How to Win Back Our Democracy With Words

The words we use determine what people hear.  Using the power of the word – linguistics – we can win back our democracy. By tweeting lies and repeating them over and over again, Trump reaches and influences millions of people who are too busy and stressed to vet out the truth. So to beat him at his own game using his skillful techniques, we shouldn’t attack and repeat what he says (because that just reinforces it in everyone’s minds), instead, we should state what the public needs and frame our message in terms of the public good.

I’m reading George Lakoff’s book Don’t Think of an Elephant to learn how to use linguistics to frame your message.  Lakoff sent his piece called “Understanding Trump” to the entire Clinton campaign management team and PAC (Political Action Committee) to help them understand Trump’s skillful brainwashing techniques last year – but nobody was listening. So now, I think the world is listening. 

Lakoff suggests that we do 2 things:

(1) Create a citizen’s communication network that lays out our values, and

(2) Train leaders and media how to frame their messages from a positive point of view.

What’s good for the public actually goes against everything that Trump is doing, so this will be easy to do. Read Lakoff’s book Don’t Think of an Elephant to better equip yourself whether you’re posting on social media or running for President of the United States.

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