Message Reframe 2026: Positive Psychology

By David Bonaccorsi

I think we need to do some reframing in our messaging. I suggest the emphasis be this - Message Reframe 2026: Positive Psychology.

We will have greater appeal in generating support for what we are for – and not confirm within our core group what we are against.

I am influenced by Erich Fromm and his concept of positive psychology.

Erich Fromm was a German-American who fled the Nazis.  In his 1941 book Escape from Freedom (aclibrary.org or Worldcat.org), Fromm emphasized that “freedom from” (as in being free of oppression or fascism) implicitly frames our struggle in a way that reinforces authoritarian rule.

 The Social Psychology of Framing of positive goals like “supporting freedom” has a far greater appeal outside our own band of activists as a way of mobilizing greater support.

 I think there should be a stronger emphasis in the signs we display at No Kings or on Resistance Friday with that in mind. 

In circulating some of my ideas earlier, Joan Weber mentioned the work of a current political strategist Anat Shenker-Osario who is a principal of ASO Communications and hosts the podcast “Words to Win By” in re-framing a positive message that sets the advocacy narrative on our own terms in a more compelling persuasive manner outside our own circles of influence.

We can’t keep playing to our own crowd. 

Many people are not “political.”

We would all be surprised at how little of what Trump is doing is penetrating public awareness in a way that supports our cause.  Keep in mind through the algorithmic black hole that polarizes all of us, a contorted image of Trump as “savior” of Christianity in advancing White Christian Nationalism does penetrate and works against us.

 For these reasons, I had a problem with Indivisible’s nationwide boycott “I Ain’t Buying It” during Black Friday through Black Monday after Thanksgiving as a form of protest as an end until itself.  A boycott simply tells people to say “no.”  And it is not particularly uplifting. 

I deliberately used my social media platform to pivot and offer alternatives for people to say “yes” with enthusiasm to encourage buying books and make other socially conscious choices on platforms other than Amazon, or brick-and-mortar stores like Target.

 So, when it comes to those who are targeted by ICE raids, my message is to be compassionate witnesses and advocates in ways not defined by Trump as a reference point as that only reinforces his centrality to our narrative that impedes the change we want to see. We can be “negative” in our posts and communication by continuing to blame Trump, Miller, Bongino and others for being the arsonists as architects or this policy.  Or we can be the first responders that transcends Trump and makes him irrelevant.

I know the anger and angst and fear and anxiety are high, but we can then easily despair and reward the autocratic regime with our exhaustion from burnout and dashed expectations pinning on immediate change. 

Erich Fromm, Anat Shenker-Osario and the Social Psychology of Framing is a sustainable way over time and through the struggle to uplift and to heal us.

This is not pollyannish as being positive rooted in choices that give us agency, in being proactive and not reactive, is practical and pragmatic – it is the only way forward!

Dave Bonaccorsi is a lawyer and community activist, former City of Fremont Council Member and founding member of Fremont for Everyone. Dave, as a 13 year old, stood on the steps of the Supreme Court, on the afternoon of July 24, 1974 and read the advance sheets handed down by the Supreme Court of its opinion  in  United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974). . . a landmark decision^[1] of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court unanimously ordered President Richard Nixon to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to a federal district court.  Dave, as a way of showcasing local changemakers who build our community, has launched his own podcast, Fremont Focus Now, www.fremontfocusnow.com