Framing

Language is a powerful thing. As George Lakoff once said,

"Language always comes with what is called "framing." Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework. If you have something like "revolt," that implies a population that is being ruled unfairly, or assumes it is being ruled unfairly, and that they are throwing off their rulers, which would be considered a good thing. That's a frame.

If you then add the word "voter" in front of "revolt," you get a metaphorical meaning saying that the voters are the oppressed people, the governor is the oppressive ruler, that they have ousted him and this is a good thing and all things are good now. All of that comes up when you see a headline like "voter revolt" - something that most people read and never notice."

Our perception of what is and what isn’t can be easily changed, and it is, all the time. One of the greatest examples of this is in the news. Take an event, for example, the election of President Obama. Now, look at it from several different news sources. Depending on how they want the public to view it, they will use different language.

We are co-dependent on our technology. We rely on it for transportation, food processing, and even basic hygiene. We our reliant on the tools we have created. Our evolution has slowed because of it. Why would our bodies need to adapt while we can just create something to compensate for it? There is no need. This goes with the concept of material need. Why are we so inclined to have the newest technology?  Why must we get the new iPhone the minute it hits the shelves? Because we are engrained from a young age that having the newest technology will make us the best. I believe that we change the framing of our minds to see that we don’t necessarily need the newest piece of technology. We need to look at something that will perform the function we need it to. Going back to the example of an Iphone. Do we truly need to be connected to Facebook and Youtube every minute of the day? Honestly, not really. If we break down what the basis of a cell phone is for, it devolves into 2 necessities (and not even at that), calling and texting. Everything else does not serve the intention of a cell phone, therefore, we don’t really need to have it, we’d just like it.