Archiv der Kategorie: Communication

Communication consists of perception, thought models and communication behavior.

Evaporates the public opinion?

We all have our look at the conditions of the world. Currently http://ow.ly/GeMxx billions of people lives in the world. Unfortunately it is difficult from the perspective of political and economical decision makers to deal appropriately with this incredible number of views. For this reason, one considers the view points of groups, e.g. government, enterprise, lobby and other groups of interests. A universal point of view is the public opinion that represents the majority of the society. These attitudes and behaviors are detected through representative surveys. Whereas in former times people were shaped by common upbringing, education, books and mass media, today an enormous amount of channels and institutions stand equal side by side. As a consequence everyone seeks heaven in his own fashion. Does the public opinion still exist? Or does the public opinion evaporates as a practical tool from the public discourses?

WirsinddasVolk

If the commonalities of a society dissolve, the resilience is at risk, …

  • … because common sense is no longer seizable
    In the past, people were influenced with news by common channels, e.g. the local daily papers as well as the public radio and TV stations. This created a common state of knowledge and convictions. With the emergence of special-interest channels and the Internet today everyone is in the position to select ones sources. Thus, the commonalities get lost. Each perspective is cultivated and evolves in its respective direction. Therefore a common sense of the smaller groups emerges. The large, social common sense is lost thereby.
  • … because culture dissolves more and more
    Through the advancing fragmentation of the society it becomes more difficult to recognize the core elements of culture (more here: http://www.memecon.com/cultural-aspects.html). Languages, actions, attitudes, experiences and the identity are increasingly scattered across different groups. Over time incompatible groups evolve that are in competition with each other. In order to come to a common direction, for all parties’ acceptable compromises have to be concluded. The call for a common culture becomes stronger.
  • … because social cohesion disappears
    As a consequence, people orient themselves increasingly towards their group. This leads to a developing delimitation from others and a stronger emotional binding to the values of the own group. The existing energy for the common tasks is consumed in favor of petty disputes. The general problems remain unresolved and the societal commonalities get lost.
  • … because the large parties dissolve
    Even the Grand Coalition of Germany represents only 48% of all voters, considering a polling of 71,5% http://ow.ly/GeSHe. The CDU/CSU (18.3 million voters) received together just little more votes than the non-voters (17.6 million). Democracy created itself rules, in order to remain functional with such circumstances. The consequences are more and more parties and ever more populists.
  • … because the basis for governmental decisions evaporates
    With the political voting results, the parties govern without the support of the majority of the voters. This leads to a rising discontent and more public demonstrations. The new culture of protest is practiced by all segments of the population. The malicious way that the established parties show the various activists understanding is an indication for their lack of ideas of how to grapple with these groups.

The gaps that arise create the room for groups that promise to the public, what they want to hear. Populist forces already exploited in the twentieth century the weakness of many small parties. The consequences were horrifying. Without an extensive consent between the citizens that becomes visible in a convincing public opinion, we spin into an undesirable, well-known direction. Did decision makers learn something from it? Which measures do they take? Do we have to accept that history repeats itself? And afterwards again nobody knew something?
In the meantime the public opinion becomes so little meaningful that on its basis only a few commonalities can be found – except for the xenophobic developments.

P.S.: The same mechanisms can be found in corporations within their framework of the Corporate Identity.

Five ear sharpeners

The conversation is an important tool, in order to exchange ideas. In this case, you should formulate your own statements in such a way that the counterparts are able to understand the meaning. The second important task is to listen. Only if statements are attentively heard and processed, one perceives, which point of views the others have and how they underline their own view. Certain set phrases have much to say. These so-called ear sharpeners are a key to the attitudes of the dialogue partners.

Ohrenspitzer

The following five ear sharpeners are examples of the magic of words that frame the actual messages.

  • Yes, but…
    The positive feedback that is produced by a ‘yes’, is always welcome. The following ‘however’ converts the affirmative feedback into negative. This ‘no’ told in a roundabout way is sometimes not heard and leads to longtime misunderstandings.
    Example: Yes, that is a very strong argument, but many reasons speak against it.
  • Everyone knows that…
    Ambali Sanogo, in Burkina Faso, surely does not know. Thus, not EVERYONE knows. Yet, this empty phrase is frequently used, in order to emphasis the saying and to prevent contradictions right from the start. Who wants to show a lack of understanding, if everyone else knows?
    Example: Everyone knows that facts are indisputable.
  • It is important to me, …
    Some politicians, fights for airtime, by cutting others short with the personal need to say the important by all means. This set phrase is noticeable, if it is repeated frequently.
    Example: It is important to me, to refer here again to the necessity.
  • To be honest …
    If a statement starts with these words, one can assume that someone says the truth. At the same time, you could become suspicious about other statements. Do you have to expect that all statements that are not started by this set phrase are distrustful?
    Example: To be honest, I have no understanding for this behavior.
  • After careful consideration I decided to check, whether …
    Since listeners loose their attention after the first words, mainly political oriented speakers are using this kind of introduction. Some listeners only hear the decision without looking at the actual contents of the decision. Thus, some non-decision makers seem to have an active personality.
    Example: I decided to consider, whether this decision can be taken into account at all.

Bottom line: As soon as you hear one of these ear sharpeners, be aware, because there is additional information between the lines that gives the message another meaning. The ear sharpeners reveal these intentions.