Progressive Identity Project #3 (Sunday, June 1, 2008)

Thanks to those who have stopped by to participate in Progressive Identity Project Diaries #1 and #2. You've made this a very interesting examination so far and I hope to draw more people into the fold. To this point, we've discussed the shared values of progressives and played around with some of the key points of progressivism as defined by John Halpin of the Center for American Progress. Continuing this theme, I'd like to talk a bit about progressive communication and culture today. Follow me after the fold for the details...

To begin, I want to revisit the quotes offered by Halpin in the 2004 article linked to above. They are key to the construction of this conversation, while perhaps not encompassing everything we'd all like to say about progressivism. You can go to the links to earlier diaries in this series and read through the comments to see where there may be some additions, subtractions, and important points of emphasis that work alongside Halpin's contentions. Today, I post his words again as a rough guide to this discussion, knowing that there may be some room to move around together.

At its core, progressivism is a non-ideological, pragmatic system of thought grounded in solving problems and maintaining strong values within society.

The role of government...We want to focus instead on finding the best solution – public or private – to a given problem, a proven approach that marries American pragmatism and our history of taking all challenges head on...For progressives, government should help create an atmosphere that fosters individual and private sector success, but it should not be viewed as either the enemy of freedom or the favored solution to pressing societal needs.

Fairness and opportunity...progressives escape this false divide by focusing on fairness – the legal, political, and economic conditions that provide access to equal opportunity and allow people to combine their abilities and aspirations and make the most of their lives...Fairness does not guarantee that everybody will be the same, think the same, or get the same material benefits in life; it simply means that people should start from a level playing field and have a reasonable shot at achieving success whether they want to go to college, start a business or have their day in court.

Citizenship...progressives focus on bringing politics back to the people, and on creating an active and engaged citizenry imbued with a sense of duty and sacrifice to society and country...Progressives believe that the best ideas come from the grass roots, and that public officials have a duty to create new forums for citizen engagement and input. In turn, citizens must keep themselves educated on important issues, get involved in the political process, and encourage civic virtues in younger generations.

In this diary, I'd like to concentrate on the DailyKos environment and identify the symbols that help to define this as a progressive community. The basis for this analysis is the great scholar and communication theorist, James W. Carey.

In his work "Communication as Culture", Carey turns to the University of Chicago scholars for a working definition of communication as "a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed."  He discusses the symbolic nature of communication, highlighting the mapping process by which we represent our version of reality through communicative processes. He notes, "We first produce the world by symbolic work and then take up residence in the world we have produced."

This means, essentially, that our minds can't process every bit of sensory stimulation available, so we rely on symbol associations to create a blueprint for ourselves. Just like a map isn't a complete replication of a territory, but a series of signposts or landmarks, our mind uses symbols to catalog experiences as we live and move through our environment. Language is the tool by which we do most of this mapping, and we tie certain words or phrases to important elements of our world to define it and provide some sort of context. Usually, this fails to capture the complexity of the actual environment and we assume a greater understanding than is actually present. Saying that we're fighting for "freedom", for example, is one of those moments when we take for granted the very abstract meaning of freedom. We fail to go further into the definition of "freedom" because we have an innate sense of what it means....or at least we think we do.

Carey notes that the efforts of communication to describe eventually lead to construct. The descriptive process becomes a determinant process, and in a society largely bound by its science, the descriptive determines social institutions and thereby forms our culture. The symbol systems of art, science, journalism, religion, common sense, and mythology are all observable phenomena, according to Carey, that reflect out attitudes toward reality. That brings me to today's theme.

Progressive culture, as determined in the DailyKos community, is a product of our communication. We describe shared progressive values everyday here, and promote the ideas that we feel are worthy of consideration. The symbols that we employ to describe progressivism here can be found in diaries, stories, comments, and the very structure of this forum. What are the dominant symbols of progressivism at DailyKos? What myths are fundamental to this environment?

I might point out a few examples to get the ball rolling. You might tell me about the iconic symbol present in the DailyKos banner. A man waving a flag. You might tell me about the motto, "The State of the Nation" and what that represents symbolically. Perhaps you'll tell me about the types of screen names that are created and the mythology that goes along with them. The heroes and the villains. The pantheon of Gods (Kos and company?). I leave it up to you to find the symbols and myths that are employed to describe progressivism here. Have at it.

Don't forget that this series goes live every Sunday and Wednesday beginning at 9am EST/6am PST, and continues for the remainder of the day. It's a part of my Masters thesis and a media ecology research project that requires your help. Please rec and participate as often as possible. I hope you'll check in regularly via subscription and consider joining my e-mail distribution list for updates, scheduling reminders, and interview requests. You can leave me your information at:

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As always I leave you with a list of important contributors to the Media Ecology field...

Jacques Ellul, Lewis Mumford, Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, Neil Postman, George Herbert Mead, James W. Carey, Edward T. Hall, Gregory Bateson, Paul Watzlawick, Alfred Korzybski, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, Norbert Weiner, Ervin Laszlo, Niklas Luhmann, Walter Benjamin, Edmund Burke, N. Katherine Hayles, Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver, Jeremy Campbell, Wendell Johnson, Edmund Carpenter, Erving Goffman, Susanne K. Langer, Roland Barthes, Joshua Meyrowitz, Lance Strate, Paul Levinson, and many many more.