Rights 4 Sale

It is deserving of a whole study by itself, but it is probably clear to most that communication is the most important ingredient in peoples’ relationships. 

Actions or things that stop or that block communication cause us to dislike the thing with which we can’t communicate.  A good example would be the tax code.  It is 7,500 pages long (if printed 60 lines to a page, which it isn’t) and there is probably not a CPA or tax attorney on earth that understands all of it.  The average citizen understands a fraction of a percent of the tax code and, guess what, doesn’t like it at all.

The same is true of the heath care bills.  They are 2,00o pages and people, even congress men and women, don’t know what’s in it.  It’s so complicated that the average citizen can’t communicate with it and, guess what, doesn’t like it at all.

There are many more examples.  Cap and Trade legislation.  Financial practices regarding complex investments.  Federal statutes.  They are all complex and hard to communicate with.

So, if you want people to dislike something, just be sure to block their communication in some way and they will not like it, won’t agree about it and will not understand it.

Someone can make a rational decision not to like or support something after learning about it, but the key word here is rational.  Open communication and people can make a self-determined, rational choice.  Cut communication and you guarantee that people will not like it.

In a sane, open and democratic society, those things that increase communication are good and those things that cut communication will cause us to succumb.

It’s unfortunate that people think these things are communication.  They are communication vehicles, but they are not the communication.  A communication is an exchange of ideas between two or more people.

It involves recognizing to whom you are communicating.  Communicating a message in an undirected way (talking to the wind) is not effective.  Nobody will receive the communication.

The recipient of the communication needs to comprehend what was said.  The message needs to be understandable and digestible.

Communication is two-way.  There has to be a way for the audience for a communication to responds, even if it’s just sending money or showing support.  Ultimately, being able to actually answer the communication would be the best scenario.  That could actually be done using the Internet.

Conservatives lost the election because they were unable to reach large segments of the voting population.  The Party heads now think that getting some computers and hiring some tech-savvy geeks will solve the problem.  That won’t close the gap.

What will really work is education and realizing what actual communication is.  Communication is an exchange of ideas between PEOPLE.  It involves knowing what your message is and know to whom you are communicating.  It’s hard to do because it takes a lot of discipline not to depend on the attraction of technology.   It’s a lot of fun to play with the technology, but it may not do anything to help communicate a message.