A couple nights ago, I rewatched the 1997 comedy Wag The Dog… as research for work.
Robert De Niro plays a political communications consultant. He’s brought in for clean-up after news breaks that the President of the United States has had sex with a 15-year-old girl in a closet behind the Oval Office.
The situation is bad. De Niro needs at least a day to think up a way out of this sticky situation. Fortunately, the President is on a visit to China.
“Keep him there,” De Niro tells the President’s handlers. “Say he’s sick. And say his visit has nothing to do with the B3 bomber.”
“Sir, as far as I know, there’s no such thing as a B3 bomber,” says a White House staffer.
“That’s exactly what I said,” says De Niro.
The rest of the movie is about how De Niro’s character, along with a Hollywood producer played by Dustin Hoffman, orchestrate a make-believe war against Albania (“They seem shifty”), which happens entirely on the evening news.
I thought about this while reading a news article yesterday, titled, “New Jersey drone cluster sightings prompt call for ‘state of emergency.'”
In case you haven’t heard, the state of New Jersey is under attack by swarms of unexplained drones. An FBI official explained:
“Are we concerned there are nefarious intentions that could cause either an actual security or public safety incident? There’s nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know. And that’s the concerning part of it.”
Could it be Iran? China? Perhaps the Albanians?
“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States,” said the Pentagon press secretary, “and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States.”
So you’re saying it could be the Albanians…
Look, I’m just fooling around. I’m certainly not claiming there are any parallels between the current drone situation and Wag The Dog. As far as I know, there’s no evidence that the drone situation is any kind of ploy to cover up some new atrocity being committed by people in power as we speak.
(See what I did there?)
All I really want to do is to introduce you to the powerful concept of a “frame.”
A frame is all the stuff that goes on in your head before, after, and around a specific message. A frame is how the phrase “SHUT UP!” can be interpreted in your head as an insult… a joke between friends… a cry of surprise or disbelief… a sign of mental breakdown… and probably 10 other things, all depending on the context.
There’s a guy named George Lakoff, who is a real-life version of Robert De Niro’s character in Wag The Dog.
Lakoff is a professor of linguistics at Berkeley, and he has long advised Democratic candidates on messaging and communication.
Lakoff believes that frames are such powerful and valuable communication tools that he wrote a guidebook, all about how to use them in politics, which he titled, “Don’t Think Of An Elephant.”
Because you can activate a frame even if you seemingly deny or negate that frame.
Frames are definitely an interesting topic, and it makes sense to actively play with them in high-stakes situations like political messaging.
But in everyday life, it can be exhausting and paralyzing to try to “control the frame,” as pick up artists like to say.
Fortunately, it’s not necessary to be constantly aware and constantly in control of the frame as you go about your life.
Because you can simply adopt a frame which will always serve you well.
That frame is that everything that happens works in your favor and is there for your benefit.
It works in politics, and in daily emails too, where it’s often expressed by the maxim, “Nothing bad ever happens if you write a daily email.” Everything becomes fodder for the content beast.
If you’d like to see how I and a group of other smart folks are taking our everyday frustrations, thoughts, and even stupid news items, and turning them into daily emails that both entertain and sell, you can find that inside my new service Daily Email Habit.
I’m not saying this service could transform your life, or be the equivalent of hitting the lottery. The people who subscribe to Daily Email Habit have reported good results, but nothing so far that would lead me to say this is the one thing you will ever need in your life for success, happiness, and contentment.
And that’s the concerning part of it.
For more info on Daily Email Habit: