A thought on messaging
Years ago, I read a book that made things make sense. It was a book by Thom Hartmann where he took a look at the complex world of issue framing. In the case of American politics, it is the difference between the way conservatives and progressives see the world.
There are things that conservatives and progressives do well. English teachers teach students about ethos, pathos, and logos. Progressives are really good with facts. They can logically break down any issue where their solution is the only one that makes sense.
Conservatives have mastered the emotional appeal. One could easily poke holes in the efficacy of that kind of argument, but in terms of messaging it has been ingenious. They attach a feeling to being an American in general. Americans feel a certain way about things. Therefore, if you feel differently you are not really American.
The concept behind this is one of rugged individualism. This concept is so engrained that it is taught to our students in history classes. Therefore, every time someone proposes anything that helps ordinary people it immediately bumps against that concept.
This is where liberals and progressives get themselves in trouble. They present ideas like a minimum wage hike or universal health care and think those issues stand on their own. They don’t. They are a part of a web of issues that ask government to look out for the needs of its citizens.
I’ve quoted it a few times before, but it goes back to the Shel Silverstein line that “I can be someone’s and still be my own.” Liberals and progressives have to present an alternative view of the world. We have to present a world where we are dependent on one another. We have to present a world we actually do better when the least among us does better. We have to present a world where when the least of us gets our needs met then the rest of us see our boats rise in the tide.
What conservatives have done is find a way to convince people in a very general way that when someone else gets something that is something that they cannot get. We usually call that a zero sum game. Life becomes a tit for tat game where we are conditioned to resent others for getting things we had to work for.
So, the web of rugged individualism and the zero sum game are tied together in neat story based on a fairy tale. I was born in the wilderness and left to my own devices. I worked hard, studied hard, and played by the rules so that I earned every scrap of stuff I now call my own. It is a powerful tale. It is a powerful image that pulls us all in.
Therefore, they don’t deserve those things. They did not work hard, study hard, or play by the rules. Giving them anything is unfair. It takes away from me and gives to them. Why should they get it for free when I had to work hard for it? These images are nearly impossible to defeat. Yet, they are all a lie. I did not get there through hard work alone. Someone came before me that worked hard and gave me a solid footing to get my start. Some people call it privaledge.
In many ways we are trying to sail into an overwhelming head wind. Any idea where we get there together has become verboten and heresy. Yet, it is firmly embedded in the philosophies we have grown up listening to and reading. It is just as compelling a story as the story of rugged individualism if not more so. It is the story we must start selling with the same zeal and enthusiasm as conservatives spin their story. We can’t win these issues one at a time. They all flow together.
Excellent piece, Nick!
1Wow! Those must have been some really great English teachers! Never ran into them either in high school or undergrad school. It was mostly all mechanical:this is a subject, this is a verb, etc. etc. Oddly enough, never ran into the rugged individualism thing in either place. I did hear about it via the media, especially during an election season.As my father explained it to me: I’ve got mine, now you get out and get yours cuz I’ll be damned if I part with anything that I think is mine. He branded that The Robber Baron Thinking. And for clarity, I attended both parochial and state schools in a major urban location. The parochial schools were big on the Good Samaritan theme as an icon of brotherhood and, of course, the commonality of salvation for all human beings as symbolized by the crucifixion, death and resurrection. The state schools emphasized via history and political science courses the idea of We Are All One. A fractured society is doomed to failure from within as well as from without. I still think they were talking about patriotism with that language.As for the commonality of socio-political ideas, I think it would take a miracle for the current populace to really, really live the notion that all boats rise in the same tide. Right now there is too much of the old feeling that the poor always actually pick the pockets of the rich because that is all the talent they have or want or need: i.e., they are born thieves. Some societies have a class system (India). We got stuck with racism, sexism and a string of other isms that pick everyone’s pocket and break’s our common leg. I turned 82 a few days ago. My birthday wish is that I live long enough to see this country actually truly grow up. For all its way too many sins, public and private, its got some good in it.
2Thanks Nick! This is exactly why the “conservatives” were ballistic over Obama’s “You didn’t build that!” speech. Critical thinking skills are not among their strengths. Interestingly, I’ve always considered myself conservative, in the sense of accepting personal responsibility. RWers have completely corrupted the term. Maggie, I’m not too far behind you, age wise. I am not optimistic about our nation growing up.
3Maggie,
Obviously, I work from my own experience. In terms of ethos, pathos, and logos, our currently curriculum in English has us teach that. It usually comes in English II because our students have to write a persuasive essay for the STAAR test. That essay is going away next year, so that lesson may very well go away. I’m hoping it doesn’t though.
Rugged individualism was embedded in my U.S. History classes. I don’t know if that was unique or not.
4Excellent.
5“Rugged Individualism” is the biggest con dropped on the ‘merican public.
6NO ONE has become rich or powerful through his own efforts (except criminals). The stone age hunter DID NOT take down the mammoth on his own, as Gates did not do all the work to make MS DOS the winner, he hired hundreds to do the work.
Walk out you door and try to cut your lawn all on your own, you are not allowed to use anything made by someone else!
The reason we don’t have socialized medicine is cuz the rePUKEian haters have convinced so many people, that need the help, that it will be used by undeserving (what ever that means) OTHERS!!!
L. Long, you are totally correct among the many cons perpetrated upon us: “Rugged Individualism” is the biggest con dropped on the ‘merican public.
Most recent example, the Qcumber snowflakes who could not stay at home for a day or wear masks while a pandemic killed hundreds of thousands. The same ‘rugged individualists’ who had previously claimed they were supplied and ready to hunker-bunker down for at least a year.
But as a veteran and ex-military guy, I’d propose that the “defense” budget is the largest con evuh inflicted upon us. While english and history are not my strong suits, I’d ask either Nick or maggie to parse the english for me as to how a “defense” budget supports invading Afghanistan and Iraq.
Then there’s “our kids be learning” Dubya reading My Pet Goat. How fitting as the Qcumber conservatives head out to chew on their lawns. Maybe they should reform as the I Kid You Not Party.
Oops. Sorry, Nick. At the end you were alluding to the Democratic messaging problem(s). Please continue. That is a topic deserving of many columns.
7IMO, the predicate for these types of discussions always seem to be lacking; ie, can anyone prove, demonstrate, show with hard, verifiable evidence, facts, how they were able to choose being born race, sex, physical and mental attributes, parents, time, place or anything else?
8Can anyone show how a child born essentially as a human vegetable IQ-wise and bed ridden is going to be able to exercise their “rugged individualism”? My ex took care of these types as a nurse that required 24/7 care and they still died in their teens.
Opinions are like posterior orifices, etc.
good exchange, thanks all. We have grown soft & spoiled. How can we sit in front of a TV & watch people die, other country’s carry the burden of war, then complain about 30 cents more for gas at the pump.
9And in today’s far right conservative repugnantican party, the votes of these lesser people are illegitimate. They’re going to great lengths to negate their votes as this article discusses:
https://www.propublica.org/article/voter-ref-foundation
10Absolutely spot on. Thank you.
11caren @9, since the 70s my grandparents have reviled our dependence on oil and our literal war adherence to keeping gas prices artificially low. It’s a wonder that neither of them suffered strokes when Darth Cheney proclaimed his illegal war would “pay for itself with Iraqi oil.” No mention of the lives and resources stolen to fuel the all mighty gas pump by the MIC.
12My experience has been that the Republicans have known about messaging for over 50 years. And give it priority. Years ago a very qualified AG ran for governor. DH and I did the precinct work for our county. I told the big time lawyers running the place all about talk radio and they had better pay attention. They thought I was nuts along with talk radio listeners. And this was before Rush. IMO, the Ds discounted him, too.
Then the Rs employed Frank Luntz. And they kiss the rings of those at the CNP.
My friend was a lowly R precinct chair. She got the day’s talking points everyday by 10AM. The Rs are always on the same page 24/7/365. And they talk to neighbors and media keeping the myth alive.
The democrats need to get with it or TFG will win again. And in Texas they will use judges, bail, crime and the ineptness of those running elections to do it. all politics is local.
13The rugged individualism meme reminds me of the failed sitcom Evil Roy Slade – where he had to raise himself…
14https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPITzDwH_K0
Nick, thank you. Great piece. Thom Hartmann is brilliant. I assume you all know about his daily show too.
To add to your remarks about rugged individualism, please read Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. It’s also militant masculinity, Christian nationalism that ties in this.
Take good care everyone.
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