Monday, July 21, 2008

Touro Communication Club Notes #34
tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com
The summer heat is up. The surrogate misstatements (Phil Gramm for Senator McCain; Jesse Jackson for Senator Obama) continue. They continue to cloud the substance of both campaigns. How to maintain control of the candidates' message is extremely difficult for people who are used acting like Lone Rangers. Obama’s trip to Afghanistan and Iraq pursued by the 3 network news anchors and 300 of his closest aides seems to ratchet up the importance of his visit, particularly when McCain traveled with virtually no news people. Bias? Prejudice? Who is to say?
The economy (housing, gasoline, food) continues to capture our attention. Pocketbook issues are major campaign issues, while we struggle to make ends meet. We can always be distracted from bread-and-butter issues by celebrity happenings– Brangelina’s twins among them. What’s happened to Britany. lately? Don’t you miss your nightly Britany fix?
By the way, Hal is reading an interesting new book by Howard Fineman called, “The Thirteen American Arguments.” Fineman is Senior Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine and frequently appears on MSNBC. His thesis is that because we have a form of democracy that Americans must have always argued about everything – Who is a person? What do we know? What do we believe? Etc.
If Fineman’s thesis is true, I would say that Americans should know how to argue, not just shoot off their mouths, if we are a country in which basic premises are always
being argued. The recent 5-4 landmark Supreme Court decision on gun control is a case in point. A fascinating thesis for those interested in Communication.
Here’s the upcoming schedule:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – 1 pm Debate – Continue discussion about what we learned, a new topic and SPAR Instant debates
Because of Graduate Education classes meeting in Room 610, we are meeting in Room 615 near the Department office. Follow the posted signs.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Persuasion” an open-ended discussion about a volatile Communication activity. Hal makes the statement that “Everyone is always selling something.” Let the arguments begin.
What happened on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – 1 pm – Club
Again we met in Room 615 because the Graduate School of Education has taken over our usual room 610 for summer classes. Olushile Akintade, James Millner and Kazi Faltah and Lorinda Moore joined faculty members Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke in a rousing discussion. Although our topic was “Cultural Rituals – Do They Work?” the energy was drawn to the controversy of the week – the New Yorker cover cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama dressed as Muslim terrorists.
Immediately, the question of freedom of speech – First Amendment rights came up. Opinions flew back and forth. Everyone agreed the cartoon was not a positive portrayal of the Obamas. Although satirical, no one thought the cartoon was funny. Some said the magazine should be stopped from publishing derogatory cartoons (censored). Others said the Bill of Rights allows this in America.
Shile and Kazi both said such cartoons would be dangerous in their countries of Nigeria and Bangladesh respectively. Shile commented that he found it “shocking” that people would make fun of their elders. Kazi agreed that some of this American “freedom of speech’ was sometime difficult to understand.
The incident of Danish cartoons making fun of Muslims and Mohammed causing riotsand a death in Europe was recalled. Someone remembered the statement of the 18th century philosopher, Voltaire, “I may disagree with your statements, but I will defend to the death your right to say them.”
What then are the limits of free speech? We agreed that if someone yelled “fire” in a theater was one limit to free speech. Free speech seemed to allow anyone to say anything at any time. We couldn’t agree on what other limits should there be. In the 1970s the Nazi march in Skokie, Illinois, a Jewish community outside of Chicago, tested severely the limits of free speech. David clarified the details of the incident.
The discussion moved toward persuasion as a natural outgrowth of free speech. Then the free-wheeling discussion moved to advertising as persuasion. One person stated categorically that advertising was “the lowest form of persuasion” especially when it is used to sell harmful products. Other people felt that the tools of persuasion, like guns or hammers, are neutral, but became dangerous weapons in the hands of certain people.
There were lots of disagreements about the purpose of advertising and its relation to free speech. Questions of ethics came up as advertisers want to change the habits of potential consumers so that they buy these products.
Issues flying by were too numerous to capture in these notes. It was clear that we had much to explore about the topic of persuasion. So persuasion will be the topic of the next club meeting.

Once again, I forgot to ask the following questions that Lorinda suggested at a recent meeting. These are:
1. How did I feel about the discussion?
2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?
3. Was there something that did not change the discussion?
4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?
Shile, Lorinda and Hal remained after everyone left to talk about taking some action. Shile shared his experience in the Computer department trying to start a Computer Club without success. Lorinda suggested that the Communication Club could sponsor a Freshman “Meet and Greet.” Both agreed that they would contact Dean Taylor about attaching such an event to the Freshman Orientation in the fall. We’ll report next time.
Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!
Hal Wicke

Friday, July 11, 2008

Touro Communication Club Notes #33
tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com
We’re back in session. The store is open again.
A note to readers: The Club will continue to meet regularly on Wednesdays at 1 pm during the summer, unless there is an Act of God. Please don’t believe people who say the Club is not meeting. Just because
Despite the two week “vacation” from the Club activities, “Life” continues. Our own personal lives with our special variables, our school life is suspended animation while life across America is filled with a number of challenges. The summer heat in NYC, the fires in California and the floods in the Midwest are Mother Nature’s “gifts” to her family. The Supreme Court 5-4 decisions will have great influence on lives in the future. The President’s bill on more invasion of privacy in the name of national security raises concerns.
Of interest to us Communicators are the number of verbal gaffes (faux pas or mistakes) that surrogates for both Presidential candidates are making. On the McCain side, former Senator Phil Gramm called Americans “whiners” about the economy. On the Obama side, Jesse Jackson said on a microphone that was still live that he would like to “cut his (Obama’s) nuts off” for making remarks that seem to look down on blacks. Or, the blooper that Michelle Obama said that the $400 federal rebate was not worth anything: “You can just buy a couple of earrings with it.” And there are more
Clearly, word choice by public figures in a public situation is examined with great scrutiny. Regardless of when it is used, careless word choice creates very difficult situations for everyone, including the user. The Chinese have a saying, “A sword kills once; the tongue can kill thousands of times.” But these gaffes are not intentional attempts to hurt. They are casual, thoughtless, out-of-touch statements which can indicate the tone and sincerity of the people who surround both candidates.
Here’s the upcoming schedule;

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Do Cultural Rituals work?” - a continuation of our discussion on Cultural Rituals
Because of Graduate Education classes meeting in Room 610, we are meeting in Room 615 near the Department office. Follow the posted signs.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – 1 pm Debate – Continue discussion about what we learned, a new topic and SPAR Instant debates

What happened on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 – 1 pm – Debate
After chasing around for a new room and posting signs, the group meet down the hall from the department’s office in Room 615. Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke discussed the communication difficulties Richard is having in his summer public speaking class. Everyone interrupts, they don’t listen, they talk over each other, they deny each other’s view. Richard commented that the students don’t allow a discussion of how there is a logical progression to an idea. David made an observation that some people have a closed mindset that is difficult to open. Hal commented that the “my-way or the highway” mindset comes in all shapes and colors. Having a closed mind makes everything simpler. You only have to consider two options –right and wrong – to know where you stand. Dealing with shades of gray are much harder.
We tossed around ideas when Drani Gabu and Olushile Akintade arrived. Richard explained his situation again and both offered suggestions. Both Drani and Shile commented that when they were growing up in their respective countries, Sudan and Nigeria, there was ingrained tradition of respect for elders. This showed up as a hierarchy of authority among their siblings where the oldest was responsible for the youngest. Both commented that the oldest would get “beaten” if a younger sibling did not behave.
At some point, as Lorinda Moore joined the discussion, Shile summarized the discussion to date. Lorinda’s energy changed the dynamic in the discussion – a female with five males. That energy change is something that we should explore in the future.
It would be up to be a court stenographer to capture the range of topics that followed – the Dred Scott decision, more strategies for handling Richard’s rowdy class, the range of communication issues, etc. Hal brought up the famous Stanley Milgram experiment at Yale on “Obedience.” Everyone commented on how the discussion was so interesting and “marvelous.”
Drani will be in Oregon until late August. We have to make sure that everyone is aware of the club’s weekly meeting time and topics.
We got so involved with the discussion that we never even got to the planned topics of finishing the debate video, choosing a new topic and the SPAR debates. We’ll do them at the next debate meeting.
I forgot to ask the following questions that Lorinda suggested at the last meeting. There are:
1. How did I feel about the discussion?
2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?
3. Was there something that20did not change the discussion?
4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?
Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!
Hal Wicke
Touro Communication Club Notes #32
tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com
With finals and graduation, the past week was a blur. However, life goes in the rest of the world. Catastrophe dominates the news. Terrible floods in the Midwest. Forest fires on the West Coast. Gas prices are soaring, Food is getting more expensive.
And the Presidential campaign is certainly heating up. Factcheck.org (from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania) has been posting its observations about how both the Obama and McCain campaigns have been stretching their facts. The wives of the candidates, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, are becoming targets of political attacks, a new wrinkle in Presidential politics. Scott McClellan, President Bush’s former press secretary, appeared on Capital Hill to explain his statements on deception in the White House that he discussed in his new book, “What Happened.” The televised memorial for NBC commentator, Tim Russert, who died suddenly last week, was very moving.
We are on “vacation” for two weeks
Wednesday, June 25
Wednesday. July 2
Of course, our Communication skills never go on vacation! We have the opportunity to reflect on what we’ve discussed in the past several months.
When we return, here’s the upcoming schedule of the Communication Club is
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 1 pm– Debate –Finish our Gun Control debate video - SPAR Instant debates
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Do Cultural Rituals work?” - a continuation of
What happened on Wednesday, June 18, 20081 pm –“Cultural Rituals”
Ten people participated in this fascinating discussion.. Olushile Akintade, James Millner, Theresa Wright, Kazi Fathah and Lorinda Moore participated enthusiastically in the exchange. Faculty members Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke were joined by an old friend Carlisle Yearwood, English instructor and Freshman Coordinator and a new friend, Max Kopelman of the Education Department.
Since Touro’s graduation ceremony was last Sunday and Shile graduated with summa cum laude honors and a couple of individual awards, we began to examine the elements of the Cultural ritual and rite of passage called graduation. We looked at the purpose of this ritual (recognition and acknowledgement for accomplishment and the tassel flip), the ceremonials aspects (the speeches of Dr. Lander and Congressman Rangel and the two student speeches) and the celebratory aspects (the gowns, the procession, the recognition awards, the awarding of the diplomas, the photography) Of course, having the graduation at Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center, one of the premier music halls in America, raised the bar of expectations for the graduation.

We also identified other “Cultural Rituals” such as weddings, funerals, birthday parties. All these rituals have a central highlight – the diplomas at graduation, the rings at wedding, the birthday cake at birthday parties, the eulogies at funerals.
Why do these cultural rituals exist? People need formal rites of passage to demonstrate acknowledgement of accomplishment. These public events of recognition show respect to particular individual with a coming together of a community. Shile spoke about certain rituals in his native Nigeria as did Kazi of his native Bangladesh. David spoke about the Jewish ceremony of the bris and the bar and bas mitzvah as important religious rites of passage. Even getting a driver’s license, .Sweet 16 parties and being able to vote and drink are cultural rites of passage
Lorinda brought up the concept on “honoring elders” as an important function of a culture. She was concerned that, because of the impact of slavery, there has been a loss of connection to ancient traditions in the African American community. Shile commented on the impact of the end of British colonialism in Nigeria, creating a new sense of African pride. Carlisle commented on his experience growing up in post-colonial Barbados and competing with Jamaica to become the most correctly “British” without being British.
As the session drew to a close, Lorinda suggested that we try to summarize what our individual impressions were to the discussion. She suggested we ask ourselves several questions:
1. How did I feel about the discussion?
2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?
3. Was there something that did not change the discussion?
4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?
Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!
Hal Wicke