In my previous posts discussing Manufacturing Consent, I glossed over the concept of framing as an important political tool. I want to give this concept its own post, because it’s difficult to understate just how important it is when presenting information.
The concept of framing itself is easy to understand. It simply refers to the context in which you present a topic. For a quick and silly example, consider the following statement:
“Billy punched Todd and knocked all his teeth out.”
Now, if this is the only information you’re provided, you would probably think Billy is an asshole. Who goes around punching people? What a dick.
Now consider this statement:
“Billy punched Todd and knocked all his teeth out because he had sex with Billy’s wife on top of Billy while he was unconscious.”
Changes the situation a little, doesn’t it?
The context provided by the “because” is important. That’s framing.
Medicare For All
Now apply this to a more serious situation: the healthcare crisis. It’s common knowledge at this point that the US is engaged in a fierce battle to catch up to the rest of the civilized world and provide its citizens universal healthcare. The main opponents of this movement are, as usual, the elites. Specially, the health insurance companies and those on their payroll.
Often, when people discuss this issue, they’ll talk about how Medicare For All – the current incarnation of universal healthcare – will result in people losing their current health coverage.
This is technically true. But this framing of the issue is extremely misleading. A more accurate framing would be this statement:
Medicare For All will result in people losing their current health coverage because it will be replaced by better healthcare than what they have. No one would lose their doctors, or their hospitals. All they’d lose is their predatory health insurance.
It’s the difference between Billy or Todd being the one to blame.
But hey, don’t take my word for it. Read the bill yourself here, specifically Title II, which addresses what’s covered under Medicare For All.
The Iran Crisis
Another example of framing being used to sway opinion can be found in the Iran crisis (Man, so many crises going on at once. It’s almost as if all of the US’s bullshit is starting to blow up in its face).
I’ve discussed the Iran crisis in my previous posts so I won’t retread that ground here. Instead let’s just jump into this partial statement, spewed from the mouth of none other than war criminal John Bolton and quoted in this Salon article. In reference to Iran’s military readiness increases, he mentioned “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” before going to on state that “any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force”.
This may not raise any eyebrows, considering Iran did indeed appear to be mobilizing its military. However, the framing is once again misleading. And I use that term generously.
The framing of this conveniently leaves out the wider context of why Iran may be gearing up for a conflict. That reason is because the US decided to declare Iran’s military a terrorist organization and removed sanction waivers on nations that purchased oil from Iran.
What this means is that any nation that buys oil from Iran runs the risk of being sanctioned by the US, which has the potential to decimate their economy – just like the US has done to Iran. I’m not even going to go into the insanity of just calling another sovereign nation’s army a terrorist organization.
In this context – this framing – Iran’s actions become a reaction. Iran flips from aggressor to victim. Or if not victim, then at least not the evil empire the US portrays.
So How Do I Use It?
My goal with this post is to try to show people the tricks that are used by authority to manipulate them into thinking one way or another. Now that you have some examples of framing, try it out yourself. The next time you read or watch a news report, remember how framing works. See if you can spot it being used, and if you do, think about the reason. What is the author trying to make you feel?
You can also use framing yourself to benefit your own ends, in your personal or professional life. Got a date? Frame your hobbies so they’re in a better light. Instead of saying: “I collect anime figurines”, say: “I support foreign businesses through importation of rare collectibles.”
I’m joking, of course. But you can use it in everyday life. Just try not to sound like a jackass, or people will see through it. (They’ll also realize you’re full of shit if you do manage to get your date home and they see your five shelves of figurines).
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments.
UPDATE – Another Use of Framing
I realized I left out one of the most important and insidious uses of Framing – question phrasing. I know, I’m a terrible progressive.
This is actually the favorite usage of Framing by the mainstream media, and you see it all the time. The most recent example came last night during CNN’s Democratic Debate (which is what made me realize I forgot to include it in this post).
When asking a question, you frame it in such a way to make your audience believe the person you’re asking the question to is bad. Or good, depending on your bias. I’ll give an example.
The Frame-Job
Imagine you’re watching an interview and the interviewer asks this question: “So, how long as it been since you stopped beating your wife and kids?”
You’ll notice, I hope, that this question is framed in such a way so that the interviewee is effectively trapped. No matter how they answer (with a couple of exceptions which I’ll touch on), they’ll end up agreeing to the implied accusation (that they were at one time a wife/child abuser).
You can see how this can be used to effect political policy. I’ll jump now to the example that inspired me to update this post.
Last night, CNN posed a certain question to Bernie Sanders. That question was about foreign policy. They opened the question with this:
“Bernie, you and Trump have said the US shouldn’t be the policeman of the world.”
On first glance you might think, “what’s wrong with that? Bernie has said that the US shouldn’t be intervening everywhere and so has Trump. The moderator is just pointing that out.”
Wrong. Oh so naive.
What they were doing was trying to create a subtle link between Bernie and Trump. Why, you ask? Consider the recent media firestorm over Trump. A significant portion of the Democratic party want him gone, so much so that anything remotely associated with him is beginning to become political suicide.
By subtly trying to say that Bernie’s foreign policy is the same as Trump’s, they’re hoping that people will hear that and go, “oh hell no, we have enough of that right now”.
Fortunately, I don’t think anyone was fooled as Bernie dominated the debate stage (along with Warren, RIP to John Delaney’s political career).
But the fact remains that the way in which you frame a question can and does effect people’s perceptions of the person answering it.
How Do You Beat It Then?
I mentioned that I’d touch on how you can avoid falling into the framing trap. Well, the easiest method is to just ignore the question entirely. Trump is a master at this.
Look at any debate he’s been in when he’s been asked a question framed to make him look bad. He often just ignores it entirely and goes on a tirade about how great he is and how Democrats are bad.
And it works.
Now, I’m not saying to copy that entirely. “Those who fight monsters…” and all. But you can do something similar.
Instead of engaging the question directly, stop and correct the interviewer’s framing of the issue. Then answer.
To use my silly example above, if you’re asked how long its been since you stopped beating your wife, you can respond with something like this:
“Well, first of all, I have never laid a hand on my wife. You can ask her yourself. I love my wife very much, and everyone is saying that. I love her the most out of anyone.”
Shit, I sounded like Trump after all, didn’t I? Oh well. Like I said, it works!
Now go! Go and be more aware of the machinations of our corporate overlords!