Framing, Memes and "Stay the Course"

By: Todd Smyth
Published On: 10/26/2006 11:49:47 PM

Republicans have recently learned their "Stay the Course" catch phrase is dragging them over a cliff and they are tripping all over themselves to run away from it.  "Stay the Course" and "Cut and Run" are memes Republicans have been using to invoke the "Frame" that Democrats are weak on National Security.

A "Meme" is something that sticks in your head like a catch phrase, slogan or melody that is easily repeated and imitated by other people.  Examples: "Monkey see, Monkey do," "Time is money," "Haste makes Waste," "Practice makes perfect," "Seeing is believing," Just do it (Nike), Where's the beef? (Wendy's), Good to the last drop (Maxwell House) etc. A meme is also defined as "a unit of cultural transmission and imitation."
"Framing" is about establishing a context for a particular point of view.  It defines a specific interpretation and rules out other interpretations.  Framing an issue may include re-enforcing a pre-existing or prevailing viewpoint in a way that includes desired elements and excludes undesired elements.  Establishing a particular "Frame" involves laying ground work over time.  When someone accepts an established frame, facts will bounce off the accepted frame and it is very difficult to break.  Memes are often used to help establish, reinforce or elicit a frame.

For example, Republicans have established a strong frame that Democrats are weak on National Security and they use memes like "Cut and Run" and "Stay the Course" to conjure up that frame.  However, in the current environment of increased violence in Iraq, their memes are working against them and it will be very difficult for them to stop what they have created.  Pointing out their clear reversal will actually unravel and weaken Republican brain washing.  Various Republican groups have invested a lot of time and money repeating these catch phrases in mailings, talk radio, TV etc.
So, bring up "Stay the Course" and "Cut and Run" as much as possible and the Republicans will be "hoisted by their own petard."

Additionally:

Memes can also work as a frame.  For example, "tax relief" is a meme that also establishes taxes as an affliction.  So "tax relief" also sets a frame or context for that point of view.  "Pro-life" is a meme that implies anyone not "pro-life" is "anti-life" or "pro-death."  Again, "pro-life" sets a frame or context for that point of view.

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Comments



Beautiful Graphic (jlmccreery - 10/27/2006 5:23:17 AM)
Who should I see about permission to use this graphic in communications with Democrats Abroad?  Beautiful piece of work that deserves more distribution.


I do all my own work (Todd Smyth - 10/27/2006 8:12:41 AM)
The Donkey is also my design.


By all means use it (Todd Smyth - 10/27/2006 8:12:57 AM)


Lakoff Op-ed Today: "Staying the Course Right Over a Cliff" (bb10 - 10/27/2006 9:45:11 AM)
George Lakoff, the Berkeley professor who has done much work on framing and who wrote the "Don't Think of an Elephant" book, has an op-ed in the "New York Times" this morning on the "stay the course" phrase. There's a lot of good analysis in the piece, including this:

“Stay the course” is a particularly powerful metaphor because it can activate so many of our emotions. Because physical actions require movement, we commonly understand action as motion. Because achieving goals so often requires going to a particular place — to the refrigerator to get a cold beer, say — we think of goals as reaching destinations.

[snip]

In the context of a metaphorical war against evil, “stay the course” evoked all these emotion-laden metaphors. The phrase enabled the president to act the way he’d been acting — and to demonstrate that it was his strong character that enabled him to stay on the moral path.

“