Thread by @mrhick01

Good evening family.

This thread is likely to get long, possibly VERY long, & it might meander a bit.

With my latest round of work, I want to have a conversation about *doing the work,* and what that means. #ADOS (1/)

I want to talk about a subject that is absolutely going to matter as we work in local chapters with engagement, or as we attend meetings in city halls or gov't venues in your state...

The power of Political Framing and language. #ADOS (2/)

A critical part of this work as we continue to mobilize & organize in this fight for #reparations and #BlackAgenda is developing a "language for liberation."

We have a moral view which is our #ADOS framework, & our demands for public policy should filter through this lens. (3/)

The challenge of our age is for #ADOS to assert our case & make it morally dominant enough to build a critical mass.

WE KNOW our cause is righteous. Just. The work is the convincing of those that don't, have given up, or are unaware. (4/)

There's a large body of research on voting and the motivations of doing so.

One huge assumption that's considered "common knowledge," & a strategy that (white) liberal & progressive activists try to apply, is an appeal to a poor voter's economic interests. (5/)

It rarely, if ever, works, and these political operatives wonder why.

"Oh, they must be ignorant" or "oh, they must be racist/bigoted"...

Those things might well be true, but that's not quite it. (6/)

People do not always act on what ought to be their best interests (the egghead term for it is "folk behaviorism"). They, and even we, do not reason like that all of the time. (7/)

#ADOSAgile activists are going to have two layers of challenge and work:

1) The language that we engage brothers & sisters in educating & doing this work;

2) And making our case and *translating that language for others* who are ignorant of our history & worldview. #ADOS (8/)

I might flesh this all out in a Medium piece in the future to go into more detail...and some of might get boring...but the takeaways, the points, ARE CRITICAL TO THIS WORK.

*Our work is to develop a "Moral Vocabulary" for reparations.*

#ADOS (9/)

...
As we have watched these Democratic Presidential debates, the very notion of viewing what these contenders are trying to do...there's a problem.

There's an assumption that words, & particular issues, mean the same to all involved, & THAT'S JUST NOT TRUE. (10/)

American Democrats, as an electorate, span all over the political spectrum, from basically a bit on the political Right, to the so-called "center" & across the Left...to a point.

I'm going to focus on the Dems who bogart most the operations of the DNC—the "liberals." (11/)

The so-called "moderates" of the party, neoliberals, who have a Kung-Fu Grip on the leadership apparatus and it will have to pried out of their cold, dead hands.

The main way that liberals keep getting their behinds kicked in the "land of political perception" is FRAMING. (12/)

One of their critical structural problems are that liberals, & the Dems as a whole, have not developed their own partisan moral/political concepts & partisan moral-political language.

#ADOS WILL NOT BE GUILTY OF THOSE MISTAKES. (13/)

Conservatives in America have a family-orientated worldview, one that now-retired linguist & cognitive scientist George Lakoff calls a "Strict Father" model. You can witness it play out in the Evangelical christians in the U.S. (14/)

Some of the ideas include:

With the man as authoritarian head, the family & children under him learn through reward & punishment. Corporal punishment is favored.

(15/)

Children become more self-reliant & self-disciplined w/strict parenting.

The parents, particularly the father, is meant to pass out rewards for good behavior, AS WELL AS PUNISH BAD BEHAVIOR.

(I know you're already starting to see links)

#ADOS (16/)

(there's black organizations that you see that hold onto parts of this)

Applying the metaphor of nation as family, & government as parent, conservative politics align with this model. (17/)

It's the main drive why conservatives believe that adults should avoid looking to the gov't for assistance.

Part of the mid- to long-game challenge for #ADOSAgile activists, is the ability to interpret our justice claim to the conservative mind... (18/)

...but that's another long convo later.

To wrap up (and get into more detailed convos in the future), here's some takeaways to remember as we do this work:

#ADOS (19/)

1) Media reporting & the terms & concepts used in are not, and really hasn't been in decades if ever, been literal and non-partisan.

2) the use of language IS NOT NEUTRAL.

#ADOS (20/)

3) political issues are rarely, if ever, separate from the mindsets and moral frameworks (like strict father) that drive & motivate them.)

#ADOS (21/)

4) neutrality in media coverage, may at best be rare & highly elusive & more likely conceptually impossible (keep this in mind as you will be engaged & asked to speak in your cities to mainstream media outlets);

#ADOS (22/)

5) Because language IS NOT NEUTRAL, it can be weaponized to put a discussant at a disadvantage.

6) Do not make the mistake that all media consumers share the same conceptual system...THEY DON'T. #ADOS (23/)

7) The case for #ADOS demands a public discourse on morality, with a critical, necessary vocabulary between the moral systems behind justice-demanding & justice-denying political positions.

(24/)

8) LIBERALISM has played itself heuristically (style-wise), over time, over-assuming neutral conceptualizations of the world THAT DON'T EXIST.

Thinking otherwise is empirically false–and continued stubbornness will keep bringing them "L"s. #ADOS (25/)

For those who might want to know more & get more information on the research behind this, respond in the TL or in a DM & I'll follow up.

#LetsGetToWork #ADOS #ADOSRising (26/stop)

https://twitter.com/mrhick01/status/1212904953766961159?s=20

George Lakoff's "FrameLab Podcast" link:

I would suggest starting with the first video out of the selection, "How Republicans Really Think."

framelab.us/podcast/

#ADOS

There are also critical "justice points" (more profound than "talking points") about the righteous claim of #reparations with Michael Graham's article from Actify Press. This piece builds the "moral vocabulary":

actifypress.com/the-problem-wi…

#ADOS (PS/)