Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Politics and economy of communication


Words, words and words...And words. It is often good to see how multi cultural communications operate. People from some cultures and countries speak less and speak with precision. And some others belong to the opposite camp. Speak endlessly. And most of south Asians, particularly Indians tend to belong to the overtly oral culture. It may have something to do with deeper anthropology.
When I used to live in Norway, I noted that people are more democratic in their communicative culture and patiently wait for their turn to express. In UN Human Rights Council civil society gets only 90 seconds to speak. To speak for 90 seconds, one needs to prepare for at least 3 hours. But to speak endlessly, you don't often need any preparation. The more you prepare, every word you speak will be chosen carefully to mean precisely.
In the big global conference, even key note speakers do not speak more than 20 minutes and usual panel discussions will be for less than ten minutes. In many conference in India, the welcome speech will.itself often takes 30 minutes and many panelists will say that they could not travel simply to speak for ten or twenty minutes. The fact of the matter is it requires a lots more preparation to speak for five or ten minutes than speak for one hour.
Another issue is the tone, manner and content of communications. Same message can be communicated in pleasant or unpleasant manner; in an abrasive or peaceful manner; in a domineering or humble manner; in a dismissive manner or distinctive manner; in a subversive manner or supportive manner. Because communication is politics and an expression of power relations.
Some knowingly or unknowingly are either patriarchal or patronising in their communicative culture. Often those with internalized hierarchies of mind often end up communicating in hierarchical manner. Many are domineering and dominating communications. Some are more dialogical.

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