On Apr 25, 2005, at 7:11 PM, JDG wrote:
At 03:57 PM 4/25/2005 -0700, Dave Land wrote:Your question reminds me that the metaphors we choose have power. The
president's use of the phrase "permission slip" in the state of the
union address was carefully chosen to call up visions of the United
States as a child, having to go begging some adult nation for a kind of
"hall pass." That vision was intended to be so repulsive that to suggest
that the US must seriously consider the opinions of other nations before
acting was to reduce our great nation to childishness.
Absolutely and utterly wrong, Dave.
Metaphors /don't/ have power? The president's words /weren't/ carefully
chosen to activate frames that would render opponent's arguments repulsive?
You are conflating two separate things:
a) "serious consideration of the opinions of other nations before acting"
and
b) "agreement from other nations before acting"
"Tomayto, tomahto, potayto, potahto. Let's call the whole thing off."
I understand the difference, and while I clearly will never choose my words carefully enough to satisfy you (and why should I try?), I believe that I write well enough that others do not suffer your reductionist thinking.
That's the real reasoning behind the analogy, not the caricature you represented.
I respectfully disagree with the characterization of my depiction of the president's tactician's use of framing devices as a caricature.
Dave
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