I found this chapter fairly interesting being that I have talked about the public and private spheres before. This chapter is broken down into three categories, 1) Public discourse, 2) Public decision making, and 3) Differentiation of public and private space. The main idea for the first category on public discourse is that it, "works to protect and promote the public good," (p. 101). The second category on public decision making discusses how, The public arena is not a place of ideology where there is one idea; it is a robust place of multiple perspectives and ideas," (p. 103). I think this point relates back to the last chapter, that learning is a key component of communication ethics and we have to be open to others' ideas in order for there to be any dialogue or public decision making.
The last category of this chapter, differentiation of public and private space, I found to be the most interesting. I first want to start off by saying that in a world like we live in today with all this technology, I find it difficult to differentiate the two. The book states that, "The infusion of the public into the private occurs as we blur the differences between the realms," (p. 107). The example of the person checking their email at a football game stood out to me the most. With our bosses being able to call us or text us at any point of day, it is like we never have a private life and are constantly available for their convenience. For example, my boss sends me emails all the time when I am not working but am with my boyfriend (private), yet I am expected to respond because it is the right thing in order for me to be liked by my owner. The book also tells us that, "When the wrong communicative space (public or private) invades the other, a fundamental communication ethics violation occurs," (p. 107). I want to know what draws the line for us to decide if we are in a public space or a private space. It seems to me that this is hard to distinguish.
I agree with you completely when you say that it's difficult to differentiate between the public and private sphere. I would almost be inclined to say that I feel like there is no such thing as a true public sphere. It's kind of like common sense. We have an idea and a definition of what it is, but we accept the fact that it doesn't really exist in our postmodern world with so many different narratives. Likewise, I think we can have a theoretical public sphere, but to exclude the private sphere is becoming increasingly more and more difficult. Like you said, even when we're not trying, our boss will send us an email or maybe our friend will send us a text, and all of a sudden our private lives leak into our public lives.Or let's say we're in a what we might deem a public setting. Can we really count on every individual to promote and protect the public good? Technically all it takes is one hidden agenda for that to be ruined. So not only do we have to hold ourselves accountable, but we would have to be able to trust that others would keep their private lives out and that isn't always easy when private lives sometimes unintentionally make their way in such as through a text. But did a public arena ever really exist? Some would say the Greek agora, but even that was mostly males, and were they able to separate private from public all the time?
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