Touro Communication Club Notes #39

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Personal news: after a traumatic week, the computer was restored to its original condition with all the data saved. Andrea found a computer wizard in Valley Stream.

Well, we now have a Democratic VEEP candidate just before the Democratic convention begins on Monday in Denver. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware seemed to be preferred by the media pundits to add foreign policy experience to the resume of Senator Obama. One Fox commentator said that Obama had the thinnest resume for any President in the history of the country. Does anyone want to verify THAT assertion?!

The McCain folks immediately issued an attack ad showing Biden saying that Obama had no experience when they were in the long Democratic candidate debate cycle. How the Obama campaign will counter these attack ads will be interesting to watch.

The Beijing Olympics continue to fascinate me because politics still have an impact on this world exhibition of elite athleticism. We can learn from how athletes think and train. “Focus” seems to be the trait that all of us can learn from these athletes.

Politics and sports offer important lessons for Communicators. Politics provides a smorgasbord of predictable and unpredictable human interactions while sports is relatively clean and structured with a referee interpreting “rules.” Most of life doesn’t have a referee in all situations. We have to be skilled in our human communication because we meet so many different people in a Touro day who have different beliefs, perceptions and ways of behaving.

Here's our schedule: (We are still in Room 615.)

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 1 pm - Club - Leadership. This is a huge topic which is a natural extension of our two sessions on Persuasion.

Classes begin on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 but we will continue our sessions at 1 pm, moving to Room 610.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 - 1 pm - Debate – We’ll discuss our fall plans while SPAR-ing. Everyone seems to find the sessions very exciting.

What happened on August 20 – Debate – SPAR and Shile’s presentation

We were excited to see Drani Gabu return from his cross-country ventures. While he wrote back with this entry:

"It's ok to put those questions on the blog for Club members and visitors to comment on. I found it interesting to be "intellectually cornered" by white folks in this part of the country who have very limited contact with minority populations. When the first question started flying on my face, I developed instantly a plan to lay their fears to rest and win them over instead of going-all-out on offensive because there was resistance and lack of information ( at some quarters). I understand that people are highly sensitive to where you talk from, especially when status dynamics are at play: urban Vs small town, college student Vs real-life-educated, etcetera. Some folks have negative views about affirmative action and reparation to blacks while other white folks do not have the luxuries those in the inner city "enjoy"( ghetto life style). I found myself talking about topics that have negative repercussions and divide the country. Rather than arguing an analyst's view of the adverse impact, I spoke directly to them about my experience in the US and Baker City because real-life stories and testimonies win over abstract speculations. I listened to their views and counter- arguments. I drew up point-by-point responses. I tailored my points to the root drivers of their opposing views, provided valid alternatives to meet their argument and I invited some for beer to advance the debate and enlist support from initially reluctant allies. At the end of two debates, I bridged the degree of separation.
They took me around to see trailer homes at different locations where familys' hopelessness are registered on their faces. I saw the reason why some are indifferent to affirmative action. But some confessed that they voted for Obama in primaries. The dialogue is still continuing. I hope it shall end in a "marriage" of opposing views and understanding."

Your secretary was late because of the computer repair. Before he arrived, Shile had presented his “sales pitch” he was going to give to his church congregation about how wonderful his book was (and please buy it!). I heard the critique was very straight forward and exciting.

Olushile Akintade and Jetante Morris were engaged in a SPAR debate topic “It is easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar.” Shile took the Affirmative and Jetante took the Negative. Shile told me later he misunderstood the idiomatic English saying and based his interpretation on his Nigerian background. Jetante valiantly tried to counter Shile’s argument, but said later, “I don’t know what I was saying.” The group voted 4-1 for Shile’s Affirmative argument.

The “judges” were Drani Gabu, Lorinda Moore, James Millner, Carlisle Yearwood, David Nussbaum and Richard Green. As usual, Hal Wicke just asked a lot of questions.

Each person made an individual observation of the debate. The comments were helpful.

• Stay on topic.
• Keep focus.
• Organize your thoughts.

All these are wonderful generalizations, but the question is HOW, HOW, HOW???

We need to continue to work hard on the HOW.

James made an interesting observation about when he was debating how he would get off topic by following the lead of the speaker before him. Very easy to do, but difficult to fix. As the driver of a car would do, you keep your eye on the road. If the car in front of you goes into a ditch, you don’t follow. This is the essence of “Defensive Driving” and “Critical Thinking.” With SPAR debate practice, you quickly learn to be an independent thinker.

See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke