The Power to Bring Listeners Together
On many issues, individual action is not enough. It may take people acting together to bring about or resist change. The Jesse Jackson example, while it aroused strong feeling, also reminded listeners that they were part of an important larger group. Only if they acted together—as Democrats rather than as individual interest groups—would they have a chance to win the election. The quilt metaphor also invoked this sense of belonging to a larger group.
Just as language can unite people, it can also drive them apart. During a nationally televised debate in the 1996 New Hampshire primary campaign, eight Republican presidential hopefuls attacked and belittled each other. One candidate, Rep. Robert Dornan of California, reminded them that their attacks on each other threatened party unity:
<em>I wish the spirit of Ronald Reagan would descend on New Hampshire
• . and [remind us of] his eleventh commandment, that no Republican should speak ill of another. . . . We have to stop tearing at one another… . The target is Clinton [and] the moral crisis in the White House… . Gentlemen, we’re a family here. Let’s unify ourselves and make sure we take the White House on November 5th.</em>
Note that as Dornan pleaded for unity, he invoked a common hero, Ronald Reagan. He used the “family” metaphor to heal the division. And he reminded listeners of a common enemy and a shared goal—President Clinton and their desire to defeat him.
Heroes and enemies, common goals, shared values, and metaphors of inclusion—all can work together to heighten the value of group membership.
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