In a frontpaged diary, howieinseattle speaks of a problem with the so-called progressive left that HE frames as Fear of Framing.
I totally disagree.
He begins by making a couple of possibly good points if they were…I cannot resist here… framed well, and then makes a completely wrong turn right into a wall of “framing” language.
Barely English.
Spinglish, at best.
Here is his first quote.
From a Deanna Zandt’s post on AlterNet, where she also discusses Peter Teague’s earlier comments in a post called Suitable for Framing?, where Teague says:
C’mon…
“Message framing without deep conceptual reframes”!!!???
What the FUCK does that mean?
Really.
ZzzzzTalk.
FUCK Lakoff.
Jakoff is more LIKE it.
He then quotes Zandt as saying…quite accurately… “Reframing is the difficult, and often scary, prospect of admitting what doesn’t work and rediscovering our fundamental core. We’ve pointed fingers at those who give in to their fears, but maybe it’s time for us to stop being afraid as well.”, but the damage has already been done.
Spinglish soon becomes the order of the day.
The rest of the comments on the thread rapidly devolve into the usual Madison-Ave.-Meets-K-Street gobbledygook that the word “framing” seems to engender every time it is used outside of an art store.
My response continues below.
“Fear of Framing”?
NO!!!
That’s not it.
It does not even BEGIN to deal with the problem.
HERE’s the truth of the matter.
The “truth” frames itself.
In the comments to the diary to which I responded, someone mentioned Hugo Chavez, Arundhati Roy, etc. as examples of “framing”.
This framing thing is ass backwards.
These people…as well as Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Dean, FDR, Winston Churchill and any number of OTHER great political and moral leaders…did not “frame” things.
Framing (as the word is used today) has more to do with advertising, packaging and brand management than it does with any faith in the power of the truth or objective morality. It is a symptom of just how cynical Hologram America has become.
Framing is the attempt to add a semblance of structure to a holographic image, to an idea the content of which makes absolutely no difference at all. The very WORD comes from the “frame” that the TV set provides around the screen. Put ANYTHING on that screen in a well produced manner and the tranced-out sleep watchers go “Oh. YEAH!!! THAT”s the ticket!!!”
You “frame” Wonder Bread.
Not democracy or freedom.
The truth frames itself.
Put the truth…simply and well produced…in THAT frame and it will trump Wonder Bread politics every time.
But we have not done so.
Was it a lack of “framing” that stopped the Democratic Party from effectively attacking the vote frauds of 2000 and 2004?
HELL no!!!
It was fear. (Coupled with a sort of stupid…and stupefied…innocence in some circles. “That can’t happen HERE!!!” Bullshit. It can and did.) Fear of losing.
“I like a man who fights with a grin on his face.” Winston Churchill.
That’s not framing, it’s courage. The kind of courage that knows it is right, that it CANNOT be beaten. (Well… sometimes it’s insanity too, of course. But we could use probably some of THAT right about now as well.)
Is it lack of framing that is preventing the Democratic Party from connecting with the mainstream working classes…white, black and hispanic…in this country? A connection which would win back both houses of the legislature AND the presidency within 2 years if made correctly and made soon?
No.
It is too MUCH framing.
“I been FRAMED” says the perp.
Yup.
We (And I say “we” under serious advisement, because I do not really feel myself to be part of the Democratic Party anymore, and have not felt so since it passively and almost gratefully allowed Howard Dean’s media assassination to occur and then replaced him with Small K kerry.) “we” ignore the real truth-tellers and workers in this party and promote people who make a better digital image…fit better into the TV FRAME, goddammit…of what a “Democrat” should be as that image is imagined by the spinmeisters and hustlers who are really running the show.
Kerry for Dean.
Edwards…that prettyboy, John fucking Ritter lookalike, bad haircut, pasted on, dental surgeon-produced smile and all…for Kucinich.
Barack Obama…and I told y’all a year ago that he was a hustler, not the real deal (Did you see his politician’s pas de deux act with the Alito thing? Masterful. Masterfully FALSE.)…for John Conyers.
Etc.. etc. etc., etc. etc.
So go ahead and blah blah blah about the lack of framing, etc.
Lose again.
And again and again and again until one day every son of a bitch at the Democratic Convention will be required by law to wear a Washington Generals jersey (The hapless basketball team that ALWAYS lost to the Harlem Globetrotters.) Or maybe (better yet) …they will simply change the name of that team to “The Washington Democrats”.
OR…stand the fuck up and say:
“The 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen and here’s the proof. What are we going to do about it?”
“This administration lied through its teeth about the reasons for the Iraq War, and here’s the proof. What are we going to do about it?”
“The Republican Party is corrupt straight through, up and down the line, from Texas right through taxes. Here’s the proof. What are we going to do about it?”
The truth don’t NEED no steenking framing.
It stands up quite well on its own, thank you.
I got yer “framing”, right HERE!!!
Wake the fuck up.
It’s getting a little late in the game for “framing” to be able to do much of ANYTHING.
Except of course…lose.
It’s about time we tried a little “aiming” instead.
BULLSEYE!!!
Try it.
You’ll like the results.
AG
Have fun…
AG
Let’s talk about this.
Considering the ineffectiveness of the truth, so far, I say it’s more productive to build a frame around it and display the truth proudly until the people want it.
Rumi…The “truth” has not even BEGUN to pe presented to the American people by ANY nationally recognized Dems.
Except for some hints from Howard Dean when he was running for office.
Instead we get kerry-esque blatherings about “conceding for the good of the country”. And then when the kerrycrats think that it might be safe to come crawling out of the woodwork, some empty talk about “misguided Republicans” followed by a quick scurry back to the safe, sorry, likely-to-be-reelected, amorphous center.
Nope.
Actually, the only plain “truth” that I have heard from a mainstream Dem recently was out of the mouth of that oft-reviled crypto-centrist, Hillary Rodham Clinton when she said to a group of black Dems on MLK Jr. Day that the Ratpubs run their scene as if it was a plantation.
She didn’t even use the word “slaveowners”, let alone the MAGIC word.
The “nigger” word.
She said “And YOU know what I mean.”
Wink wink, nudge nudge.
AND.,..as usual, she got her ASS kicked for it by the corporate press.
No WAY to “frame” THAT idea.
“We are ALL their niggers, now.”
No way.
You just have to lay it out on the table and wait for the people to pick it up.
And they will.
I’m telling you, the FIRST NATIONAL POLITICIAN WHO STANDS UP AND TELLS THE TRUTH IN UNVARNISHED TERMS WILL WIN THE PRESIDENCY IN 2008.
Provided of course that ANY of them have the courage to do so.
(Remember Dealy Plaza. THEY do. BET on it. Every last one of them. Hell…I’m beginning to look behind me more often these days. Aren’t you???)
Later…
AG
Spot on there. I believe it 100%.
But, the more likely scenario is that no national politician will dare to do that, and the biggest and best liar will once again win.
Maybe…
I’m wondering how long Howard Dean will be able to keep his mouth half closed.
Or is it half open…???
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear something real from Russ Feingold, either.
Anyone with the courage to enter so radical a statement as “Give me liberty or give me death” into the Congressional record has some real heart.
What?
You say that statement is merely a quote from that Revolutionary War hero and patriot Patrick Henry as he was about to be hung by the British?
Oh.
Well…DON’T “nevermind”.
The way things are going here, even quoting our founding fathers is a revolutionary…and therefore dangerous…act.
Later…
AG
If one of them would just take the fucking risk.
I think they’ve have so much support crawling out of the woodwork….totally. But you never know until you try.
This is why I was hoping the recent reform talk would become serious. If the truth comes from the people in a large enough way, it can draw the support of some politicians or let the true candidates rise from the surge.
The alternative is that we accept waiting for total collapse and are ready to begin again at that point.
Arthur, I never thought you had it in you. This bit of genius after the magnificent Cleanhead diary.
This framing thing is ass backwards.
Absolutely. Hilarious. Reminded me of Vonnegut’s asshole in BoC. I fell to the floor. Laughing.
Made my day. Again.
Clinton’s back to her usual act and Dean’s been unusually quiet as of late. It’s dicouraging. I think Dean’s been muzzled. The one straight talker we had…
P.S. Could you point me towards that Cleanhead song you mentioned?
Listed as; Just A Dream (On My Mind) on Amazon.
Kidney Stew
Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson
Get ’em while they last.
Too many people done forgot about ol’ Cleanhead.
The best of the best for over 50 years.
He never played white…so he never crossed over much.
Plus, he wasn’t some relatively unsophisticated guitar player.
Sang the blues like one, then picked up his alto and played ’30s Kansas City through bebop.
The real thing.
Roots like a MOTHERFUCKER.
From the Mississippi Delta right through 52nd St.
They don’t COME much broader than that.
He should be one of EVERY American musician’s daddys.
Loved him madly, as Duke Ellington used to say.
Loved him madly.
Beyond category. (Also Duke’s. I only steal from the best…)
Later…
AG