Doug,
No, I don't know who Lakoff is (should I?), but the analogy is painfully obvious to me.
George Lakoff is a cognitive psychologist and professor of linguistics at Berkeley who has written about the power of "framing," which is the careful use of language to trigger well-established frames of reference that bolster an argument. For example, "tax cuts" are called "tax relief" because one only needs "relief" from something onerous or burdensome or painful, therefore, taxes must be onerous, burdensome or painful, and the ones who bring us relief must be the good guys, and the ones who leave us suffering must be the bad guys. Of course, it's much richer than that.
One of the other framing devices he discusses is one that he believes to be possibly hard-wired in us -- the "stern father" family model vs. the "nurturing parent" family. In his most recent book, "Don't Think of an Elephant," he explains how a bunch of neoconservative positions that don't seem to be connected to one another are all tied together through evocation of the "stern father" model, while the similarly disconnected components of progressivism seem to fit nicely in the "nurturing parent" model.
Interesting and powerful stuff. Peace, Dave _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
