Blog Post #3: Comm 160-001 - John Maloney

In our text book, Communication: A critcal/Cultural Introduction, it states about Advocacy Through Dialogue, " A simple and underestimated way of building understanding that we often think we are doing, when we are really just recentering ourselves. For dialogue to be possible, we must see the other person as a subject - as a person who has knowledge, who is just as important and unique as we are. To engage in dialogue means listening to the the other person as someone with something important to say and to the best or our ability, encountering him/her with humility and generosity."

In our current state of affairs, our politicians, though they say they advocate on our behalf, they are far from being true advocates. There is little listening. Many politicians only listen so long as we agree with their core values and so long as they feel listening is in their best interest, like increasing odds of reelection. Very few politicians listen with intent. If more politicians were open to true dialogue and put more effort into understanding their constituents, I believe more change could be possible. If our elected officials, who are suppose to list to us, have better things to do than to listen to us, then true change is just pie in the sky.

Attitudes toward open dialogue and communication must start with individuals and more effort needs to be placed in listening to the needs of the voters who put them into office. Take the recent debate on Gun Control for example. Many people want meaningful gun legislation, but many politicians don't want to have an honest dialogue in fear of upsetting the NRA, a powerful gun-lobyying organization. Change cannot be affected in in this country until our elected officials become our true advocates and willingly listen to our concerns and our hopes and fears.

If the elected officials, people we vote for and who are suppose to listen to us, can't be open to truthful dialogue, how are we to make progress toward meaningful change in our country. Without open dialogue we will remain stagnant as we are today.

Warren, J.T., and Fassett, D.L. (2015), Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction 2nd Edition, Sage Publications, 246-247.