September Blog Post- Audrey Garcia

Community has been a vital concept since the beginning of civilization. Science has proven that when a living thing is not apart of the community it’s survival rate is significantly smaller than those who are proactive in there’s. In Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction there is a specific line that made me take a complete different perspective on community that doesn’t involve biological reasons. The authors state that they believe “communication makes a community”. ( Warren and Fasset, p. 40)  Through our numerous years of schooling, students look at why community is important through the lens of science. We have been repeatedly taught that a community consist of all the organisms in that environment and how important each individual role is for the overall success. But the authors in Communication: A Critical/Cultural Introduction give the reader a different outlook that it’s one of our roles in society to help change the community through communication.  When there is a societal issue in the community or something that you think needs to be changed you can change it just through expressing your voice in the community.

Facebook is a place that is a hub for communication with other people.  When people effectively communicate through Facebook they can inform people of issues that is happening in the community. A perfect example is the pit bull ban in Montreal, Canada. People are outraged, not just in the community but worldwide. There is a currently a petition that has 70,000 signatures calling the Montreal government to repeal there Breed Specific Legislation. After numerous locals posted about the new legislation passed in their city, the SPCA and local veterinarians have vocally came out and said they will not support the euthanasia of animals for no reason. They will break any contract with the local government if they don’t repeal this ban. Hopefully the outrage will lead the local officials to change the law. But because communication happened in the community it highlighted that this law was not popular among the citizens and a change has to happen for them to be satisfied. Facebook is a place that has open communication barriers and people join together to  make differences in there community. In my opinion, I think its one of the beauties of social media.

I didn’t realize the importance of communication when it came to the impact on the community. When we communicate with a colleague or a friend it’s very rare we don’t share our opinions about topics. Effective communication between people creates discussions that can lead to a change in something. Facebook is a platform for people to make and shape their community. There are tons of Facebook pages for all types of communities. Cities and towns have Facebook pages where the people of the community can actively talk about issues and improvements needed. When enough people get together and start communicating about the next steps to productively change their community, it supports the idea that communication makes the community. We often overlook the importance of communication and how much it constantly evolves our society.

Warren, J. T., & Fassett, D. L. (2011). Communication: A critical/cultural introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

September Blog Post - Language

Growing up, I always believed that actions spoke louder than words. Well, that was until I read a sentence in the book, Communication: A Critical Cultural Introduction, written by John T. Warren and Deanna L. Fasset. The book states, “Words are more than “just words.” Words build, sustain, and challenge power and privilege. Words act” (pg. 89). In class, we discussed how powerful language can be and how the use of it can be interpreted differently. How language is used is so important because when speaking to someone of the same culture or different can be misunderstood easily.

The book gave a great example of how powerful language can be and how it can be interpreted differently. It says,

“The person next to you asks you to stop talking. This may or may not cause you to stop your behavior; you might ignore him/her and finish your conversation. But let’s imagine the teacher asks you the same thing – to stop talking during the lecture; this request might be more important, of greater value or consequence, than your peer’s request” (pg. 89).

I thought this statement was great because not only does it show how important it is used but also by who uses it. In this case, we see that if an individual, who doesn’t have high authority, uses this kind of language, than no one will listen to him/her. But if an individual, who does have high authority, uses it, than people will obviously listen to them more.This brings me to my case that i wanted to talk about.

After everything that has been going on around the United States, I thought it was only fair that I used an image that would speak to most of us. The language shown here is obviously very powerful, but it hasn’t been powerful enough because of tragedies like the Dallas riot. In this past year we have seen so much hate between African-Americans and the law enforcement, it hasn't changed. We all come from different back grounds, but we are all people and all lives matter. If you are white, Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Arabian, etc. We all matter. But we dont see that or listen to it until someone who has the power to do something about it speaks up. Granted not every situation is like that, but a majority of the ones that are, have the chance to be fixed by the language we speak. If we speak up, we can overpower anything and anyone because, words are actions and actions are done because of the words we have spoken.

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Will Bardezbain

Ivey, Christina. Comm 160

September 29^th, 2016

Blog #1

“Fear is ultimately the reason I have survived” – Andres Gomez. In this article called ‘Fear: Beneath the Façade’ Gomez is explaining how ever since his toddler years he has been afraid of nearly everything, from the dark, to needing glasses, to not having friends, even being afraid of his parents divorcing. He explains how terrified he was constantly and was living with great anxiety. He also mentions the fact that ever since he was little he has experienced and observed that whenever he got scared or another little boy around him got scared, they were told to “man up” and told to toughen up, as a way to overcome fear and exude the predominate manly persona. This here can be linked back to chapter six and relates to identity and perception, as a boy he was confused about identity because he felt scared and he perceived being a “man” was to be tough and buck up to fear. What he experienced as a child was different than what was expected of him causing him to not feel accepted into his surrounding culture. This is more of an issue that he was never explained that his ‘perception’ was failing him. He fails to realize that he actually contradicts himself in his writings by first rejecting the concept of “toughing up” and then embraces it by eventually overcoming all of his fears. I don’t think “toughing up” is necessarily a male thing exclusively, it may be expressed more outwardly but females must toughen up as well, or else we would all be living in constant fear and crying all of the time. I think it is taken out of context in the way that he is relating toughing up to a gender rather than just a motivational phrase like saying “let’s go” or “come on, you can do this”. If someone feels inadequate because they were told to toughen up and then were unable to accomplish the task being asked of them, then that also relates back to chapter six definition of social construction. It is kind of a flakey article because he is just playing a victim type of role then says that “fear, ultimately, is the reason I have survived” when in fact courage is what helped him overcome his insecurities. Now if he had been running from his fears to survive this would be a different article and he would be correct. Example being, someone sees a bear in the woods, first reaction, fear, one could simply respect the fear and run away to get away from the bear, but the bear would still remain. Or one could decide to neglect the fear and kill the bear, ultimately eliminating the fear. Which is what this author did in this article, not realizing that he in fact is an example of symbolic interactionism (also chapter six), by being told to buck up and toughen up, at first he rejected that theory, feeling inadequate, but he became tired of being afraid, in order to overcome his inadequacy, he then embraced toughness. The definition of toughness according to Dictionary.com is, strong and durable. There is no correlation between being tough and being a man. Nor that toughness is only a physical trait. The only correlation is that some people believe that toughness has to be assigned a gender role, but that is their own ‘perception’ due to lack of explanation. Some of the toughest people in the world are women, and they at some point in their lives had to be courageous and overcome fears to be that way as well. Manly to me is more of an adult reference, like “grow up”. Little kids have fears no matter the gender, if you don’t embrace growth you will remain either a little boy or a little girl. If a man is not ‘tough’ he is not ‘manly’, if a woman is not ‘tough’ she is ‘womanly’. I speak for myself when I say nobody wants a bunch of whiney, inadequate people running around because they don’t want to face their fears and grow up. So toughen up, it’s for your own best interest.

Citations

"The Definition of Toughness." Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.

Warren, John T., and Deanna L. Fassett. Communication: A Critical/cultural Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2011. Print. Chapter Six. Pages 99-105.

September Blog Post

In our book, there is a section that discusses “our individual positions as listeners,” which encompasses the different experiences we have all had that shape our understanding of certain situations. This highlights how each person that we might come into contact with will not know our background, just as we will not know their background. This means that we should be empathetic and compassionate towards others when communicating with them in order to be great communicators. I think this concept is important to talk about because if we try to think beyond ourselves when talking to strangers, it makes us better communicators and we can accomplish more in the conversation. 

In class on Tuesday, September 26^th, we discussed school dress codes in high schools. It made me reflect about my own experience with dress code in my past in a way I never had before. I did not used to think about my experiences with school dress codes because I thought it was normal. I thought everyone had dress codes because that was how I was raised and something I experienced regularly. As I reflect on this part of my childhood, I realize that is because of how I was raised. I grew up in a Lutheran household, going to a Lutheran Middle School, and graduating from a Lutheran High School. Even outside of school, I felt like there was a certain dress code I should be following so I looked like everyone else. All my friends were similar to me, so we were all more conservative with our clothing as children.

It wasn’t until 8^th grade when I started to realize how strict our dress codes were. There was a “fingertip rule” for girls’ skirts, which is really weird when you think about a grown adult checking to make sure their students’ skirts were not reaching further than their fingertips. My parents were pretty conservative with my upbringing, so I never really had an issue with dress code rules, but my friends were constantly being stopped by administration in high school to discuss their outfit. It was annoying to have to walk the long way to class with those friends because they were afraid of being stopped, and that is really when I started to notice how dress codes were hurting more than they were helping.

This is a social issue that I think is important to talk about because it is giving young girls a certain expectation for what they are and aren't supposed to wear, which ties into what they think their personalities are supposed to be like as women. If we are constantly telling young girls to dress a certain way in order to not distract boys, this makes them feel like they also have to have personalities that boys like. It also tells them that the way they dress is more important than their education. Their school day is interrupted by an adult telling them that the way they are dressed is distracting to boys, so they have to change.

How has this become a norm in our society? How is shaming girls in front of of their peers an okay thing to do? Young girls are very impressionable and therefore should not be treated like that. I think opening up the conversation about changing dress code standards to be more equal for boys and girls is important because it can open the conversation about gender equality overall. Our society has recently started making changes to the way we talk about gender equality, and I believe this is very important to actually making changes for our society. This conversation is not just important for women, but also for men and for reaching a more equal society overall.

Blog post September - Guillaume Paquette-Jetten

“For years I was daunted by the expectations, as though I had to live up to her idea of who she thought I was (although I knew I was everything but).” This sentence, taken from the text “Fear” by Andres Gomez, is a strong example of how (and why) individuals end up creating (and performing) an impression of themselves that they can show in public.

In fact, Andres, as explained in the text, is afraid to show his true self even to his mom, because he feels that she has, like most of society, expectations of him being strong, brave and manly (like a man should be). The strongest social pressure here comes from people close to him that are adhering to generalized beliefs of how he (as a man) should act. Under such circumstances, an individual will most likely create (or try to create) an impression of himself that fits those social expectations in order to be accepted.

Developing up on that idea seen in class that every individual has at least two versions of himself (a “front of stage” version shown to everyone and a “backstage” version kept mainly to himself), I will rapidly explain here why I believe that our society is preventing its own members of reaching a state of true happiness, which is strongly paradoxical considering that happiness is seen as an universal goal and used as a motivation to influence our actions.

Many religious branches and theories, mostly those related to buddhism, will defend that the closer the two versions of yourself are (frontstage and backstage), the happier you are. In theory this makes perfect sense, because if you act freely as yourself, without trying to meet any expectations and without letting social pressure cram you into a mold where you don’t belong, you can mind your own business and enjoy life simply. Unfortunately, we are preventing ourselves from reaching this stage by pressuring each others into different molds where, in the end, nobody truly fits.

As shown by Andres text, the strongest pressure but also the strongest support will most likely be the one coming from people close to the person. Instead of pointing the overall societal system as the problem, individuals should simply concentrate on supporting those close to them that seem to be walking off the beaten path, because that’s where main changes will immerse at first.

Blog September - Anne Ruiz

“Who we are is the result of repeated actions”. I chose this quote as I think we are not what we do or how we do it, but the result of what we have experienced and been through in our lives. The mistakes we made in our past are the result of who we are today and every wound would shape who we are until we leave this world behind. We are not just how we dress or our behaviors, people can think we are in a way just for what they see from the outside but that’s not who we are. Who we are is what we have learnt from past experiences that are building us as persons in the future.

B.J. Neblett said:

“We are the sum total of our experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influence and reshape the person we are, and the person we become. None of us are the same as we were yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.”

We  are constantly changing ourselves and becoming better than we were the day before by what we gain from everything that happens. Even if those experiences are good or bad, they are going to mark us.

To my mind, this is really important when referring to culture as we tend to see people as what they are rather than how they are. For example these days everyone is scared of terrorists because of what is happening all around the globe. But is it fair to be scared of every single Muslim just for being part of that religion? Shouldn’t we just try to stop prejudging and seeing further from we can see with our eyes? How would you feel if that happened to you?

It’s so sad but true that people tend to stereotype people from what they see in the outside without even thinking how they are in the inside. I think people should talk once they have experienced before judging someone from their facade.

Kambri Smith-September Blog Post

The Importance of Listening in Communication

Most human are born with ears and the ability to hear. As babies, we grow encountering many sounds, learning to distinguish the sound of a truck from the voice of a human being like our parents. Although we are surrounded by many sounds each day, we have to actively engage by listening to one particular sound. Did you catch the word I used? We have to actively engage by listening to one particular sound. The distinction between hearing and listening is that hearing is a passive act that most are born with whereas listening is an active interaction, a skill that needs to be developed.

In Professor Christina Ivey’s COMM 160 class at Boise State, she brought this to our class’s attention, wanting to make aware this idea of compassionate listening. Listening is defined as a stance or way of engaging others that is shaped by context, individual experience, and cultural expectations. Many people engage in conversations for personal gain, and fail to take others seriously by refusing to truly listen. Going back to what I said previously, no one wakes up one day and becomes a great communicator by being a compassionate listener, it is a skill that takes practice. To be an effective communicator, you need to develop this skill, by putting ourselves aside and “try to engage change in our relationships and positions in the word by listening to learn from the other.” (Ivey) To do this, we must recognize the barriers we put into place that makes it difficult.

Walking through campus, the one thing I find most common between students is a set of headphones, connected to a device. Being guilty of this, I find myself in many interactions with others only half-engage into what they are saying; being too focused on the incoming text I received from a friend. I believe this definitely has affected compassionate communication between people and even can become a tool of avoid-ant behavior to not talk to others. Stated in Communication- A Critical/Cultural Introduction by Warren & Fassett, it is stated “I do not merely hear with my ears, I hear with my whole body. My ears are at best the focal organs of hearing.”(pg. 44) If we show ourselves to be non-verbally avoid-ant to participate in communication and listening with others, we will never practice compassionate listening with others. Breaking this barrier can be extremely difficult, but “listening to learn from the other in a way of enacting change in our relationships and positions in the world,”(Ivey) is a step to understanding the affect we have. One of the pictures I have provided in this blog describes 7 ways to develop active listening skills, by being attentive, asking questions, being attuned to non-verbal communication, and clarifying with the other person. These can make a conversation with the potential to go south, fly way past the second star to the right and straight on till morning.

            One step I have taken to grow, is realizing the amount of time I disconnect from others by being on my phone. By being self-absorbed in my phone, I have failed to realize the amount of neglect that I put on others. Another picture I have provided shows a man and woman at a restaurant. Thinking of the man being completely oblivious of the woman’s feelings, I am reminded of how many times I have found myself in the same situation. For many young adults these days, this can become a habit, but also can be broken. Everyone will continue in the same self-serving cycle of commutation with each other, hearing each other instead of truly listening if we don’t seek to be compassionate listeners. I believe by realizing the barriers that we put on ourselves, we can truly understand where we are at as listeners. Once we come to full-realization, we can begin to start on the journey of becoming good communicators and truly learn to engage and listen to our fellow human beings. 

Warren, John T., and Deanna L. Fassett. Communication: A Critical/cultural Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2011. Print.  

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