Blog Post #1 Jan

Geoff Tamayo
Comm 160



Blog Post #1


As I find myself watching countless hours of politics on TV about femanist movements, BLM, Womens Marches Etc.. I find myself becoming more aware of the problem in our society. The sentence I took from the Ann Ruso reading was "I was one of those middle class white girls who sometimes talked back and often was punished for it." Being in many communication classes and really wanting to be involved with politics after college, I feel that this statement makes alot of sense when talking about our society as a whole.

What I'm saying is this; when people tend to speak out against homophobia, speak for womens rights and even speak for BLM or a similar movement, they are speared with comments saying " how do you know youre just a middle class white kid who hasent expierenced any of that." Yeah I get that. I get that im not black so I can't say I know whats its like to be treated like someone who is African American. No, I am not a women so I do not know what it is like to expierence pink tax or not being paid as much as a man. But I can say I believe in human rights and thats why I feel so strongly about these issues. In the article it states that listening and the right amount of speaking can combat institutional racism. Listening is the most importnant part of communication to me. Without it, there would be no communication at all.

I want to talk about listening for a second. When we listen to each other, individually or as a community, things dont get lost in translation like it does in media today. Looking back on the election, it was unbelievable to me how much each canidiate did not truly listen to what people were saying. Chapter 4 is all about listening and how listening is a result of our cultural and social surrounding. Tying these to concepts together, to me just means listening to our fellow humans. Not putting people down because they believe something different from yourself, but lifiting them up and there ideals and saying "hey, I know we have different views, but I respect that and would love to listen what you have to say." I believe this quote from Bryant H. McGill sums it all up; "One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually intently listening on what another has to say."

I believe that these two readings really went well together and have actually shown me how to connect different issues that I havent connected on a deeper level before.