Chapter 12

This chapter was a nice way to sort of wrap up and recap what we have been working at all semester. The overall point I took away from this section was that "communication ethics is the call to learn about differing views" (213). I particularly liked the focus on difference and a commitment to learning  in this section, which page 227 talks a lot about, because throughout the semester I have maintained my opinion that learning is one of the most important aspect of communication and working ethically through difference. This chapter explains the importance of being able and willing to recognize difference and what needs to be done and learned to move through it. I think we have faced this type of dilemma in class discussions. Sometimes people did not agree and it became somewhat obvious, but more often than not students would be able to recognize what the differences in their contexts or opinions were and would direct questions at one another. I think this shows our willingness to learn about one another and show more empathy or acceptance of differences. The point of communication, in my opinion, is to be able to interact with others, and others will always have some differences and there must be an exchange of ideas and an aspect of learning to have effective communication.

These ideas also relate to ethics because we often came across topics like race in class that can be difficult to discuss and recognizing different backgrounds, races, and opinions helped us to interact in ways where people could share their thoughts but still recognized what would be acceptable in a multicultural classroom setting. If we have the common good of having an effective discussion and enhancing our education, we will communicate better because of it. This ties into difference as well because even though a person’s idea of what the good is may differ from another, if there is a shared good or desire to have that conversation and willingness to hear someone else out, we can learn about those goods of the other. I also really liked that this book encouraged questions because they are inherent to learning, and this chapter really summarized these ideas of learning in a way that made me recognize how well our class now communicates.

Chapter 12 Blog Post

This chapter was kind of a review of some of the main points of the book.  Although many of the concepts of Chapter 12 were discussed in other chapters of the book, their reiteration was helpful to emphasize their importance to the study of communication ethics.  I was a little surprised that there was not much new information in the chapter.  The idea of crisis communication is an important one.  This is defined by the book as dealing with different views of the good.  On page 213, it says that “Communication ethics is the call to learn about differing views of the good assumed by different positions.”  I also like how on this same page the authors talk about how we “miss the communication challenges and opportunities before us” if we “ignore the diversity of goods” (213).  In a world where difference is something that we have to learn to deal with, it is important to understand that people have different ideas about the good.

I like the way that unethical communication was defined on page 221:  “[A]ssuming that you know everything and assuming that what the other knows is not worth knowing.”  That way of thinking seems to be less common every day.  There seems to be an unprecedented level of tolerance in our country and many Americans seem to abide by what the book calls “learn and discern” (221).  Our society is much more open to a diverse range of viewpoints and lifestyles today than it has ever been before.  The chapter states that just because we may not agree with someone on the ethical aspect of a situation it does not mean that they are wrong.  Disagreement is an opportunity to learn from the Other.

There are differing views of the good and it is important that we not let our own views on a topic keep us from trying to understand the views of the Other, even if we initially do not think that we will find any common ground between our own view and theirs.  The book mentioned numerous times that living in a postmodern world means that there is no longer a universal idea of the good and because of that, it is necessary to engage in ethical communication with the Other.

Chapter 12. Communication Ethics Literacy and Difference

There are three key terms in chapter 12 such as pragmatic, crisis communication, and communication ethics literacy. This chapter was the hardest one to understand for me. The first one is pragmatic which is the need for practical engagement of ideas responsive to a particular historical moment. When I was thinking about response to a particular historical moment, I could think of many historical issues which are still being discussed until these days. For example, when Korea was a colony of Japan, Japan tried to adopt the Island called Dokdo to their territory. Also, Japan is still trying to adapt that Island. Because there are not many American people who knows about this issue, we established a student club call 'Korea's Island Dokdo', and promoting what is happening right now.
Second one is crisis communication which is an increasingly relevant metaphor for today's postmodern moment of virtue contention; the unexpected emerges and requires discernment and action as we encounter differing particular "goods" in the public domain. I could think of ability of crisis management. For example, when the Hurricane Katrina hit America, people blamed George W. Bush about his ability of crisis management. He visited the actual place of damage when people complained about that, and the government could not do anything about it. The Hurricane Katrina was unexpected emerge, and the U.S. government did not had any discernment and action about that crisis.
Third one is communication ethics literacy which identifies the good in the interplay of self and other and the particular historical moment, attending to what is protected and promoted. I could think of Muslim students when I went to library. In the library they were holding a sign that 'ask about Muslim', and they were explaining those to others. They were reading their Bible when people do not ask something which means they were doing some kind of interplay with themselves, and others who had a questions. They responded to questions about their historical moment too.

Chapter 12 Communication Ethics Literacy and Difference

I thought this chapter did a good job of wrapping up the text book and bringing it back full circle. I especially liked the closing sentence: "Such commitment (one to learning) reminds us of a basic communication ethics conviction in an age of narrative and virtue contention-- learn from difference, and as one chooses, do not lose the pragmatic necessity of doubt and 'maybe' in a time of change and recognized difference" (227). I felt like all of the major concepts that we focused on were woven in such as making sure learning is at the center of dialogue, we all have different narratives that are shaping the way that we view this postmodern world, and we should all remember that we should be responsive to the particular historical moment (pragmatic necessity) (210). However in this chapter, I particularly found the concepts of narrative and crisis communication the most interesting.

Narrative, as we all know is not a new concept to us, and we know that each of us has our own.With that being said, it is easy to fall into the individualistic trap that causes us to lose sight of the importance, feelings and beliefs of others. A question that was posed in the book also got me thinking. It said, "How and what can I learn from and about the Other's position when I am in disagreement, and how does this insight add texture to my own standpoint?" (224). I can't help but think how much change could take place in the world if instead of making judgments, people tried to understand. After finishing this text, I believe that's ultimately what ethics comes down to. If someone doesn't make an attempt to understand the underlying narratives while communicating, ethics are almost certain to break down at some point. And that brings up crisis communication. As the text points out, you will face someone whose good is different than yours at some point in time (every day here in America). That doesn't mean that we have to agree with every stance, but we are called to learn and try to understand, and then maybe we can focus more on communication rather than the crisis. An example relevant to my life is my girlfriend leads a Christian group at school, and was approached by a Muslim student about coming to one of their group meetings. Clearly there are differences between these two groups, and in certain settings the two groups are sometimes hostile towards each other. However, she saw an opportunity that by going, she could learn more about a religion, and open dialogue between the two groups. Unfortunately it hasn't happened yet, so I don't have anything else to report, but I thought this was a perfect example of how we should also strive to understand people, thus becoming the most effective and ethical communicators possible.

Chapter 12; Communication Ethics Literacy & Difference

This chapter was a very interesting read and was a very nice way for the authors to wrap up the book. The concept of learning in connection to communication ethics is somewhat weaved throughout the entirety of the book and I find it to be a profound way of looking at communication ethics. In this chapter the connection between learning and discernment as well as difference are all very interesting connections that I would have never made without the insight from the text. According to the text the first step in a period of great amounts of difference is to learn about the difference of which we do not know and then to continue with good judgement, or discernment, from that of which we have learned (207-208). This person who teaches us, the Other, can be anyone. As a student I consider this person to be a teacher or professor specifically. The connections between these three concepts, learning, difference, and discernment, make me think of my Intercultural Communications class specifically. We learn so much about these other cultures and their customs and all of these different concepts and communication styles they use and what they consider to be the good. After we learn about this good etc. it is up to us to use our good judgement or discernment to decide what we do with the knowledge or information we aquire from the Other. Since people have different views of the good what we learn from the Other might not agree or align with our own personal sense of the good. Each individuals differing views of what they consider to be the good is where the concept of difference is born (212). Because of this we are able to think what we would like in relation to what we learn to be the good and what we think to be the good.

Chapter 12

Communication ethics is an area that is defined by a lot of differences. Not only is it hard to make one solid definition, but it is difficult to argue and discuss if one is being unethical. In order for us to be effective communicators, it is essential that we learn about the other's opinions and the learn about the discernment between the two (p. 210). The pragmatic view is really important in ethics because it gives both people a way to express their own views of what the "good" is, and then be able to bounce back and forth off of one another. This leads to another important factor of crisis communication. This concept recognizes just how different people are when it comes to communicating, and that since people's behaviors are different, then they are going to respond differently. When the public sphere is breached or interrupted, it is extremely beneficial for people to negotiate what their views of the good are (p. 214).

As time goes on, there aren't as many specific goods, and there are many more views of what the good actually is. So, this makes it even more difficult to decipher. Understanding narrative theory helps us to understand our own backgrounds and others backgrounds in order to understand just why we act the way we act. Or where our thoughts of the good comes from (p. 215). There must be a willingness to learn about another, and without that, there isn't anything to be gained. The other will become upset, and the conversation will have gone backwards.

One example I have of this is from my catholic high school. My religion teacher was very, very conservative. In one of our classes, he told us that being gay was a sin, and that one should just try to be straight and try to rid their thoughts out of their brain about the same sex that they were attracted to. This upset many students in my class. But, some of the students started personally attacking him instead of having a conversation with him that made them see where he was coming from. Had they known that he had grown up in a very traditional home, they would have been able to be more empathetic towards him, but instead, the conversation completely escalated. The good wasn't defined by either parties, so the conversation continued to escalate.

All in all, that is just one example that shows if both people aren't able to listen to the other, then neither good will be present.

In Honor of Fancy Pants

https://storify.com/latha025/domestic-violence-is-at-an-all-time-high-men-focus