Final week, question 3

Overall, this class is one of the most enjoyable classes that I've been "in." What I really liked most was that I could be myself, and for the most part, had free reign in my discussions. Oh sure, there were guidelines, but they were fairly loose, and I did not feel that there was someone constantly watching over my shoulder to make sure that I was doing right; I felt that I was trusted to make decisions that I thought would be beneficial to the class, and if I needed help, it would be there. I didn't really have any complaints about the class. It was relaxed, and I felt I could post what I thought/felt without someone taking major offense to what I had to say. Overall I thought it was very interesting, and the concepts that I learned helped to put all kinds of communication into perspective for me, and taught me that there is a theory behind almost everything.

Final Week, question 2

While we spent a lot of time talking about concepts this semester, there was one that I felt we could have covered more. Rather, it's not a concept, but a chapter. I know that I talked in my earlier post that I enjoyed talking about the cultural communication chapter, but I think we should have spent more time on it.

Cultural indifference is such a problem in this society. I feel that while we live in a country that accepts people of all different backgrounds, we are still so culturally ignorant. We can sit here and say that we accept them and they should have the freedom to express themselves, but we still look down on those who are so very different than ourselves. The idea that we could truly accept someone for being different, and not look at it as a threat to our own selves would be a wonderful change that I think we should try and embrace more, and we can do that by educating people about other cultures, and spending more time teaching people to embrace that which is different.

Final week, question 1

Reviewing this semester and the concepts that we covered, there are quite a few concepts that I found to be interesting. One of the most interesting was the entire idea of dyadic communication. When we covered this we got to analyze a recent conflict that we had been in through out journal assignment. I really enjoyed this; it let me look back at a conflict that I had with my boyfriend, and analyze it in a way rather than just the pissed off girlfriend.

Another concept that I really enjoyed was actually the entire chapter about cultural communication. One of the biggest problems that face our society is lack of tolerance, and being able to express the differences in cultures that don't paint anyone in a negative picture is something that doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.

This course has opened my eyes to a lot of different communication concepts that I never even knew existed. Each chapter offered a new term that, after reading, really made sense in the scheme of things. Out of all the courses that I've taken, this textbook was the least textbook-ish book that I've read.

Week 11/15-11/21 question 3

The most interesting concept that I came across in this week's reading was the idea of hegemonic messages, or rather media messages that keep powerless groups from making their ideas known. I'm not going to lie, I'm a slight conspiracy theorist. I tend to think that the man keeps down the little guy, as ridiculous as it might sound. We always see, especially on TV, the idea that the man is keeping the little guy down, and there is usually some struggle to overcome this: the jock being beaten in his sport and getting the girl, the employee uncovering a scandal and fighting to make it known, etc. Let's face it, we as a race want to succeed and be powerful. The media pretty much has complete control over what we see, hear, watch, read, etc. Unless we go outside the box and search for something a little less unknown, a little less popular, a little less commercialized, we get the same thing washed and painted a shiny new color; but the little guy still goes unknown. The media vies for attention based on its sponsors, and rather than sharing the spotlight with those groups that might now be the biggest, the best, or the most popular, they hog all the attention for those who pay the most.

Week 11/15-11/21 question 2

I absolutely believe that the medium of a message is as important as the message itself. I think that dependent on the format, the person receiving the message will take it in a certain way. I'll use an instant messaging program for example. You send someone a message, and it can be inferred completely differently than you intend it to because you can't really tell tone over the internet. You can suggest something, and I will respond "oh, yeah, that sounds like a GREAT idea." Who is to say whether I am being sarcastic, or whether I actually think that what you suggested is a good idea?

I agree with McLuhan's idea that television is a cool medium. It's pretty easy to interpret what you see on the television, without trying too hard. I rarely, if ever, watch TV, but I can tell when actors on a show are trying way too hard to play their part. It doesn't seem natural, and it turns me off to it. I like having things left to my imagination, and when actors are too "hot" it just ruins it for me.

Week 11/15-11/21, question 1

I'm a geek. I spend way too much time on the internet, and for a long time a good portion of that was involved playing World of Warcraft (WOW). WOW is an MMORPG, or massive multiplayer online role playing game. Basically you are playing this game online with thousands of other players all over the world. Within the game there are guilds, and these guilds are basically your online family. Through my guild I made several friendships that existed strictly online. The closest that we got to f2f contact was talking through Ventrilo (a program where you actually talk to one another, kind of similar to using the telephone). The friendships that I developed were very similar, and very not similar, to those that I have in real life. They were similar because I became close with several people; I found myself confiding in them, talking to them more than I talked to some people I knew in person, and they were easy to talk to; they had similar interests to mine, and we were able to get along. It was also very different because I never saw them face to face; I was never able to give them a hug; and never able to physically interact with them as I would my real life friends. In all honesty, I enjoy having internet friends. Yet, I prefer the interactions that happen when I'm physically with someone.

Question 3

I think that it would be most difficult to change the competitive symmetry. In this instance you have two people who want to be in control, however in most cases there can be only one (highlander! Ok just kidding). I think that it would be very difficult to go from a position of being in charge and in control, making the decisions, to a position of letting another person choosing what happens (or whatever the situation might be). Obviously, someone who is dominant plays the role of the leader, and it could be hard for them to relinquish control, for reasons such as they don't think the other person will make the right decision, the other person won't do it as well, so on and so forth.

I think it would be most damaging to go from a submissive symmetry to a competitive symmetry. I think that a pairing of submissives would have a very hard time becoming dominant because, in my experience, submissives tend to second guess themselves when it comes to decisions. I can picture it being very difficult for a historically submissive person to find courage to make decisions and become a leader, without questioning whether they are doing everything right.