Will you be in the DC area on October 3rd? Then you should definitely take the opportunity to stop by the AFL-CIO headquarters for a great book-club event! The featured book and discussion with the author will be about Don’t Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense About the Economy, by Anat Shenker-Osorio.
In her book, which was released in 2012, Shenker-Osorio shares this message with progressives about communicating our message: Get personal. Get real. And for heaven’s sake, quit fighting your opponent on your opponent’s terms. What does Shenker-Osorio mean by this? Well, she says that after making the same mistakes over and over again, she has seen a failure in progressive communication, especially in regards to how we discuss the economy. Don’t Buy It decries the tendency by progressives and well-intentioned experts to continually refer to the recession and the rising inequality that it highlights as an “unstoppable force of nature” or “perfect storm” or any number of other similar terms–because talking about it this way implies that all we can do is sit, and wait, and pray out the storm, rather than do what we sorely need to: actively work for change.
Likewise, she says, for “body” metaphors, like “unhealthy economy” or “sluggish recovery”. This way of talking about the economic situations she says, again implies that it was caused by an outside agency coming in to attack, like germs sickening the body from within. Her main point:
“The economic crisis was neither an act of God nor a natural disaster, not an attack by microbes or internal organ breakdown. It was the result of choices—bad ones—made by specific human beings who benefited from human-created policies at the expense of a majority of the population. And if our language does not reflect that this crisis is human-made, it follows that it cannot be human unmade either, which plays into the shrugging, no-fault stance of conservatives.”
Well said.
But, then, how should we in the labor movement discuss the economic crises? Shenker-Osorio proposes that “Vehicles. Journeys. Navigation. Maps. Human-created and human-run metaphors for motion,” are the key solution:
“We can change our maps, rules of the road, get new vehicles to take us where we want to go, change direction. We are, in short in charge of the economy when it breaks down. And we, through our choices, can fix it.”
She also notes that it is imperative that we stop being polite, and start being specific about who is responsible for creating these problems. And, she says, progressives need to start changing how we sound in our public statements. We often come off trying to sound academic, but we are a movement made up of regular, hard-working, middle-class people. We should start sounding like it! When we are trying to raise awareness and find solutions regarding issues of fairness, security, livelihood, and well-being for all, it’s time to actually convey to our audiences that we’re talking to “you”.
So, if you want to be inspired about how to talk about the movement and move things forward, attend this event! You can RSVP here and find more info here.
If you’re not a resident of the DMV area or can’t make it to the event, you can still check out the book!
