Touro Communication Club Notes #56a

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This Week!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

2 pm – Room 223 – Midtown

SPAR Debate: Debating Silly Topics with a Serious Purpose

We are returning to the SPAR Debate Event to get our minds in gear for=2 02^nd semester which begins February 1^st. There are several values to SPAR Debates:

· They don’t require any preparation. Just show up with your mind turned on.

· They use topics which require no prior knowledge.

· There is no consequence to winning or losing – just practice for the future.

· They are short – 6½ minutes or less - so the “pain” is brief.

· They give you practice in thinking on your feet.

· They get you used to the pressure of forming clear responses that are responsive to questions.

· They ask you to organize your thoughts in a very limited amount of time.

· They ask you to listen very carefully to the thread of your opponent’s arguments.

· Plus many other values you will discover on your own.

Communication comments:

Rather than focus on all the forever interesting convolutions of what’s happening in the national and international news, Richard Green suggest that I write briefly about a book I’m reading. It’s called “Un-Spun – Finding Facts in a World of [Disinformation]” by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. It’s a 2007 Random House trade paper back for $12.95. It is fast read, written in a breezy, journalistic manner. Columnist Mark Shields calls the book, “The Definitive B.S. Detector.”

These two are the folks behind FactCheck.org, the increasingly influential free service that documents the vagaries and vulgarities of the American political discourse, most recently the Presidential campaign. FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania where Jamieson is Director of the Public Policy Center.

“We live in a world of spin” is the opening sentence of the introduction. They define spin as the polite word for deception. “Spinners mislead by means that range from subtle omission to outright lies. Spin paints a false pictu re of reality by bending facts, mischaracterizing the words of others, ignoring or denying crucial evidence, or just ‘spinning a yarn’ – by making things up.” It concludes with the well-known saying of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ”You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”

I’m half way through the book – which is my subway reading. Jackson and Jamieson argue that “spin” begins in the 19^th century with the Yankee peddlers who pitched snake oil remedies – those quack medicines whose major ingredient was alcohol. If you’ve ever closely watched the beginning of “The Wizard of Oz,” Frank Morgan (the later Wizard) is a snake oil salesman with his tent and wagon. If we noticed this detail, we wouldn’t need Toto to go behind the Wizard’s curtain.

“Un-Spun” is a very useful guide book for not only political speech and advertising, If we are clever, we can observe how our everyday conversation with our family, friends and co-workers – maybe teachers? - is filled with “spin.” But that’s a horse of a different color, to quote the Wizard.

One might even go so far as to say, “To spin is human, to be aware divine.”

Our upcoming schedule is:

Wednesday, January 14, 2009– 2 pm – Room 223 Midtown –

Club Discussion on “How Power Affects Communication.” What is Power? Do I have Power? Do others have Power? How does Power And/or the lack of it affect Communication? We’ll share stories and try to come up with some conclusions about Power.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 – Theatre Workshop – Improvisation Technique – Room 223 - Midtown – We will continue to build on the breathing exercises and the mental focus that is required of an actor. No doubt we will do some exercises that wil l challenge your ability to forget who you are in order to become someone or something else. Lots of imagination! Lots of fun!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 – Club Discussion – “What’s Happening to Communication?” James Millner suggested this topic recently in an email. He wrote, “The other day I heard a conversation about communication that raised an interesting point. It was pertaining to the techno era, with all the e-mailing, sms mail, and texting. A question arose, "What happening to communication?" Now it seems that even the telephone is not used for the purpose it was invented for anymore. I think it would be an interesting topic to discuss.

We think so, too, James! If this discussion goes the way of our other discussions, we will end up with so very unusual conversation.

These sessions are always open for everyone to attend. Bring a friend and join in the excitement. See you next time.

Hal Wicke.