Week 4: Post 2

According to the rationality premise the average person can be trusted to make good decisions. After talking this over with my roommates, I have decided that yes I do believe that most people are capable of discovering the truth through logical analysis. Democracies as well as free enterprise are both social institutions that are based on this premise.

In the case of the perfectibility premise, I do not believe nor do I care if people are born into sin or if they achieve goodness later in life. I believe that people are born with a clean slate and what we do either makes our slate dirty or keeps it clean, if that makes sense. And obviously this premise is used in the teachings of many religions.

I definitely agree with the mutability premise which assumes that human behavior is shaped by environmental factors. The fact that general education follows this premise makes me agree with it all the more because of how important education is in life. Education is not only important because it gets your better jobs and presents you with more opportunities but if the whole world was educated, it would be a much better place.

Week 4: Post 1

I think that we are definitely “creatures of our culture” and that it is very difficult to break through culture. Especially in our country the culture is almost impossible to escape. In different parts of the country there are different types of culture but there is definitely a shared culture among the United States. I read a book that was called “Hello, I’m Special” and it is about how nonconformity is conforming. It is like a never ending circle in a way; you think you’re becoming and individual and escaping popular culture but in the end you’re just like a million other people. I think the only way in which to escape one’s culture it to move to a different country where the culture is completely different and then still it is going to be hard to let go of your culture completely.

Week 3: Post 3

After doing a presentation on nonverbal communication in my intercultural class I have always thought that it is interesting that it differs in different cultures. There are small gestures like having your thumb and index finger touching in a circle means one thing in the United States and completely different things in other places that might also be offensive in other places. But then there are gestures like holding up a pointer and middle finger that usually mean peace in most places although it was originally a V for victory. I think it’s awesome that there are also international gestures are understood by most everyone. If you need help in the water and you wave your arms above your head people will know that you need help just like if you were to point to you wrist people would understand that you were talking about the time. It’s a way of cultures communicating with each other although we might not speak the same language and that definitely comes in handy.

Week 3: Post 2

I was super excited when I first read this question because I instantly had an example pop into my head. If any of you have watched Dexter then you know that the character Deb has the worst potty mouth ever! I always watch the show with my boyfriend and his roommate and they always mention how unattractive it is that Deb curses all the time but it is completely fine that male characters do. Why is it that when women cuss it’s unattractive but men think it is normal for men to use the same language? In this way I think that men and women use language very differently. In music we are seeing more and more women using bad language to express themselves and that is definitely more accepted than it is when men are using the same language and I find that very interesting. I think it’s because people see women as being independent and comfortable with themselves when they use bad language while men are just being rude and obscene. But to answer the question, yes I do feel that women and men do use language differently.

Week 3: Post 1

I feel like it is impossible, for me anyways, to meet or even see people without automatically judging them. After realizing that I do know these people in any way I started to realize how awful it is to judge them the first instant I see them. Now when I see people and think, “why would they ever wear that?” I think to myself, “Linzy, maybe that is just their style, people probably say the same thing about what you’re wearing.” I still judge people but most of the time I am able to catch myself when I realize everyone is an individual. I think the only way to make the judgments is to catch yourself and realize that you’re judging someone you may not know a thing about. Also, just remember that people are judging you too whether it be about your hair or your style or the color of your skin or your sexuality. Just be careful what you think about other people even though most of the time what you think stays in your head.

Week 2: Post 3

A concept that I found was useful and important from chapter 10 is the concept of creating a relationship with the audience. Not only do you have to create a relationship with the audience but it also has to be an appropriate relationship depending on your audience. Everyone is an individual and everyone will like things that maybe other people don’t and so you have to pick and choose the right things that you want to say and make sure that the audience will respond positively to your speech. The same speech can be given to a group of adults and a group of children, but the way in which the speech is presented needs to drastically change. While the content of the speech may be the same and the general message is the same, the message is delivered in a much different way because of the audience change. Like the book says, audience adaptation is not lying to your audience; it just means making a message relevant and understandable, which is what needs to be done when speaking to different groups of people.