Greg mentioned it's been quiet here, so I thought I'd mention the one
thing that caught my attention recently.
THE POLITICAL MIND mentions Lynn Hunt's book, INVENTING HUMAN RIGHTS,
among other things. The copy I've ordered has not arrived yet, but
I've watched a video in which she speaks for most of an hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZVD1G4q0bA
(If you watch it, you can skip the first 8 /12 minutes of it, which
just consist of people introducing one another.) Hunt says that much
of the empathy that we know today can be traced to the development of
the novel, which strengthened the ability of people to put themselves
in the viewpoint of someone else.
It makes me wonder: instead of concentrating all our linguistic
efforts on Washington, perhaps we should direct some of our efforts
toward Hollywood. But what would we say to them? What frames are used,
subtly or blatantly, in films and tv? Would we be saying anything
different from what we've been trying to tell Washington?
