Frank Luntz helps Republicans choose words that resonate with Independents. I held my nose and bought his book, Words That Work, hoping to learn the devil’s secrets so I could twist them to good use. I did learn a lot, including that I share many of Luntz’ opinions on words — especially his belief that the word “imagine” is the most powerful. “The word imagine … allows individuals to picture whatever personal vision is in their hearts and minds.”

Luntz’ most important point is contained in the book’s subtitle: “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”

“Once the words leave your lips, they no longer belong to you. … When we open our mouths, we are sharing with the world—and the world inevitably interprets, indeed sometimes shifts and distorts, our original meaning.”

I was fascinated by the “dial sessions” Luntz uses in his research. Subjects hold dials that they turn to reflect their positive and negative reactions to speeches or ads. The result is wavy lines that help ferret out the precise words and phrases that work.

His research leads him to a few points that struck me:

When we in organizational communication construct an internal message, we routinely check off the “what,” the “so what” and “now what.” Luntz recommends we put the “so what” — the context and relevance — first. “You have to give people the “why” of a message before you tell them the “therefore” and the “so that.’”

When trying to demonstrate the concept of “value,” focus on the result rather than the process. For example, Luntz’ research shows taxpayers are moved to “reduce crime” (result) more than to support “law enforcement” (process). Additionally, “VALUE” = price + convenience + reliability.

Women respond more to stories and men more to facts. Men want to speak and women want to be heard.

“Respect is “the most important word related to how employees perceive their treatment and what they think of their employer.”

“In my research into the effectiveness of direct mail, the single most-read portion after the opening paragraph is the postscript.”

Luntz includes “patient-centered” among his words that work — validation for a term we use a lot at Kaiser Permanente. In fact, Luntz uses the Kaiser Permanente website as an exemplar of patient-centered language and imagery.

There isn’t much that separates what Luntz does and what I do. We both use language to advocate for a cause. And despite my headline and lead-in to this post, I don’t think he is evil. To me, his “death tax” is not so much inaccurate as maddeningly brilliant. I would call it the “Paris Hilton tax” and would be equally accurate (though less brilliant).

I think he crosses the line, though, when he dispassionately compares John Kerry’s weak words to the Swiftboat Veterans’ powerful ones. “Betrayal” is an appropriate attack word if the veteran is quarreling with Kerry’s opposition to the war he fought in, but not if the veteran is lying about Kerry’s war record.

I’m all for making words work. I’m against making them lie.

Some of Luntz’ words that work:

Imagine”
“Hassle-free”
“Lifestyle”
“Accountability”
“Results” and the “Can-do-spirit”
“Innovation”
“Renew, Revitalize, Rejuvenate, Restore, Rekindle, Reinvent”
“Efficient” and “Efficiency”
“Investment”
“Casual Elegance”
“Independent”
“Peace of Mind”
“Certified”

Here’s the Colbert Report bit with Luntz that lured me into buying his book.

I know taxes are really unpopular, but Supporting Our Troops is quite popular. People put yellow ribbons on their cars — magnetic ones so as not to mess up the paint. How can you not support a Support Our Troops Tax? We could tax gasoline, the price of which we control by being the Mideast police (how did all our oil get under their land, anyway?). 

Or we could just stick it to the oil companies (who will then pass it on to us).

Vidal was explaining why we don’t understand the animosity that people in the Mideast have for the U.S., even though our country has propped up dictators there (Sadam Hussein, Shah of Iran, Saudi Arabian princes) and funded warlords and guerrillas, including Osama bin Laden. In the film, when people were asked why we are fighting in Iraq, you got either a reflexive “for freedom” or a lot of stammering with an occasional “for the oil.”

There’s a lot of amnesia going on in the health care reform debate. Sen. Lamar Alexander says it’s just too darn hard to tackle the problems of an industry that accounts for 17 percent of our GDP. The last time Congress gave up when the going got tough, 1992, health care accounted for 13 percent of GDP. If we could cure Congress of amnesia, they might see that giving up only lets the problem get bigger.

And there is much hand-wringing over the nearly $940 billion, 10-year cost of the current proposal. Over the last ten years, health care spending has increased $1.1 trillion. You don’t even need an amnesia cure to know that $940 billion is an improvement over $1.1 trillion.

Opponents of current reform measures call it a government takeover. If they weren’t victims of amnesia, they would see that the current health care system is headed for a government takeover. Government share of health care spending has gone from 44 percent to 47 percent over the last 10 years, on pace to becoming a majority shareholder by the end of the next decade.

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I’m trying to be patient. But WTF: first we line up behind Russia and China in favor landmines, and now we’ll be escalating war?

Jared Diamond excels at putting human flesh on the archaeological bones left behind at the scene of ancient societal collapses — things like trash heaps and fossilized pooh. His book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail, lists several factors at play in the typical societal implosion. But the common denominators to all were resource depletion and slow-footed decision-making. I couldn’t help but think of today’s global warming deniers and drill-baby-drill chanters when reading of society after society that methodically drove themselves off cliffs.

Diamond notes that in nearly all the collapsed societies, the end came quickly — within a few decades of the point where consumption outstripped the environment’s capacity. He doesn’t put an expiration date on our civilization, but he worries about the future of his children. These things worry him: global warming, fossil fuel depletion, deforestation, soil erosion, and hunger. This week the official tally of the world’s hunger exceeded 1 billion for the first time. When the people in Third World giants of China and India reach First World consumption levels, will more go hungry elsewhere or will First World consumption fall? If the latter, will that be voluntary or the result of strife and boycotts?

A modern collapse may unfold country by country. It may already have begun with the collapse of Afghanistan, Somalia and the Solomon Islands. Are North Korea and Pakistan next? We could sit back and hope it doesn’t overtake us. That’s what the last rich Greenland Viking did.

(NOT advisable for Kindle users — lots of maps and photos you can’t see).

UPDATE 10/24/09

Watch Yale Environment 360 video on West Virginia coal mining. We haven’t leveled the last Apalachian mountaintop, but the moral/value questions are being raised. A  government   says it isn’t the government’s job to decide what people do on their land. Isn’t it?