The Art of Framing

What does it mean to “frame” an issue? Is it like framing a picture of your sweet grandmother, the one where she’s smoking her favorite pipe?

Yeah, kind of. To frame an issue means to put it in your own box, setting up the terms and context in a way that favors you. (To get the details about framing, see Thank You for Arguing, revised edition, page 123.)

The most important tool of framing is redefinition, in which you redefine the terms of the argument. The tobacco industry did this neatly back in the 1970s, when it talked about the “controversy” over the health hazards of smoking. Scientists and doctors saw no controversy at all. Smoking is terrible for you, period. But the word “controversy” framed the smoking issue by sowing doubt. And guess what framing word climate change deniers are using these days? Yep. “Controversy.”

Here’s a video that uses framing to answer a question from a high school student. Tell us what you think in the comments.

When Is Manipulation a Good Thing

When it leads to consensus. That’s one of Figaro’s favorite words. It comes from the Latin, meaning “common belief” or “knowing together.” In other words, it means agreement.

The adjectival form, consensual, gets sexy. It means an agreed-upon act. Rhetoric teaches that to get all consensual, it helps to get the juices flowing with a little seduction.

In our sister site, ArgueLab, Christina Fox shows how seduction and argument are kissing cousins.

The Ultimate Rhetorical Strategy: Honest Flattery

Yes, we know, word lovers. Flattery is never honest. We’re just making a rhetorical point here in honor of Mother’s Day, when honesty and flattery truly go together.

For our sister site, ArgueLab, We posted this video on how to flatter a mom to useful effect.

Thou Shalt Not Command a Mood

We’re devoting much of our time to our sister site, ArgueLab, but Figaro hasn’t disappeared altogether. He’s especially interested in the latest ArgueLab video, because it contains what linguists and grammarians call the command mood.

A mood signals the purpose of a sentence. For instance, the interrogative mood has to do with a question. The indicative mood states a fact. The subjunctive mood—well, let’s not get all moody here. This is rhetoric, after all.

One of the biggest rhetorical mistakes is to use a command to order someone’s mood. In this video, Christina’s imaginary boyfriend, Ryan Gosling, tells her to calm down. That’s the command mood commanding a mood. The results are predictable. But Christina also offers a solution.

Got questions for Figaro? Comment below or get yourself straight to ArgueLab.

The Devil to Pay

Figaro often gets asked to talk about idioms. Here’s a recent question sent in to our companion site, ArgueLab.com. It has to do with one of our favorite idioms of all: “There will be the devil to pay.”

No, it’s not from the Bible. The expression comes straight from the British Navy, and it doesn’t mean you’re in danger of going to Hell. It means you’re going to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Watch the video for more, and feel free to email Jay with your own persuasive or figurative questions.

Meanwhile, what’s an idiom? We like to call it the molecule of language: a set of words with its own properties and meaning. You know, the way a molecule is its own thing, made up of atoms.

Where the Heck Is Figaro?

All over the place, it seems, except here.

He’s been on Twitter as @jayheinrichs.  (That’s where you’ll find his micro-analysis of the election as it progresses. Our take on the Hillary announcement trailer: “It’s not for Democrats or Republicans. It’s for people with lives.” In short except for the awful logo and the condescending phrase “everyday people,” Figaro liked it.)

He’s also been on our sister site, ArgueLab. And on a Youtube channel called ArgueLab.

And you can see what his human version has been doing at JayHeinrichs.com.

One of our latest projects is a series of videos, released every Monday on YouTube, Twitter, and on Jay Heinrichs’s Facebook page. Here’s a recent one:

Jay and his colleague, Christina Fox, also answer questions, such as, “How do I get people to pay attention to me at meetings?” Feel free to contact us with your own questions!