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May 8, 2006
Values and Politics
I guess the "discussion" on family values was a key lightning rod from many years ago that got people thinking about values and politics. Of course, it was much earlier than that when this has been brought up. For example, Aristotle talks about areas of excellence that the Citizen, or member of the city-state should have to be a model individual in society. In the sense of family values thinking, this was also restricting of the group being focused on. A Citizen was basically an adult male of a certain level of means and breeding.
"Family values" suggests that there is basically one set of values that should be the model for all families which is a kind of ludicrous notion. However, there was/is a segment of the population for which this resonated.
But it does highlight a couple of key themes in politics, the need to communicate ideas and concepts in a manner that is best understood by the constituency you want to reach. This would include modifying your language to heighten the receptance of the message with the chosen audience.
Language is one way we express our values (family or otherwise). By understanding the language or culture of a target group, one can modify the message to best connect with that group.
Rather than sending out a mass mailing, you can send less mailings but based on targetted language to target groups that are congruent with that language. Somthing akin to laser sighting for the mailings.
Technorati Tags: politics, values, language
Technorati Tags: politics, values, language
Posted by mlwhall at 2:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack