COMM11003; Week Nine: Reflection

“Think of your last conflict. How did it start? Was it about the person or the issue? Was the conflict resolved to everyone’s satisfaction? If not, how could you have handled it differently?” (Costigan 2014).

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I hate cops. For as long as I can remember, I have never cared for them and dare say that I never will. They are the school yard bullies of the adult world operating under full pardon of the principal. While discussing bullies Costigan (2014) notes, “according to the latest research, many bullies actually have high self-esteem and feel superior to others”. So what happens when a bully is placed in a position of power? According to Beebe, Beebe and Ivy (2013, p. 46) this increased level of self-esteem can lead to self-entitlement.

Last weekend I was out with friends. On our way home we were stopped by a Random Breath Testing Unit (RBT) outside of a school on my street where they are held regularly. There were four officers conducting this operation stopping vehicles on both sides of the road and traffic was lined up.

On our slow approach through the line I noticed all four officers surrounded one particular vehicle, which was quite time consuming and bothered me. Inevitably this driver was allowed to carry about his business with no apparent infraction. (Perhaps they just liked his car, perhaps they were all old school chums?) I was agitated and felt I needed a cigarette as a result. I prepared my calming death stick, removed my seat belt, got out of the vehicle and proceeded to smoke it.

At this point I must have caught their attention and the person that was beside me unbuckled his belt as the bench seat of the ute we were in was quite a squeeze. One policeman performed an analysis on our driver, another was focused on me. He began questioning me regarding my lack of a seat belt. I thought given the fact I was outside of the vehicle it was kind of obvious. Although I had tried to explain the situation, we all received fines totalling over $900.

Compromise, concession, collaboration, cooperation, accommodation, withdrawal or avoidance (Costigan 2014), were never options in his mind. I was already visibly frustrated and was now making this known vocally, without hesitating in letting him know he was a ‘dickhead’.

“Some negotiators deliberately try to create stress as a tactic,” (Eunson 2012). As a result he threatened to lock me up for ‘public nuisance’. It’s the go to move for all cops regardless of what you are doing, right or wrong.

Final thought… Who is policing the police?

$341 later.

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References

Beebe, SA, Beebe, SJ & Ivy, DK 2013, Communication: principles for a lifetime, Pearson Education, Boston.

Costigan, L 2014, Lesson 8: Nonverbal communication: understanding yourself and others, COMM11003 Communication in Professional Contexts, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21^st Century, 3^rd edn, John Wiley & Son, Milton, Australia

COMM11003; Week Eight: Reflection

“The same communication act can have different meanings in different cultures. Reflect on your understanding of intercultural communication and then think of an example of misunderstanding or potential misunderstanding. For example, different meanings of words or gestures in different countries or cultural contexts – for example, gestures such as the OK and thumbs up signs that may be acceptable in one country may be offensive in another. This could be based on personal experience of something you have read or researched” (Costigan 2014).

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http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2010/12/21/the-origins-of-the-three-goggles

Pictured above is Australia’s own NBA talent Patty Mills, displaying what has now become known to hoopheads globally as the “three goggles”. This seemingly innocent gesture created by Mills and fellow Portland Trailblazers team mate Rudy Fernandez during the 2010-11 season, has caught on like wildfire in the years since it’s league inception.

‘There is considerable cultural variation in the repertoire, frequency and expressive range of gestures,’ (Eunson 2012, p. 266). The gesture that jokingly originated to signify the Spanish national, Fernandez required glasses while shooting three point shots takes on different connotations in some regions however. ‘In Japan, this gesture stands for “money”. In France it means “zero” or “worthless”. In Venezuela and Turkey, gesturing to someone in this way implies that they are a homosexual,’ (Turner 2009). In Brazil however, it is the equivalent of “flipping the bird” or the middle finger gesture of western culture.

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/mad-dash-cavs-heat-told-142211941.html?format=embed

Ahead of exhibition games set to be played in Brazil prior to the 2014-15 season tip-off, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued warnings to participating teams regarding displays of the “three goggles”. ‘The last thing anybody wants is for the stands to clear immediately after a player nails a 3-pointer,’ (Freeman 2014).

The October 12th game that later took place between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat in Rio De Janiero, was played without any obscene gestures. The Cavs went on to beat the Heat in overtime to the delight of Cleveland’s starting center Anderson Varejao, a Brazilian native. You have to wonder though how Varejao and the small number of other Brazilian players in the league feel about the popularity of the gesture in a lengthy 82 game season.

http://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/images/graphics/pope1.jpg

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References

Costigan, L 2014, Lesson 8: Nonverbal communication: understanding yourself and others, COMM11003 Communication in Professional Contexts, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21^st Century, 3^rd edn, John Wiley & Son, Milton, Australia

Freeman, E 2014, ‘NBA tells Cavs and Heat not to do “3 goggles” in Brazil, where it’s offensive‘, Yahoo Sports, 8 October, viewed 14 January 2015, http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/nba-tells-cavs-and-heat-not-to-do–3-goggles–in-brazil–where-it-s-an-offensive-gesture-015957155.html

Turner, R 2009, ‘5 common American gestures that might insult the locals’, Matador Network, 30 April, viewed 14 January 2015, http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/5-common-american-gestures-that-might-insult-the-locals/

COMM11003; Week Seven: Reflection

“Write a brief speech on a topic that interests you. Record your speech, watch it and do a brief critique based on the information in this lesson or the textbook” (Costigan 2014).

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Below is my speech, I apologise in advance as I had a cold at the time of recording.

“People have it twisted.

They’re too wound up.

Tightly stringed and highly strung.

Lighten up, take a load off, swear a little.

Studies by the British Psychological Society’s Doctor Richard Stephens of Keele University, have proven swearing to be an effective tool for dealing with and overcoming physical pain barriers such as child birth. (Bloom 2014).

The study went on to prove that swearing is a highly developed emotional coping mechanism and not a sign of lack of intelligence or brutish behaviour. (Bloom 2014).

The most sincere people I know exchange profanities. While the least sincere swap niceties.

Language isn’t offensive, the user’s malice behind it is.

If others weren’t so judgemental and quick to assume they would see this for themselves.

There’s a lot of stigma surrounding the word fuck, but it’s an incredible word.

You can slip it into any sentence as a noun, adjective or verb, and sometimes all of the above in the same sentence.

But society says no.

However, society also says you’re an intellectual if you can quote Shakespeare and Chaucer.

But you’re a dummy if you use the word cunt?

Chaucer used cunt, Shakespeare would slip it in there also. (Chaucer 1998), (Shakespeare 2004).

If it is good enough for the fathers of English literature, why is it considered bad English?

So swear for fucks sake, it’s liberating.

Just don’t overdo it. You may upset some grammar loving cunt.”

– Anthony Norris 2015.

http://bellybuzz.squarespace.com/blog/tag/geoffrey-chaucer

As a whole, I feel this piece works on a number of levels. While some may be offended, I tired to keep the subject light with some element of humour.

It’s structured so as to incorporate an introduction, body and conclusion while maintaining a sound argument and flow throughout.

“Speed, volume, rhythm and pitch are important aspects of presentations,” (Costigan 2014). Although I had a cold at the time of recording, I feel I utilised these elements to the best of my ability given my ailment.

Some negative aspects I think hindered the speech though were; not knowing where to look without a physical audience present and not committing the speech to memory.

The delivery suffered due to the fact I felt awkward staring blankly at a camera lens atop my notebook. Knowing the speech would have assisted here and enhanced the speech.

According to Eunson (2012, p.357), drinking stimulants can cause over-arousal and distress.

Perhaps next time I’ll take that into consideration.

And just to prove how much of a coping mechanism swearing can be, here is an out-take.

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References

Bloom, D 2014, ‘Swearing is an emotional and creative language say researchers who claim it is GOOD for you’, Daily Mail, 12 May, viewed 14 January 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625581/Swearing-emotional-creative-language-say-researchers-claim-GOOD-you.html

Chaucer, G 1998, The wife of bath’s prologue and tale, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Costigan, L 2014, Lesson 7: Oral presentations, course notes, COMM11003 Communication in Professional Contexts, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21^st Century, 3^rd edn, John Wiley & Son, Milton, Australia

Shakespeare, W 2004, The twelfth night, Nick Hern Books, London.

COMM11003; Week Ten: Reflection

“Reflect on your understanding of ethics and ethical behaviour. Think of an example where either you did not communicate ethically or you were at the receiving end of unethical behaviour? What were the implications? How could the circumstances have been different?” (Costigan 2014).

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http://www.crazierlife.com/tinder-dating-tips/

Firstly, just to clarify; while I was once a user of the Tinder dating application neither of the above pictures are of myself. Secondly, I would like to thank Mr. “Too Old To Be Here” and Mr. “Insufferable Hipster” for the use of their images. Their apparent names are written in fine print and may have been hard to see. Or is it that we are so obsessed with image that the details don’t matter?

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A quick Tinder summary.

1. Download the app. (Free.)
2. Create a profile. (Name, age and about me in 500 characters or less.)
3. Upload some photos of yourself. (Six maximum.)
4. Start swiping. (If you’re a guy? Best of luck to you. If you’re a girl? Take your pick of the bunch.)

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My well constructed and informative about me details were overlooked and met with questions that wouldn’t have been necessary had they taken the time to simply read about me before making their physical interest known. After having spent a couple of nights using the application I had realised this was the reality of it all. I quickly grew tired of it.

I deleted my about me section and plainly wrote, “Date rape is a numbers game”. Now I understand how crass such a sentence is, but I took humour in it as I still continued to get plenty of matches and nobody ever seemed to notice. To me it was simply some light humour, based on a serious subject. A highly unethical subject that as Kidder (1996) argues, in concealing unfavourable facts there may be some short term advantage, but trust can be lost in the long-term.

Eventually a girl read it, and I liked this girl. She was gorgeous, intelligent, talented, funny and as I later found out, a former rape victim. She laughed it off and at least claimed to see the lighter side my joke. All the while, the gravity of the situation was sinking in for me.

I knew full well that had everyone read my comment almost none would have displayed any interest in me. However, I was too caught up in the idea that people were only interested in appearances to notice such details. After apologising profusely, I quickly changed my details to “500 characters is unnecessary,” and that is how it remained for the duration of my Tinder tenure thereafter.

“Always consider the worst case scenario” (Costigan 2014).

Ultimately, I never got the girl.

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References

Costigan, L 2014, Lesson 10: Ethics in a professional context, course notes, COMM11003 Communication in Professional Contexts, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Kidder, RM 1996, How good people make tough choices: resolving the dilemmas of ethical living, Simon & Schuster, New York.

COMM11003; Week One: Reflection

“Reflect on the importance of communicating effectively. Think about your own communication skills. Write down what you think your strengths and weaknesses are, communication-wise. This will allow you to review and reflect when you get to the end of the course. You may like to discuss the questions above in relation to your communication skills” (Costigan 2014).

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http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-09-24/

Should I ever decide to return to work in the corporate world, the above scenario is one I see playing out for myself. It’s not that I would consider myself a poor communicator by any means; I simply lack enough enthusiasm to care who I’m communicating with and how the message is received. If I were to attempt to analyse and break down specifically what my strengths and weaknesses were, I would struggle.

I have never enjoyed, nor understood self-analysis exercises in any context. If for example there was a reward for achieving a high result, (albeit a self-assessed high and largely falsified grading) why would you not give yourself a perfect score? Transversely, in an exercise such as this with no positive or negative outcome, I tend to express an apathetic and self-loathing response. For the sake of fulfilling the criteria, a brief pros and cons list of my own communication tendencies has been produced.

Pros	Cons
– Direct	– Blunt
– Honest	– Too honest
– Well spoken	– Speech can become superfluous

According to Cohen’s translation of Newton (1726), “To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction”. Although only a small sample size, it is clear how mathematician Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion can also be applied to communication.

I view communication as a complex mathematical equation looking something like this.

(A + X) x (B – Y) = Z

Person A (myself/the sender) adds input X (the intended message), Person B (the receiver/audience) subtracts Y (whatever message they wish, because I’m not overly loud and have no desire to repeat myself), equalling Z (purple monkey dishwasher?).

My model can be likened to the very influential Shannon and Weaver, Sender-Message-Receiver/SMR model (Eunson 2012).

Only in this case, with less regard for the recipient.

In conclusion, you probably don’t want to converse with me.

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References

Costigan, L 2014, Lesson 1: Introduction to communication concepts in a professional context, course notes, COMM11003 Communication in Professional Contexts, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21^st Century, 3^rd edn, John Wiley & Son, Milton, Australia

Newton, I 2014 (1726), The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, viewed 13 January 2015,  http://www.todayinsci.com/N/Newton_Isaac/NewtonIsaac-Quotations.htm