A New 9/11 Outrage: George Lakoff, Have You No Shame?

On several occasions (such as here, here, here, and here) I have criticized the self-satisfied fatuousness of Berkeley linguist George Lakoff’s argument that conservatives are psychologically crippled handicapped, liberals are morally more developed, and that Democratic success depends not on coming up with new, popular policies but better “framing” of traditional liberalism. None of those criticisms, however, accused him of anything like the vile offensiveness of what he has just written on the Huffington Post, “The Use of 9/11 to Consolidate Conservative Power: Intimidation via Framing,” ostensibly his own version of commemorating 9/11.

Here’s how his post begins:

My wife, Kathleen, and I stood gaping at the TV as we watched the towers fall. Kathleen said to me, “Do you realize what Bush and Cheney are going to do with this?” We both realized very well….

You can imagine what follows and so don’t really need to read it. Bush and Cheney “understood that if it were framed as an act of war” then they’d be given war powers. “Terror meant everyone should be afraid of terrorists”;  ever since 9/11 “the American people have been subject to conservative intimidation by framing”; etc., etc.

Normally I’d criticize all this  left-wing rant as the drivel it is, but a piece that begins with the unselfconscious, even proud admission that his and his wife’s first reaction to seeing “the towers fall” was fear or anger over “what Bush and Cheney are going to do with this” isn’t normal and doesn’t deserve the respect that arguing with it might imply.

UPDATE

Predictably, Paul Krugman is just as bad.

Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror….

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame.

True, Lakoff’s 9/11 admission is shameful, and Krugman’s isn’t any better.

Say What? (3)

  1. LTEC September 11, 2011 at 4:32 pm | | Reply

    Actually, I don’t believe Lakoff and his wife really thought that at the time. Bush had run on an isolationist platform with no mention of the growing threat of terrorism. He showed no desire before 9/11 of wanting a war. Lakoff types even blame him for ignoring the CIA warning (actually KYA) memo.

    I have no doubt Lakoff and his wife hated Bush at the time. But they didn’t know why at the time, and they have forgotten why now.

  2. CaptDMO September 12, 2011 at 4:49 pm | | Reply

    Yeah, how were all the unseen little tid-bits of Obamacare, the ones that were foreign to, say, Romney care, “framed”?
    How is the mortgage “crisis” framed?
    How was “Kelo” framed?
    How are violent riots of predominantly black looters/vandals framed?
    Inquiring minds want to know.

    “…..written on The Huffington Post.” Really? Any surprises? And that’s important because…” (The citation aspect isn’t lost on me)
    Jon Stewart is “a comic”, MSNBC showcases “Americas Funniest Conspiracy Theories”. Fox will give Debbie Wasserman, and Al Sharpton, all the rope they “need”.
    See? We don’t need no stinkin’ fairness doctrine.
    Like supernumerary moths around a candle flame, how much investment is it worth to continually give “ink” to their self- immolation?

    Oh, right. Mindful of the Electoral College, apparently, unquestionable Democracy doesn’t count in “special” circumstances where the undesirable majority of the masses haven’t been lied to, loud and long enough.

    What’s the name for National Socialist Workers Party enforcers again?
    I want to know who to call next time I “need” a port shut down.

  3. FreeDem October 12, 2011 at 12:40 am | | Reply

    Lakoff’s description of the dividing line in Morals/Values is perhaps among the top highlights of insight on the Web. He frames the differences from his own Liberal Perspective and there is a lot of folk who think liberal morality is a bizarro universe. This is pretty much an affirmation of his point as the SF morality is just as much a bizarro universe from those who are very much of what he calls NP. What is very interesting is the assumption that only the SF morality even exists and that the other is just a cover for a hidden SF agenda that everyone must have in their hearts.

    What I have found interesting is that there is folks who claim the far left who do fit this description. Having decided for various reasons that some existing power structure is illegitimate they seek to overthrow it by confrontation at the least and violence where useful. It is those people that the conservatives can most comprehend because they have the very same SF morality, however they do not get along well with NP liberals, are quick to form third (or fourth) parties, and the first to”go into the mountains” like Castro to try and create a revolution where they would be the unaccountable strict father, and everyone else just needs to shut up and obey.

    Klan or Communist, Serb or Croat, Fundamentalist Christian, Muslim, Jew, or Hindu, will each paint the other as the Devils and the polar opposite of themselves and often fight bitter wars, but no sooner are the allies victorious then they will fall out again and be each other’s polar opposites again and go back to fighting. The great joke of course is that all have their policies based on SF morality and none could have peace even in victory, but immediately divide into two camps and start another war.

    And all the time the NP folk will be there working for peace and being accused of supporting the SF enemy whose policies they are the only ones to oppose . They often win, but no win is permanent, and while a good life is much to be desired, it makes for a very boring story, the space between chapters of exciting story, and that perhaps is a part of the problem.

    But yes the two Moralities are pretty much mutually exclusive, but the one that makes the best stories, is by that very fact the one that works for nobody. The experiment has been tried many times. The data is in, but the ability to imagine the alternative as it actually is, is not universal, and while rarely actually brain damage, is still indistinguishable from it in important ways. http://patternsthatconnect.blogspot.com/2006/03/rightwing-authoritarianism-and.html

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