Arianna Huffington: Bill Maher, Frank Luntz, and the Limitations of Reframing Reality

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/bill-maher-frank-luntz-_b_48378.html

Arianna Huffington

05.13.2007
Bill Maher, Frank Luntz, and the Limitations of Reframing Reality

snip//

The truth is that no matter how often the White House attempts to spin the domestic collateral damage from the war by attacking the messengers (remember how they did the same thing to Louisiana's governor after Katrina?), the facts don't lie: the Kansas National Guard is operating with only 40 to 50 percent of its equipment. And there are similar problems all over the country.

Indeed, the Government Accountability Office released a report in January concluding that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have "significantly decreased" the amount of National Guard equipment available here at home, while stateside units face an increasing number of threats.

There are currently over 25,000 National Guardsmen in Iraq, with another 13,000 slated to be deployed as part of the surge. And every guardsman who is in Iraq is one less guardsman who can help out in Kansas or with the California fires or the Missouri flooding or whatever other disasters -- or terrorist attacks -- might be coming our way.

After years of successful spinning, Frank Luntz and the Republican Party are suddenly coming face to face with the limits of reframing: Our safety and security have been severely undermined by the war in Iraq (Tony Snow's "stuff" not withstanding); and it's getting harder and harder to reframe Democrats as ineffectual eunuchs when a ballsy woman is leading the charge in Congress.

Angry? You bet. Bush and company have turned America into a collection of Howard Beales: we're mad as hell and we're not going to allow reality to be reframed anymore.

[Atman]

1. No spin here...Luntz got his ass handed to him on Real Time.

He was quite literally pleading with Bill to stop picking on him, whining that he was being ganged up on. Awwwwww. Poor Frank. Reality outside the self-affirming bubble really bites.

.

[GR]

2. Read American Fascists by Chris Hedges For In-Depth Discussion

One thing left unexplained in Luntz's success in altering the meanings of words for propagandistic purposes is how the general acceptance of the alteration is accomplished. I don't think it could be accomplished without the iron discipline of the republican talking heads AND the willingness, perhaps as a product of behind the scenes intimidation, of the media to incorporate the new terminology into their stories. I would like to see Luntz's explanation of exactly how that took place with the "death" tax as the case in point

From American Fascists p 16.."...The 'infusion' of 'the Spirit of the lord' into society includes is infusion into society's legal system. Liberty is defined as the extent to which America obeys Christian law. When America is a Christian nation, liberty becomes, in this view, liberation from Satan. This slow, gradual and often imperceptible strangulation of thought--the corruption fo democratic concepts and ideas--infects the society until the new, totalitarian vision is asticulated by the old vocubulary. This cannibalization of language occurs subtly and stealthily. The ghoulish process leaves those leading the movement mouthing platitudes little different from the bromides spoken by those who sincerely champion the open, democratic state.

"These tactics, familiar and effective, have often been sued by movements that assault democracies. This seemingly innocent hijacking of language mollifies opponents, the mainstream and supporters within the movement who fail to grasp the radical agenda. It gives believers a sense of continuity and tradition. ..."

"...As Joseph Goebbels wrote:'The best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative'"

[tom_paine]

3. K & R for the truth!

[necso]

4. Yet, the crap in people's heads

(no matter how delusional -- or how it got there) will always strongly affect (if not completely govern) their thoughts and acts. And the extremists continue to have the instruments of power, propaganda, terror and coercion at their disposal. Moreover, we can expect no letup in their efforts -- it's their "living" and way of life.

Nor is it easy to defeat denial, delusion, and twisted, willful beliefs. Because where discordant reality doesn't immediately and strongly intrude into the lives of those who (thus) scorn it, they can easily continue to do so. Indeed, some people will continue to spurn reality even after it bites them on the ass (basic selection deferred, I say). And many people will go to great lengths to avoid admitting error or misunderstanding (etc) -- or are incapable of "thinking" in any way other than they already do; they simply lack what it takes to venture out of their close, comforting little cages. Plus, some people are just stupid (that is, they act stupidly -- and will). And there are legions of flunkies whose job it is to exploit this; they populate politics and media like maggots populate a rotting corpse.

However, this is a two edged sword. The deniers can't frame or smear their way out of this very real mess.

But neither can we.

Anyway, it isn't framing per se that we should pursue, rather we should pursue informing the people: building knowledge and understanding; providing perspective and insight; and helping to mold a citizenry that's resistant to manipulation and deception -- so that in winning the immediate and particular battles for people's minds, we can lay the foundation for winning such battles in the future and in general -- and so that we can avoid such battles, instead of being forced to fight them all in-detail, ad infinitum, and in circumstances not of our choosing -- and wagering our destiny on the luck of battles.

Moreover, informing the people is a path that the extremists can never travel. They can frame; they can pound the propaganda; they can pose, lie, manipulate; they can bribe, threaten, smear and spread fear -- but they dare not inform, for this would be their ruin.

Of course, however, we should use carefully chosen words -- and appeal to what already exists where we seek to have influence, not what we hope to find -- or think should be there.

[applegrove]

5. We're here and ready for the election.