Taking Resposibility

The social constructionist model states that most of what we know and believe about the world comes to us through communication rather than through direct experience. They also said that in order to improve communication skills, we should take responsibility for the things we talk about and the way we talk about them.

This statement started me to thinking about racism, stereotyping, and things of this nature. Many people have been raised in households of poor communicators, let alone thinkers. But think about it, where did they get their logic.

From generation to generation, many cultures have been and continue to be (negatively) stereotyped. There's no need to make a list of cultures and examples because we've all heard our share. Sadly enough, bad information sticks around way longer than it should.

Which leads me to say, poor communication is like gossip. The first definition of gossip is trifling talk, esp. about other persons. I want to point out that the dictionary's definition of trifling means something trivial or insignificant, to deal with something lightly or idly, and to waste time.

Therefore, to me poor communication is a waste of my time. I've been in "short" conversations with poor communicators because a lot of the time they are talking about nothing but the same old thing. Sometimes I would like to have a deeper conversation with them, but I can't because some of the information or logic they choose to share is flawed. Unfortunately, they spend too much time talking about their flawed concept and not enough time researching what they think or wish they knew.

A gossiper likes to discuss other people's affairs, especially if their negative. Like those who hold truth to the many stereotypes of cultures, besides their own. Lack of good communication and the ability to put cultural biases aside has caused much devastation in the world.