Don’t Buy It summary

We’ve just learned that the 2007 financial crisis exacerbated existing economic problems in the United States. However, the crisis did raise public awareness of income inequality and injustice.

Following the financial collapse, there has been unprecedented public interest in political and economic issues, as well as widespread anger about the unfair system currently in place.

Why do we say that someone who likes to garden has “a green thumb?” Is just a predilection for poetry? Not at all.

We naturally use metaphors (non-literal speech) to make sense of complex and abstract ideas and concepts. Example? The economy!

In the previous blink, we learned that metaphors have a massive impact on our thinking. Unfortunately for progressives, conservatives employ this insight extremely effectively.

This becomes clear when evaluating the metaphors conservatives use to influence economic debates. For instance, Republicans consistently use language that frames the economy as a living entity, which greatly affects public opinion about desirable economic policies.

Conservatives are masterful at persuading the public to share their perspective on the economy, but  progressives struggle in this respect. What can they do to reframe the debate and advance their own agenda?

One option could be to describe the economy as a moving car – maybe it’s “stuck in a rut,” “out of control” or “needs a jumpstart.” This framing would allow progressives to promote government intervention in the economy.

Now that we know what progressives should be doing, let’s look at what they’re doing wrong. Because even when they’re passionately and sincerely arguing their own case, progressives rely on words that implicitly align with the conservative agenda.

To start, even the simple word “crisis” carries ambiguous connotations, since it’s often used in a way that contradicts the progressive account.

Think about all those negligent, and sometimes even fraudulent, CEOs and traders who contributed to the 2007 financial crash. They evaded financial regulations and deliberately obscured the riskiness of derivative financial products.

And yet, almost none of them have been held accountable!

As we’ve discussed, inequality is on the rise in the United States; at the same time, social mobility is much lower than in many European nations. Even so, Americans continue to cling to the idea of the American Dream. Why?

The answer is language, of course! Although phrases like “the top/bottom 20 percent” have been picked up by the political left in recent years, metaphors related to vertical height are problematic because they imply notions of hierarchy and deservedness, concepts that advance the conservative agenda.