Lost In Translation
-Lost In Translation-
Personally, I believe so many of the world's problems can be due to a breakdown in communication. If you examine so many of the issues that we witness in this world, many of them can be reduced to the fact that communication simply didn't occur. For example, I think we can all agree war is an awful, awful thing. What makes it more terrible is that it is really never necessary. It's a last resort when one side or both opt to resort to violence as the means to solve their problems. It means they no longer are able or interested in continuing to try to solve the problem. Dialogue breaks down and rather than talk about their problem, they decide they'd rather have the person dead than try to work it out.
But, unfortunately, many people don't know how to communicate. It's not limited to any particular stereotype, ethnic group or country. There are far too many people, myself included at many times, who don't know how to express what they want or what they want people to do. For example, I just watched a video from This Is Our Moment, a website which appears to be supported by several celebrities and dedicated to "mobilizing America for a sustainable future" Their short-term goal would appear to be making sure that the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power bill that is currently in the Senate gets passed. It states that it's one of the most important pieces of legislation in our time but doesn't state, which I think would be crucial, is how. On the website or in the video, there is really no explanation of what the bill is supposed to accomplish or most importantly, how. I would love to get behind something like this - making ourselves reliant on our energy to countries that would like nothing more than to see us dead has never made sense. But, tell me how this bill is going to accomplish what it does. If it's that important, right?
Perhaps an even better example would be one of the top issues that has dominated headlines for the past year here in the United States - health care. I don't think anybody can deny that our health care system needs to change. I mean there are still some people who maintain that our health care system is the best in the world, but it's not. Last time I checked, our health care system ranked 37th in the world, pulling right ahead of Slovenia (go us!), so yeah, it's pretty clear we need to do some work. A great majority of Americans are uninsured and even those who are avoid major, in some cases necessary, procedures because they simply can't afford them. If we are the best health care system in the world, people who need health care, should be able to get it. But we don't and they can't. But, the health care reform is in "critical condition" or "life support" because they have failed to explain how this health care reform will affect the average American, how it will help them, how it will be paid for and how it works. Again, huge breakdown in communication and now, this much-needed piece of legislation probably won't happen and if it will, it's going to be woefully inadequate.
This failure to properly communicate what you're about can even extend to Christianity. A fantastic book called Unchristian, which everybody should read, discusses what people think about Christianity and why. Not to spoil the book at all, but it should be no surprise to you that people have a negative image of Christianity. People view Christians as judgmental, intolerant, hypocritical. More than a public relations problem, this is a communications issue. It's not the message - the message is the same as it's always been, but it's the messengers who aren't communicating the same loving message that Jesus did. Again, the problem is communication as we have completely managed to misrepresent the greatest message ever told. How did it come to that?
The great newscaster, Edward R. Murrow once said, "The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue." We live in an era of basically instant communication through Facebook, twitter, texting, e-mails, cell phones and the like. It's easier than ever to get your point across nowadays, but so many of us fail to. And if we do, it's oftentimes not what we wanted to get across at all. We have to really be careful with what we're saying, what we're telling people, what we're communication. Why do so many of us have trouble saying what we want out of life, what we want to do and what we want to communicate to the people we share this world with? I think this is an issue that affects everybody - a basic problem that we need to overcome through honest dialogue, direct discussion and above all, clear communication.
Even after all that, I don't know whether I said what I meant to in order to make it understandable, but I hope it came across and that my random (rambling) thoughts made sense to you. Feel free to let me know your thoughts or ideas on this subject and as always, stay classy.
This post was written with the help of the new Motion City Soundtrack album My Dinosaur Life, out in stores today and wherever music is sold.
But, unfortunately, many people don't know how to communicate. It's not limited to any particular stereotype, ethnic group or country. There are far too many people, myself included at many times, who don't know how to express what they want or what they want people to do. For example, I just watched a video from This Is Our Moment, a website which appears to be supported by several celebrities and dedicated to "mobilizing America for a sustainable future" Their short-term goal would appear to be making sure that the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power bill that is currently in the Senate gets passed. It states that it's one of the most important pieces of legislation in our time but doesn't state, which I think would be crucial, is how. On the website or in the video, there is really no explanation of what the bill is supposed to accomplish or most importantly, how. I would love to get behind something like this - making ourselves reliant on our energy to countries that would like nothing more than to see us dead has never made sense. But, tell me how this bill is going to accomplish what it does. If it's that important, right?
Perhaps an even better example would be one of the top issues that has dominated headlines for the past year here in the United States - health care. I don't think anybody can deny that our health care system needs to change. I mean there are still some people who maintain that our health care system is the best in the world, but it's not. Last time I checked, our health care system ranked 37th in the world, pulling right ahead of Slovenia (go us!), so yeah, it's pretty clear we need to do some work. A great majority of Americans are uninsured and even those who are avoid major, in some cases necessary, procedures because they simply can't afford them. If we are the best health care system in the world, people who need health care, should be able to get it. But we don't and they can't. But, the health care reform is in "critical condition" or "life support" because they have failed to explain how this health care reform will affect the average American, how it will help them, how it will be paid for and how it works. Again, huge breakdown in communication and now, this much-needed piece of legislation probably won't happen and if it will, it's going to be woefully inadequate.
This failure to properly communicate what you're about can even extend to Christianity. A fantastic book called Unchristian, which everybody should read, discusses what people think about Christianity and why. Not to spoil the book at all, but it should be no surprise to you that people have a negative image of Christianity. People view Christians as judgmental, intolerant, hypocritical. More than a public relations problem, this is a communications issue. It's not the message - the message is the same as it's always been, but it's the messengers who aren't communicating the same loving message that Jesus did. Again, the problem is communication as we have completely managed to misrepresent the greatest message ever told. How did it come to that?
The great newscaster, Edward R. Murrow once said, "The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue." We live in an era of basically instant communication through Facebook, twitter, texting, e-mails, cell phones and the like. It's easier than ever to get your point across nowadays, but so many of us fail to. And if we do, it's oftentimes not what we wanted to get across at all. We have to really be careful with what we're saying, what we're telling people, what we're communication. Why do so many of us have trouble saying what we want out of life, what we want to do and what we want to communicate to the people we share this world with? I think this is an issue that affects everybody - a basic problem that we need to overcome through honest dialogue, direct discussion and above all, clear communication.
Even after all that, I don't know whether I said what I meant to in order to make it understandable, but I hope it came across and that my random (rambling) thoughts made sense to you. Feel free to let me know your thoughts or ideas on this subject and as always, stay classy.
This post was written with the help of the new Motion City Soundtrack album My Dinosaur Life, out in stores today and wherever music is sold.
3 comments:
And of course, just to make sure, I hope nobody took away from this post the idea that I am trivializing or making light of the issue of war. It's too important an issue to gloss over in one paragraph and one that can be limited to one factor that contributes to a state of war. As I said, war is or should be a last resort when all other options have failed. Overall though, I stand by my blog - most problems can be solved by communicating and most importantly, being willing to communicate, even with those you don't like. That's the hardest part of diplomacy and something we could all stand to work on, in my opinion.
Violence is NOT the answer for this generation!
I agree communication is crucial - which is why I think we should all read "How to win friends and Influence People" until we actually GET IT.
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