Blog Post #2: Comm 160-001 John Maloney

           In her work "Between Speech, and Silence: Reflections on Accountability," Ann Russo stated, “Active listening implies an openness to a more collective process, one in which those most privileged are not at the center, and one in which our ideas and our selves are open to modification, change and transformation” (36).

Our current president, Donald Trump does not seem to understand this. He has no idea how to listen actively and is definitely not open to the idea of transforming his understanding and beliefs to anything other than his own. He is constantly in the news due to his excessive and often kneejerk reactions which he copiously posts on twitter. He does not thoughtfully consider anyone’s viewpoint but his own. A recent CNN article pointed this out when the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, told President Donald Trump on Monday that "we need a little less tweeting here and a little more listening."

President Trump is showing by is inability to actively listen that he doesn’t care about what others feel or believe and shows that his views are the most important. He tweets based on his gut feeling and personal worldview, which is not open to altering or changing in the slightest degree, let alone genuinely transforming his world view to consider to the feelings and thoughts of other people. He is showing the world that it is okay to be loud and boisterous and that he is above listening to the thoughts and feelings of the people around him.

He tweets from a position of power. A position of white male, anglo-saxon hegemonic power. By his tweets he is placing the thoughts and ideas of others in a position of less importance than his. Anyone who disagrees with him is either a “hack” or, is propagating “fake news”. In a society that is becoming more and more politically polarized, we need to be open, now more than ever, to other people’s viewpoints and not dismiss then outright. We need to actively listen and engage in open conversation. If we do, we may actually learn something new and will be able to relate to people better. We might even change, and that is not a bad thing.

Russo, A., (2013). Between Speech and Silence: Reflections on            Accountability, Silence, Feminism, Power, 34-49.

Gray, N. (2018). Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to Trump: More listening, less tweeting. CNN Politics. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/politics/jay-inslee-donald-trump-tweeting/index.html