What’s more, throughout history, public policy has not changed radically because this or that person put this or that argument in a palatable frame, but because someone sounded an unmistakable alarm. Society has moved forward because somebody — Martin Luther King Jr., Betty Friedan, David Brower, Rachel Carson — had the courage to stand for something that at the time seemed radical, unequivocally and without any linguistic trick but with sheer eloquence and truth.
he Public Media Center has been around for 30 years, and many of the ideas in its "10-point guide to social change," such as "communicate values" and "act like a winner," presaged Lakoff. But the 10 points also include more radical lessons, such as "be oppositional," "be diverse" and "make enemies, not friends." To get the media’s attention, PMC advises activists to be "responsible extremists," not "reasonable moderates," because "extremism sets the agenda." If no one is willing to occupy the extremist positions on the left, or if establishment liberals distance themselves too far from the fringe, the far right will come to seem as though it represents mainstream values. And to PMC executive director Herb Chao Gunther, the problem with the environmental movement is not that it’s incorrectly framing the debate so it comes off as too radical. "Mainstream environmental groups are getting millions of dollars from corporations," he gripes. "There are people sitting on their boards from Waste Management Inc. Tell me they’re making environmentally sound decisions about landfills."
In the summer of 2003, the San Francisco–based Bluewater Network launched a searing campaign against Ford Motor Co. for presenting itself as environmentally sensitive even as it rolled out the least fuel-efficient fleet in the industry. Two years later, Ford has announced four more hybrid-electric vehicles to be developed in the next three calendar years and is outfitting the state of Florida with new Ford E-450 hydrogen buses next year. The campaign against Ford has begun to work, says Gunther, "not because anybody ‘framed’ the debate so Ford could understand, but because Bill Ford, who will only book a hotel room if the windows open, thinks of himself as an environmentalist, and it hurts him when he sees a picture of himself in the Detroit News being described as a liar. It worked because the ads held him accountable in a public way for two years."
And that, after all, is the beauty of being American. "You can speak out against a corporation and not be taken to a wall and shot in the head."
As for the Democrats in general, Gunther believes it’s wrong to see the last election as historic. "George Bush’s legacy will be how he contributed to the burning of the planet with his limited vision or empathy or learning or knowledge. He really is Nero [fiddling] while the planet burned." And Democrats should stop responding as though the Republicans are succeeding mightily in winning over the country.
"There’s nothing profound going on," Gunther insists. "You don’t need to read George Lakoff, or be Karl Rove, to understand it. Just read Machiavelli’s The Princeto see all the tactics that have worked for every society, including America. That the Democratic candidate still got more votes [than Gore in 2000] and more people voted than ever before doesn’t mean we did something wrong. It means the other side had slightly more money and a war. If that only got them 3 million votes and the smallest margin of any president elected, it doesn’t mean it’s the time to watch our language. It means it’s the time to attack.
"We don’t need more politicians who are carefully framing their positions," Gunther concludes. "We need activists who are willing to make some enemies." It won’t necessarily guarantee a Democrat in the White House four years from now, he admits, but who knows for sure what will? "Being on the left isn’t about winning and dominating," he says. "It’s about aligning yourself with the values your culture holds dear; it’s about social justice. That’s not a fight that’s ever won for good, because there will always be bad, greedy people, and you will always have to fight them when they come to power." In the meantime, "You can teach new cultural habits to people." Energy conservation, for instance, is a goal that turns out to be wildly popular among Americans — in the summer of 2003, a full 86 percent of 1,500 respondents in a survey "somewhat" or "strongly" agreed with the statement that President Bush should come out and ask Americans to conserve energy.
The poll was conducted by Frank Luntz.
