, people like Perez Hilton (blue haired guy up above) can reach the an upwards of 6 million viewers a day by merely writing GOSSIP!!

The use of language in framing includes crucial elements such as preserving my audience with “their” type of language, as to actually convince or persuade someone. Republican Frank Luntz, seemingly demigod pollster, insists that words work when they are activated inside our head- seemingly, when someone speaks your “language.” He says:

“The order in which you give information determines how people think.”

Take Tony Schwartz's most famous advertisement:






He didn't even have to say many words at all to get a very clear message across.

Bernays and Lippman really solidified the fact that actions speak louder than words. Bernays speaks explicitly about how public opinion is shaped when beliefs and habits are repeated constantly, until they become an almost cumulative retrogressive force. While it is often hard to distinguish where the manipulator ends and new ideas begin, Bernays makes it clear that everyone has the right to attempt to sway public opinion. Through this shaping, old ideas are embraced, but new ideas become emergent through “the chaos” when manipulators learn to translate an idea so the public can actually understand it. Bernays demonstrated the range of shaping when discussing both the abolishment of Jim Crow laws—pivotal for the black suffragist movement—as well as the more commercial but well received attention to hats and margarine. I was offended by Bernays at first—it is not every day you hear someone compare the abolishment of inequality to couture fashion—but his explanations are sound. Bernays suggestion is key:

Through the juxtaposition of different causes, new methods of changing people’s ideas are able to shine through.