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VALUES       MATTER

Strategic Morally Grounded Communication

Training & RESEARCH


Prof. Jeffrey Feldman, PhD:
 
Read from framing expert Jeffrey Feldman.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/


Framing the Debate: Famous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (and Win Elections)
(book) by Jeffrey Feldman, George Lakoff (Introduction)

 Jeffrey Feldman speaks about his book Framing the Debate
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5QkwukxWx4&feature=relmfu


Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy
(book) by Jeffrey Feldman

Ask Federico E. Cura for Feldman's slides from his Train the Trainer workshop (around 2006)

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ADDITIONAL LEARNING




















Prof. George Lakoff, PhD



Lakoff has studied things like how language is processed in the brain; the role of frames and conceptual metaphors in constructing meaning from our bodily experience; and why emotions shape how we reason through the coupling of neurological processes with language comprehension (Cognitive Policy Works).  Here're just a few positive comments on Lakoff's framing books (Thinking Points: Communicating Our American Values and Vision, and The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic):



"George Lakoff serves progressives well by explaining how language and moral framing equals power in politics. Thinking Points helps leaders and activists alike to turn this knowledge into a compelling vision for society."   --John Podesta, CEO and President, Center for American Progress


"Thinking Points is a must read for anyone who doesn't want speaking out to become a dying art."   --Arianna Huffington


“I’ve always learned a lot from Lakoff and you will too.” —George Soros


"Blending insight and rigor, Lakoff and Wehling have produced a Rosetta Stone that translates progressive ideas into fundamental human values that will resonate with Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs." —Michael Brune, executive director, Sierra Club.




Jim Wallis:


In his book, Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery, author Jim Wallis argues that the financial crisis is also a moral crisis, according to Michael J. Sandel, professor of government at Harvard University and author of Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?  Wallis shows how the worship of markets has led us astray -- and how repairing the economy requires a moral awakening and a new commitment to the common good.  We need to bring moral clarity to our economic crisis and finally build a strong foundation for a new, more sustainable economy.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rediscovering-values-jim-wallis/1103367454?ean=9781439183199



Drew Westen:


http://www.westenstrategies.com


Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation
By Drew Westen
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-political-brain-drew-westen/1111529253?ean=9781586485733




Frank Luntz:

Luntz' key training book:
Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear
by Frank I. Luntz
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/words-that-work-frank-i-luntz/1100020862?ean=9781401309299


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mflf2fLIkdE




Here’s a great training from framing experts at FrameWorks Institute titled


Changing the Public Conversation on Social Problems

A Beginner’s Guide to Strategic Frame Analysis

(From The FrameWorks Institute)

http://sfa.frameworksinstitute.org



To learn about “public storytelling” from FrameWorks, click here.

 

 

From Wellstone Action:

POLITICS OF CONVICTION guide



More from Wellstone Action here

 

 

The Commonwealth Institute in Virginia has a brief training of values framing:

http://www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Changing-the-Conversation-Public-Values-exercise-expanded.pdf



The Commonwealth Institute also has a good training on its website.  The training is from another organization: PUBLIC WORKS – Building Public Will for the Common Good (www.publicworks.org)

http://www.commonwealinstitute.org/cw/files/Prog_Values_Report_6.pdf






From PUBLIC WORKS: the Message Box

 

 

Watch a short video narrative that uses a sailing metaphor to illustrate how we all benefit from comprehensive immigration reform:

http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/toolkits/immigration/

 

The Analyst Institute, a Washington voter research group established in 2007 by union officials and their allies to help Democratic candidates.



​Mon Jan 21, 2013 at 10:40 AM PST
'Mainstreaming' progressive values: President Obama's path

to a transformative presidency






CAP/2012: New Ways To Vote Your Values


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd4tUBTYLTY&feature=youtu.be


The
Center for American Progress' Faith and Progressive Policy team (now, Religion and Values Policy team) examine five issues that will drive conscientious voters to the polls: immigration, health care, the economy, the environment and LGBT equality.



A changing landscape on the values front compared to 2004 . . .
 
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2012/10/01/40145/the-new-values-voters-5-issues-that-expand-the-notion-of-what-it-means-to-vote-your-values/
Here's a paragraph from the article:
Since 2004 the notion of what constitutes values issues has expanded. Concerns about economic inequality and fairness, poverty, climate change and the environment, immigration (it's about dignity and respect for a fellow human being), gay and transgender rights (civil union equality is about love and commitment), and health insurance reform (which is a moral and economic issue) are now commonly cited as issues grounded in a moral and ethical framework.

This is due in part to the tireless work of faith leaders and advocates such as Faith in Public Life, Sojourners, PICO, NETWORK, Interfaith Worker Justice, Progressive Christians Uniting, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Interfaith Alliance—all of which, along with many others, are addressing social and economic issues through a moral lens.

(The budget is a moral document.)








The high MISERY INDEX related to (failed policies of the past) GOP trickle-down versus the high Gross National Happiness related to Dem middle class economy

("Misery Index:" Cognitive Policy Works' Joe Brewer).




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The Obama campaign won a reputation for drawing on the tools of social science.

 
THE  PRESIDENT’S  REPEATED USE OF  MORALLY  FRAMED  MESSAGES  SHOULD  BE  A  CALL  TO  ACTION  FOR  US  ALL

We all need to join him and fully embrace Strategic Morally Grounded Communication once and for all.


Since the health insurance reform messaging disaster (framed on purely economic rather than moral terms), President Obama has been leading on values.  The rest of us need to catch up.

President Obama’s Immigration Reform 2014 Speech: Announcing Executive Action

November 20, 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wejt939QXko

 Here’s the transcript

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Transcript: Obama’s State of the Union address 2015



In inaugural address, Obama makes a moral case for action on climate change

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-makes-a-moral-case-for-action-on-climate-change/2013/01/22/1d33ea98-64cf-11e2-9e1b-07db1d2ccd5b_story.html

He didn’t make an economic or national security case.  He made a moral case.



Marriage equality, climate change, and a moral vision for America in Obama’s second inauguration

MON JAN 21, 2013 AT 01:13 PM EST

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/21/1180841/-Marriage-equality-climate-change-and-a-moral-vision-for-America-in-Obama-s-second-inauguration

 

 

The 2012 Obama Campaign’s use of behavioral scientists was unprecedented.  We all need to use more science and research-based methods to improve persuasion.

 

“In the way it used research, this was a campaign like no other,” said Todd Rogers, a psychologist at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government

and a former director of the Analyst Institute. “It’s a big change for a culture that historically has relied on consultants, experts and gurulike intuition.”

Academic ‘Dream Team’ Helped Obama’s Effort

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/health/dream-team-of-behavioral-scientists-advised-obama-campaign.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0





How Behavioral Science Propelled Obama’s Win   –   11/19/2012

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2012/11/19/obama-behavioral/


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Lessons on values and framing from the UK:

http://valuesandframes.org/handbook/1-why-values-matter/

 
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