University of California Television (UCTV)
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 13 months, 2016–2024
58:58 · 201K views · Feb 1, 2008
Cognitive scientist George Lakoff lectures on how political debates are framed through language and metaphors tied to values, and on the moral worldviews behind progressive and conservative politics. It was given in 2005 at UC San Diego.
HN commenters repeatedly say it changed how they hear political speech and recommend it for understanding why opponents are not simply stupid.
15 comments from Hacker News
May I recommend this talk on the neuroscience of language and thought by George Lakoff? [LINK] And also this one on political language, morals and metaphors? It will change how you listen to political speech, and especially political speech targeting people with different political orientation -- which can often sound nonsensical, but is actually carefully constructed to activate their metaphors. this video Basically, the ideas of enlightenment (we are rational beings) are not true. A couple of slides from the first lecture: Myth: Reason is conscious, you know what you think. Science: Reason is mostly unconscious, estimates are about 98% unconscious. Conscious thinking is linear. Brain circuitry is massively parallel. Myth: Ideas are made meaningful via their direct connections to the external world. Meaning is a matter of truth conditions. Science: Ideas are made meaningful via the brain's connections to the body and our embodied experience. Myth: Emotion gets in the way of rationality. Science: Emotion is necessary for rationality.
His framelab podcasts are informal and easily digestable. [LINK] I highly recommend * truth sandwich time (if you only listen to one make it this one) * how republicans really think (if you only listen to one make it this one, too) * how trump uses twitter to control the media (very eye opening) * guns over people (on how to frame the gun debate) Also, this lecture on political language exposes the leverage hooks politicians and propagandists use to hook and manipulate us. You will never listen/read political speech the same. this video
Russ Olsen, author of Getting Closure, Eloquent Ruby and Design Patterns with Ruby, telling the story of the moon landing as a conference talk. Inspired me beyond measure and brought tears to my eyes. [LINK] —- George Lakoff’s lecture on Moral Politics. Instantaneous understanding of political language and identity politics. Incredibly important, especially today in time of extreme polarization. this video —- Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity [LINK]
I think you'll enjoy this lecture by linguistics professor George Lakoff: this video Among other things he speaks of the think-tank-driven concerted effort to influence political support by using language invoking specific metaphors to frame important issues. Like "Tax Relief" for dramatically reducing taxes for the rich etc. Changed how I process political speech and pretty much any media-supported narrative.
I highly recommend the Moral Politics talk by Linguistics professor George Lakoff: this video In short, the two sides of the debate speak different language representing different world views rooted in upbringing and triggered / exploited by metaphors. This talk changed my view on political speech and narrative dramatically.