Everyone feels uncomfortable when someone is messing with our minds.
We must all become aware of framing. This is a technique, honed to perfection by Karl Rove, which uses words to obscure or eliminate ideas not approved of by the speaker. The more reasonable and useful they seem as a way of summing up a concept, the more they become a part of the Republicans” “talking points” and our national dialogue.
Example 1: To claim that we are fighting a “War on Terror” is to guarantee that such a war will go on forever. That is framing.
Terrorism is not an enemy. It is a tactic (unfortunately, a very potent one) increasingly used by extremist groups lacking in military and financial resources to confront anyone with whom they disagree. It will probably exist indefinitely and cannot be eliminated by bombing anyone, especially innocent women and children. It can, as we have seen recently, be combated most effectively by close cooperation among law enforcement and intelligence agencies throughout the world.
Example 2: President Bush says, “If there are phone calls coming from foreign terrorists, I want to know about it.” That is framing. Our choice is not between warrantless wiretapping and a complete failure to gather intelligence about terrorist plots against us. The real issue is that Mr. Bush wants to be able to spy on Americans whenever or wherever he wants without any oversight. Otherwise he would just simply get a warrant. The FISA court says he could even get one retroactively! What we now know about the NSA”s “data mining” operations proves his intent to mislead the American people.
Words, like any powerful force, can be used for good or evil. Don”t let those “F-words” — framing and fear — mess with your mind!
Bill Barrows
Hidden Valley Lake
