Blog Post 4

To identify with someone is to find or create common ground between the individual and another person. Likewise, a social movement must find ways to help the rest of society identify with members of the movement in order to bring about change. The book explains that, "When a goal or a group makes sense to us, we identify with it." The general tactic of identification is to unify the social movement group and the rest of society by claiming that the goal of the movement is for the benefit of the "people" or of "humanity". Another way to generate the feeling of unity is by creating an implied bond, or acknowledging an implied given. Also, activists may consider their audience and adapt their language tactics based on who they are addressing. The activists may help the rest of society understand  the goal of the movement by presenting moral and ethical issues in a way that is understandable to society. Some assumptions that are made about certain political groups can benefit a social movement if everyone of the certain political background tends to support the social movement.

Like it is explained in the books, songs are extremely beneficial to a social movement in that the music and song has been a detrimental part of society even from when before written records were taken. Without lyrics, the music itself can evoke certain feelings and emotions. If you have ever been somewhere where there are a large number of people singing together, you know that there is extreme emotional power in numbers when it comes to music and singing. When the chorus or bridge of a song is repeated, the message that the writer of the song is trying to portray can become more clear each time it is repeated.

"Same Love" by Macklemore with Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert, is a song written about marriage equality that uses identification to portray the goal of the marriage equality movement. In the first verse, Macklemore talks about a few different things he identified with as a child, one that he could draw and kept his room straight, and two that he was good at little league. These are two general identities that Macklemore has given himself, and with these, he has now identified with these groups of people, and what they think about themselves. In our text, it discusses the "implied we", which brings about unity. The second verse contains the line, "No freedom til we're equal, damn right I support it." Although this line contains an "I" phrase, it begins with a "we". "No freedom til we're equal". This is an almost unarguable claim that Macklemore makes. It is very easy for an audience that may not usually identify with Macklemore or someone like him, to say "Yeah, I support that," which then creates a common ground of identification.