This #WednesdayWisdom let's do metaphors. These can be super-slippery ways of both controlling current thinking about events, *and* setting up people to respond in certain ways in the future.

NB. The real experts in this are people like @elenasemino and @ZsofiaDemjen!

1/13

In simple terms, a metaphor is where one thing is described as if it's another.

This happens all the time for creative reasons, e.g.

• sea (it's not really a sea)
• sun set (the sun is not literally setting)
• haunted (figurative ghosts)
• moving (not actually moving)

2/13

But metaphors are also used to dehumanise. In these headlines, flood metaphors are used about migrants.

Why is this an issue? Well, floods are natural disasters. They damage, destroy, pollute, and kill. They can't be "assisted". The "solution" to floods is bigger walls…

3/13

And in these headlines, we get violence metaphors.

Invasions are organised military incursions. We expect them to be met with equally-organised *violent* counter-measures.

Grabbing is, at best, rude, and robbery is outright criminal. The expected response is prosecution.

4/13

In fact, newspapers LOVE a good war metaphor, and with COVID, they ran amok, literally talking about "battling" and declaring "war" on the virus.

There are a LOT of problems with this framing (and again I refer you here to the work of @elenasemino and others).

5/13

The problem with framing a virus as a (kinetic) war is that it draws on a whole series of unhelpful schema.

In a "normal" war, soldiers go somewhere with a clear expectation that they could die, they attack a perceived enemy, and in the ugly fallout a "winner" is declared.

6/13

But, in a pandemic we need everyone to stay at home (not go places) and wash their hands (not throw punches). Those on the "front line" - doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. - did *not* sign up with an expectation that their job might kill them.

So why use this metaphor?

7/13

Because this framing makes death more acceptable.

In war, those who die are heroes and it's sad, but expected. Celebrated, even.

And in this framing, if HEROIC doctors and teachers die, this isn't the horror it should be.

It's a glorious, noble self-sacrifice.

8/13

Such a framing is very politically expedient.

Instead of people being outraged at the deaths of frontline workers due to, say, inadequate PPE, they are encouraged instead to "honour the fallen".

It shifts attention off of the causes, onto making the outcome palatable.

9/13

And what if those frontline workers quite rightly object to being framed as expendable, sacrificial, patriotic tokens? Well, the war metaphor extends.

Soldiers who rebel are "militants" who are "betraying" their country.

And in war "traitors" are often severely punished.

10/13

A few more random examples:

• Blank page = suggests there is total free choice (is there?)

• Snatched = thieves, criminals (are they?)

• Pressure builds = implies a risk of explosion (what will explode?)

• Spark = carelessly risking a dangerous situation (really?)

11/13

With practise you'll start seeing them everywhere, especially in headlines and on front pages where they do a lot of heavy lifting:

• Toppling = history is a physical object that can be (re)moved (is it?)

• Explodes = revolution is an indiscriminate bomb (is it?)

12/13

Sometimes, they're just creative features, but often there's an insidious subtext.

Whatever the case, next time you see a metaphorical usage, ask what extra baggage it carries across, how it can extend in the future, and most importantly, who benefits from this framing.

13/13

FURTHER READING

If you want a widely accessible longer read, I recommend this for showing how metaphors can control our behaviours: https://qz.com/1241030/metaphors-can-change-our-opinions-in-ways-we-dont-even-realize/

And if you want a full book to chomp through, I'd suggest Semino & Demjen's "Routledge Handbook of Metaphor and Language"