Category Archives: Society and politics

Inevitability of understanding: The folk theory

The statement from Ariana Huffington (in bold below) is one of the best examples of the folk theory upon which Critical Discourse Analysis is based – namely that words influence people in certain inevitable ways. It is also a good … Continue reading

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Blending and framing by paradox

Google Reader (1000+) “Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.” (Clement Atlee) There is no doubt that pithy aphorisms are an important instrument in the socialisation toolkit (construction inventory) or any … Continue reading

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Unintended consequences of political correctness

Colbert I. King – Why Obama Stands With His Church – washingtonpost.com This history comes to mind as I listen to conservative commentators, chief among them MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan, brand as "racist" the slogan adopted by Trinity United Church of … Continue reading

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Individual perspicacity, collective naïveté

Nicholas Kristof is puzzled and pleased that the US electorate is keeping two individuals as front runners who are willing to express unpopular opinions: The World’s Worst Panderer – New York Times All of this is puzzlingly mature on the … Continue reading

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Two models of governance: Foundations of policy negotiation

Lakoff in ‘Moral Politics’ talks about how competing models of family influence policy and politics debates in the US. This model duality is not only present in a variety of contexts but I would claim is the very foundation of … Continue reading

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Brief endorsement

Obama has the smarts, the plans and, yes, the charisma to capably lead and transform a nation that aches for a new direction. Editorials & Opinion | Obama for the Democrats | Seattle Times Newspaper My voice, particularly on this … Continue reading

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Posted in Announcements, Society and politics | 1 Comment

Primogeniture: Negotiating the internal ‘logic’ of social change

BBC – Radio 4 Woman’s Hour -Male Primogeniture Jenni discusses the law of primogeniture with Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, who has asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate the legality of this centuries old practice, and to … Continue reading

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Posted in Analogies, Cognition, Discourse - text, Feminism, Framing, Negotiation, Social Science, Society and politics | Leave a comment

The perception problem and the question of rationality in life

Women Are Never Front-Runners – New York Times But what worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex. What worries me is that she is accused of … Continue reading

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Perspectives, views and child cognition

Media Blog on National Review Online What the BBC is telling children about the 9/11 attacks [Tom Gross] Here is what the BBC’s widely-read children’s section of their website (CBBC) is telling kids about the 9/11 attacks, the 6th anniversary … Continue reading

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Networks of trust and the newspaper business

Virtual Economics: Why newspapers are not screwed …newspapers’ core value is not their content but their validation. Sure it’s expensive to create content. In the long run this probably doesn’t really matter. There’s plenty of content. The value that newspapers … Continue reading

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