The Touro Communication Club Notes - #130–December 1, 2010
Contents:
1. Quotes by T.S. Eliot and about poetry
2. UPCOMING CLUB PROGRAM: - ““Professor Yearwood discusses T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” Wednesday, December 1, 2010 @ 2 pm in Room 233.
3. Logical Fallacy of the Week # 20 – “Burden of Proof”
4. Professor Geo’s “Communication Thought of the Week”
5. Note to Communicators: “The Poetic Impulse”
6. .NEXT WEEK’S TOPIC: Let’s try again! ”Talking to Guys/Talking to Girls”
7. Upcoming Conversations - please add your topic to the list
8. What happened last week: no report
1. Quotations by T.S. Eliot and about Poetry
T.S. Eliot’s Quotations
“All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the public character; or at worst, catchwords.”
“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”
“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.”
“I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics.”
“If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”
Quotations about Poetry:
“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a home sickness, a love sickness.”
Robert Frost (1874 – 1963), American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a home sickness, a love sickness.”
Robert Frost (1874 – 1963), American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
“Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.”
Marianne Moore (1887 –1972), American Modernist poet
Marianne Moore (1887 –1972), American Modernist poet
“Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.”
Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer
“The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.”
Jean Cocteau (1889 –1963), French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, artist, filmmaker.
2. The Touro Communication Club
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 2 pm – Room 223
Midtown
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
2 pm – Room 223 -Midtown
Faculty Colloquy I:
Professor Carlisle Yearwood discusses
This event is a milestone in the four year history of the Touro Communication Club. We introduce a traditional university event called a “Faculty Colloquy.” A universal collegiate tradition, a scholar shares his/her serious research with colleagues for discussion and feedback.
That is our goal today. Professor Carlisle Yearwood of Touro’s English Department will share his analysis of the first several stanzas of T.S. Eliot’s landmark poem, “The Wasteland.”
A native of Barbados and a published poet, Professor Yearwood has degrees from Pace University and City College of New York (CUNY). He has owned two bars and a nightclub which focused on talent development in Harlem and was involved with the Civil Rights movement with CORE and created an after school English and business skills program in Harlem. He is a member of the Blind Beggar Press.
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was an American-born English poet, playwright and literary critic, arguably the most important English language poet of the 10th century. “The Wasteland’ was written in 1922. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.
3. Logical Fallacy of the Week #20:
“Fallacy of the Burden of Proof”
As do all good debaters, let us define our terms – ‘burden of proof.” In a model courtroom, if a person is accused of a crime, the prosecutor is charged with collecting adequate evidence to prove the guilt of the defendant “beyond reasonable doubt.” This traditional “burden of proof” is on the prosecutor to prove guilt, not the defendant to prove his innocence.
However, some use this fallacy in ways that violate this universally accepted concept of justice. The fallacy of the burden of proof has switched the responsibility from the prosecutor to the defendant. The person who does the accusing need not prove his case. The accused must prove his innocence. This court is called a “Kangaroo court.” The Soviet “show” trials of the mid-20th century are an example.
Outside the best court system, this fallacy persists in various manifestations.
Injustice is the twisted theme of this perverted “system,” To maintain power, the dictator, the Nazi, the Communist, the Southern redneck and Joseph McCarthy create empty rituals of “justice” devoid of its traditional moral structure. A fearful atmosphere targets a scapegoat as the cause of all ills experienced by the predator. Then charges are invented, a pro-forma “show” trial is held and the punishment is ordered.
The accuser does not have to prove anything. The mere accusation is adequate to indict, convict and execute the victim. The defendant must prove himself innocent. The victim of the rapist must prove her purity. The wounded must prove the shooter guilty. The embezzler must prove his prey at fault. The victim is at fault.
In this atmosphere, the suspicion of guilt, (gossip, hearsay, stereotyping) is adequate to prove guilt. An institutionalized prejudice provides the presumption of guilt without evidence. Witches were burned at the stake based on hysterical accusations. Blacks were lynched on no evidence. Jews were herded into ovens because they were considered the source of all the world’s sins. Americans of Japanese ancestry were put on reservations on suspicion of collaborating with Japan.
When the “burden of proof” is now redefined, “proof” exists only in the eyes of the beholder. It is no as an unbiased, irrefutable set of facts. Merely to say someone is guilty is adequate proof. Resurrecting echoes of 1950s American “Red Scare,” the recent rise of a group of Americans during the run-up to the Mid-Term Elections, created a reality mirage out of their belief systems, invented facts and turned their opinions into facts. Josef Goebbel’s and his “Big Lie” strategy continues to work.
The Holocaust deniers and the global warming opponents are among the latest manifestations of this ubiquitous fallacy.
Since we are human, we are subject to bias, to prejudice. That trait makes us human and fallible. However, unchallenged repeated bias and prejudice becomes embedded and institutionalized in our thinking and our culture. Undoing ingrained bias and prejudice is ultimately the province of the heart, not the mind. Until then, the mind must be alert constantly to challenge “facts” and logical fallacies that sound good but undermine any common sense of reality.
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4. Professor Geo’s “Communication Thought of the Week #7:
“Argument is the worst sort of conversation,”
observed Jonathan Swift, (1667-1745), Irish satirist and author of Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal
5. A Note to Communicators:
The Poetic Impulse
Our daily life is populated with the prose of mundane tasks that keep us functioning. Poetry, on the other hand, transcends our quotidian existence and attempts to make sense of it. Poetry seems to make it okay and worthwhile Poetry is l’esprit de la vie.
In 1807, English poet William Wordsworth captured the dismal nature of life with this quatrain
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The poem continues to document the depressing and hopeless state of mind in which Wordsworth finds himself. Yet merely to have described his mental condition, the poet, one can argue, has transcended it. His poetic expression of the prosody of daily existence transforms it into a moment of universal wonder.
So it is with the poetic impulse. Moments of insight can generate joyous transcendence, offering sustenance to survive. We can no longer contain our emotions so we burst into song, into poetry. We dance with excitement.
Poetry is compressed experience that bursts from its prose context. Language is heightened. A rhyme scheme enforces a ritualistic progression of thought.
Prose is soft; poetry is hard,
Prose walks; poetry dances.
Prose crawls; poetry flies.
Prose can let the mind wander; poetry demands attention.
Prose is constant; poetry is momentary.
One drop of poetry slakes the thirst of prose.
Back to the mundane.
6. Next week’s Conversation:
Wednesday, December 8. 2010 – Room 223 – Midtown
“Talking to Guys/Talking to Girls”
Let’s Try Again!
In the last four years, we’ve talked about this topic at least three times in one form or another. The academic term for conversation between the sexes is “Gender Communication.” John Gray’s 1992 bestseller “Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus” codified the communication difficulties between the sexes in the popular mind. For centuries, the conflict has been called ‘The Battle of the Sexes.” Going beyond sexual attraction to attempt building a relationship is an ongoing challenge for everyone. Some have answers. Others are searching. We’ll share our questions and conclusions.
7. UPCOMING CONVERSATIONS:
What about one of these topics?
“Repetition”
“Meaning”
“Why Does History Repeat Itself?”
“Heroism”
“Concentration”
“Coping with Adversity”
Student Poetry showcase
“Empathy”
“Connecting the Dots”
Role play of Cynical people
“Cold Calling in Sales”
“He’s Just Not That into You”
Critical Listening Institute III: “Abbott & Costello’s ‘Who’s On First?’”
“Criticism – Giving and Receiving”
“Logical Fallacies”
“Freedom II”
“Gender Communication II”
“SPAR Debate”
“Distraction II”
“Negotiation II”
“Imagination II”
“Rodney King: ‘Can’t We Just Get Along?’ II”
“Political Savvy”
“Emotions: Anger II”
“Identity Politics”
“Human Rights”
“Capitalism and Socialism”
“Illusions”
“Parenting”
And dozens of others!
Compare the notice of the session with what really happened!
8. What happened on
Wednesday. November 24. 2010 – Room 223 – Midtown
“Talking to Guys/Talking to Girls”
In the last four years, we’ve talked about this topic at least three times in one form or another. The academic term for conversation between the sexes is “Gender Communication.” John Gray’s 1992 bestseller “Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus” codified the communication difficulties between the sexes in the popular mind. For centuries, the conflict has been called ‘The Battle of the Sexes.” Going beyond sexual attraction to attempt building a relationship is an ongoing challenge for everyone. Some have answers. Others are searching. We’ll share our questions and conclusions.
Nothing happened today because no one showed up. The club meeting should have been canceled on the day before Thanksgiving. People voted with their feet. We’ll try it again on Wednesday, December 8, 2010. See you then.
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We always have a great time exploring these issues. So often our daily life never focuses on these Communication issues. If you have something you want us to discuss please let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
Next time bring a friend. The Communication Club is always an open discussion, limited only by time. Everyone gets a chance to speak. All opinions are welcome. Here is an opportunity for students to challenge professors’ views outside the class without any homework or assignments. You just have to show up and listen and talk if you want.
Hal Wicke
