BloggingHeadTV on Framing Science

To be honest, I hadn't seen the online program Bloggingheads.tv before. But today they offer a pretty substantive discussion of our Framing Science thesis. Apparently the host agrees with us. His co-host misunderstands our goals for communication and the research on framing and media influence. But that's okay. It's clearly meant to be a point/counter-point. Kind of a Siskel and Ebert of blog commentary. Pretty cool.

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Well, Henry is a smart guy from one of the top academic blogs in the world. The other guy speaks for Cato Institute so he has an agenda to push.

if you mean that henry farrell is the 'host,' no, it is a diavlog. the real host is robert wright, but you don't see him. henry & will are equals.

Sudden specific thought on the Framing article.

"Messages must be positive and respect diversity."

This is not always true.

This type of message seems fairly worthless for deprogramming the brainwashed. Specifically, respecting diversity is simply used as an excuse to retain the brainwashing. Being "positive" is important but difficult to do, since it's essential to discredit the brainwashers.

Of course, I doubt that any mass media message is useful for deprogramming the brainwashed.

But have no doubt: we are dealing with a lot of genuinely brainwashed people. The brainwashing techniques used by right-wing churches are pretty well documented. Therefore I think that while your arguments are good for reaching the *non-brainwashed* masses, the *brainwashed* require a different approach. What approach, I wonder?

By Nathanael Nerode (not verified) on 17 Apr 2007 #permalink