George Lakoff

@george-lakoff.com

16067 Followers 96 Following

Professor Emeritus at UCBerkeley. Best-selling author of The ALL NEW Don’t Think of an Elephant.

“Unions are actually agents of freedom—freedom from corporate servitude and wage slavery. Without unions, employees have to individually take what is offered, usually far less than they would get with a union: not just pay but worker safety, health care benefits, pensions, reasonable working conditions and hours, reasonable vacation time. What is “reasonable”? What the union members can negotiate.” — Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think by George Lakoff
“Radical conservatives have been fighting a culture war. The main battlefield is the brain. At stake is what America is to be. Their goal is to radically change America to fit the conservative moral worldview. The threat is to democracy and all that goes with it. Not just here, but wherever American influence extends. American values are fundamentally progressive, centered on equality, human rights, social responsibility, and the inclusion of all. Yet progressives have, without knowing why, given conservatives an enormous advantage in the culture war. The radical conservatives seek and have already begun to introduce: an authoritarian hierarchy based on vast concentrations and control of wealth; order based on fear, intimidation, and obedience; a broken government; no balance of power; priorities shifted from the public sector to the corporate and military sectors; responsibility shifted from society to the individual; control of elections through control of who votes and how the votes
George Lakoff's description of the conservative moral hierarchy: God above Man Man above Nature The Disciplined (Strong) above Undisciplined (Weak) The Rich above the Poor Employers above Employees Adults above Children Western Culture above Other Cultures America above Other Countries Men above Women Whites above Non-Whites Christians above Non-Christians Straights above Gays