Blog #1

Mitchel Collins

Dr. Ivey

COMM 160 SECT001

11 September 2017

Blog #1

The most important line I found over these first few readings we have had in this class comes from our communication book. It begins with asking the reader to consider listening to be a stance, then reads, “First, if listening is a stance or orientation to the world and to others, then we can begin to account for the ways contexts, individual experiences, and cultural expectations might shape our listening,” (Page 65) I found this first point the book made to be very relevant in the modern community. At the time of writing this blog, I was listening to a video on youtube by Philip DeFranco about the popular Youtube idol, PewDiePie, blatantly using the N word in one of his live streams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMq65CslbZA) . This got me thinking about how people do not actually listen to one another like the quote I mentioned earlier. There are a lot of people who completely ignore the context of the N word. By saying it, one brings back the outdated and not socially accepted form of racism and discrimination that is that word. Also, when they use that word, they are not listening to the many people who have shared their personal experiences of discrimination because of that word and its meaning of making another person less than you. And that is what modern culture has reverted itself back to. When you think of someone as less than you, you are less likely to take a proper stance and listen to the needs of this person. These two parts of my quote are plenty enough to show how people have forgotten how to listen. People just hear and go on their merry way continuing to make the same mistakes that we have already made in the past. Reading this quote has reassured me that I know how to listen and hopefully make a difference in whatever shape or form to someone in the future.