{"id":550,"date":"2013-10-14T12:34:54","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T16:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/?p=550"},"modified":"2013-10-14T12:36:27","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T16:36:27","slug":"how-can-you-positively-frame-your-core-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/how-can-you-positively-frame-your-core-message\/550","title":{"rendered":"How can you positively frame your core message?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of people and organizations have gone out of their way lately to tell me that they are non-violent. They remind me of people who go out of their way to tell me that they are not racists. Not sexists. Not homophobic.<\/p>\n

It’s a tell.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at what a person who earnestly professes to be non-violent might actually be telling you:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I am unaware that all human beings, including myself, are violent. I am also unaware that I am suppressing or re-channeling my violent tendencies to participate more fully in a civilized society. Because my self-awareness is low, I’m unpredictable and dangerous.<\/li>\n
  2. I know darn well that I’m a violent person. I’m going to lie and pretend to be I’m something I’m not. I am a wolf in sheep’s clothing: don’t trust me.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Either way, if anyone seriously tries to sell you that they are non-violent: it’s a cause for suspicion. Actually, if anyone ever leads with a line about being anti- or non- anything (in a way that isn’t meant as parody) it’s a cause for suspicion.<\/p>\n

    Perpetually speaking in the language of non- and anti- \u00a0is feeble, defensive, and reactionary. Instead of speaking in terms of anti-violence, anti-GMO, \u00a0anti-gun, anti-fracking, anti-bullying, anti-wimp, anti-war, anti-poverty, anti-vaccine, anti-science, anti-anything: why not start by stating what you actually stand for, instead of what you stand against?<\/p>\n

    Reframe the conversation.<\/p>\n

    If we only live to rail against some cause, action, person, or principle that we don’t like, we’re a huge part of the problem. Our words and actions can support and strengthen the frame of what it is that we say we are against.<\/p>\n

    Here’s an exercise for positively framing your core message: state what it is that you stand for. If you can only frame what you stand for in terms of what you are against, try again. And keep trying.<\/p>\n

    Hint: this exercise may or may not be easy, but it’s worth the effort. With a deeper understanding and awareness, we may find ourselves participating in more meaningful, truthful, and helpful conversations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A number of people and organizations have gone out of their way lately to tell me that they are non-violent. They remind me of people who go out of their way to tell me that they are not racists. Not sexists. Not homophobic. It’s a tell. Let’s take a look at what a person who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-presentation","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions\/555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniactive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}