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Ecstasy is a party drug that is popular at
dance parties.

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The chemical composition of the pills,
which are illegal to buy and sell,

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can differ enormously.

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Some of these pills are extremely dangerous.

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From time to time,
people actually die from taking them.

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This raises an interesting moral dilemma.

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Should local authorities make it possible
for party-goers to check the safety of XTC

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pills before taking them?

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On the one hand,
everybody wants to prevent fatalities,

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and drug checking can prevent people from
taking dangerous pills.

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On the other hand,
any government that allows such checks at

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the very least implies that it condones XTC
use.

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In other words,
drug checking might encourage party-goers

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to think that XTC use is acceptable.

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This is a real dilemma – Now,
suppose that you are opposed to these checks

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but you obviously don’t want people to die,
either.

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Consider the following frame:
Checks create a false sense of security.

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Whether or not you die from using XTC does
not just depend on the chemical composition

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of a particular pill but also on your level
of physical fitness.

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If you are not in top physical condition,
any MDMA pill can kill you.

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The strength of this frame is not just that
it is “sticky” – or that it satisfies

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the other requirements of a good frame – but
that it releases us from a tricky moral dilemma.

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In this frame,
we are no longer faced with a choice between

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allowing drug checking or risking people’s
lives.

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And because it releases us from this dilemma,
we are susceptible to this frame.

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We are eager to hear that these checks create
a false sense of security.

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There is a dilemma and this frame offers a
way out.

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As noted in previous episodes,
frames that are based on values or emotions

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are particularly powerful.

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As it turns out,
they can also be very powerful if they release

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us from a moral dilemma.

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Frames can be even more effective if they
explicitly tackle the underlying moral dilemma.

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Imagine a famine or an armed conflict that
is creating a huge stream of refugees.

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One country has already absorbed a large number
of refugees,

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and the question now is whether it should
accept any more.

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Consider the following frame:
On the one hand,

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one the one hand:

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we have a moral duty to help these people,
a moral duty.

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On the other hand,
our country has already done its fair share.

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Our society cannot absorb any more refugees.

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I believe that we should look after these
people in their own region.

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That is what we ought to do.

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They should be looked after close to home
– not here,

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where they are far from home.

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This frame present the problem at hand as
a moral dilemma.

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When faced with such a dilemma,
we become susceptible to the “close to home”

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frame,
which offers a way out.

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The essence of this frame:
it presents the problem as a moral dilemma

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and then presents the proposed solution as
a way out of this dilemma.

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In this way,
it appears to transcend the original problem.

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Finally,
this frame is actually a very common.

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If you are a conservative who believes that
the government should show compassion toward

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the poor,
you can call yourself a compassionate conservative.

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If you are a liberal,
but you also want to be tough on crime,

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you can talk about muscular liberalism.

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The German region of Bavaria is conservative
but also wishes to be modern,

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so Bavarians talk about Laptop und Lederhose
– innovation and tradition.

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The idea behind this frame is that,
by embracing an dilemma,

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you can transcend it.