Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to I haven't read the book.

re: I haven't read the book.
Robert — (archived)

I thank you once again for an educational link, and I'm sure I'll spend some time digging around the Rockridge Institute.

I never said that Lakoff doesn't have a point of view; he certainly does have a horse in the race. But that hardly discredits his theories--he and his institute constitute a think tank no different in concept than any of the horde of conservative think tanks, and their output has proven wickedly effective in the real world (and I choose my words carefully). Lakoff and Rockridge are doing what political think tanks do, and that's develop intellectual frameworks and policy proposals and of course rhetoric...and also, vitally, analyze the opposition.

An old argument between Liberals and Conservatives is over the value of understanding terrorists in order to fight them effectively, with the Conservative position being that their heads explode at the very idea (Conservatives, not terrorists; if only it were that easy). The suggestion that it's vital to understand the enemy comes naturally from Liberals because empathy is a key part of the Liberal worldview. But not because of bleeding hearts, but because understanding's a powerful tool. Our brains evolved to understand each other through a faculty for building detailed mental models of others, so why waste it? It's there for a reason--empathy has proven survival value.

What you're seeing at Rockridge and in Lakoff's theoretical studies of cognitive models of politics is a great illustration of the practical value of applying empathy to solve a real-world problem: Lakoff's out to defeat Conservatives by understanding the bejeezus out of them, at the same time that he's codifying a sort of "theory of progressive thought", which is a usefull organizing principle in its own right. It's a bit facile to say that "knowledge is power". Applying a cognitive framework to knowledge and achieving understanding of your opponent, now that's power.

Someday you will understand, Grasshopper.

Or perhaps not. In "Whose Freedom?" Lakoff comment wryly that grasping the essential elements of the cognitive theory of politics requires application of several of the progressive modes of thinking that are so opaque to conservatives, and so it's likely that only progressives will understand what the hell he's talking about. You perceived what you saw at Rockridge as crazy: "a person and organization dedicated to unlinking language from objective reality", which is a pretty good, if egocentric, assertion of insanity. Lakoff may be right, and it's gibberish to you.

Which is pretty cool when you think about it, really: A secret weapon you can hide in plain sight and your opponent can't even see it!

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