- Conservative v. Liberal such as Michael Moore v. Hannity debate,
Moore appeared as a guest on Hannity’s show on Fox News. The show was marked by a spirited debate which focused on conservatives and liberals. Clearly, there was lack of agreement in the debate as the two gentlemen tried to convince the other. There is evidence of miscommunication in the debate. The evidence is based on the fact that one of the two gentlemen either misconceived or misperceived the issues of focus. Conservatives blame the financial crisis witnessed in 2008 on the activities of the bank and lending institutions while the liberals blame the crisis on the law that gives minority the right to take mortgages even without proof of qualification.
The debate is obviously marked by miscommunication. The misconception seen here is synchronous whereby both parties communicate in real time. There can be a number of causes for the spirited conflict witnessed in the debate. The lack of adequate information and misperception are the two main possible causes of conflict in the scenario. However, based on their arguments, both sides of the debate seem to have adequate information regarding the cause of the crisis. The conflict comes due to misperception of the information. Either Hannity or Moore perceived the issue wrongly. The arguments by Hannity can be considered to be misconceived because he argues against what everyone sees to be the root cause of the crisis. He argues against banks and lending institutions to have led to the crisis due to their capitalistic mind set. He suggests that the victims of the crisis are the root cause of the crisis. The minority who took loans and became unable to pay back the money led the banks and lending institutions into the crisis.
The conflict in communication tends to deepen the differences between the two groups, conservatives, and liberals. The conflict can however be avoided through developing a common understanding of the matter by both sides. Both communicators should understand the root cause of the crisis instead of developing assumption and theories to explain the crisis. In as much as both communicators could be right, the liberals make a more logical argument to explain the issue.
- Christian World v. Muslim World such as Edward Said v. Christian World
In the debate between the Muslim world and the Christian world, Edward Said made his contributions which many think to be against Christianity. He made claims that have been categorized to be anti-Christ in nature.
The form of miscommunication that exists in this case is asynchronous where the communication does not take place in real time. All the parties involved in this debate were not available in a single place to discuss the issue. The debate has in fact been going on for a long period of time. Said’s criticism on Christianity was in the form of writing through his works. It was only later that his books and writings became a center of discussion on the issue. His works have generated conflict in communication by stirring up a debate between Islam and Christianity.
The communication conflict witnessed in this case can be argued to be a result of misinterpretation where one side of the debate misinterprets the arguments presented by the other side of the debate. Said points out that Christianity is the reason for the state of the world today. The political, economical, cultural, social, and intellectual institutions have resulted from the effect of Christianity. The misinterpretation is evident when the Said argues mainly for secularism instead of Islam. It is expected, that being a Muslim, Said should have criticized Christianity while ageing for Islam.
Assumptions are also a cause of miscommunication in the case. Whatever Said presents in his arguments are merely assumptions and his personal opinion. However, these assumptions are taken seriously by other people interested in the debate especially those leaning more towards the Muslim world. A need in all of humanity is that of having answers to issues happening in life. But some of the issues are too complex to have a definite answer for them. The assumptions created by Said are a reason for seeking answers to certain directions of life. The rise in secularism can best be explained through some theoretical point of view. This conflict has an effect of deepening the raw between Christianity and Islam. It can however be avoided through development of a common understanding between the warring groups.
Racial miscommunication
A perfect example of racial related miscommunication is the case of African Americans and Caucasian Americans. Race and culture in America have been intertwined although they are not the same. The intensity of communication, speech patterns nonverbal cue interpretation and other nuances of interaction are influenced by racial characteristics. Miscommunication occurred because of inconsistency in perceptions or beliefs of African Americans and Caucasian Americans, which resulted in numerous non-alignments in the mental states. However, the situation of conflict in communication is aggregately complex since it is not limited by the communicating mental condition of two agents; African Americans and Caucasian Americans since they are embedded in the same world their communication is centered (Berger, Roloff, & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 184).
Conflicts between the African Americans and the Caucasian American have been documented by the media in many cities across the US (Bailey, 86). Indeed by taking a look at some recent developments across the prism of race, a diffraction of two and often conflicting interpretations of the same realities is attained which engenders different attitudes, psychologies and emotions. Caucasian Americans are never consciously cognizant of the dispensations and privileges they enjoy because of their skin color could not understand the acquaintance of Simpson. While majority of African Americans, understandably mistrustful of the always-present brutal police force, emphasized repeatedly in the racism vitriol of the recordings of Fuhrman, realized the snare defense sufficiently plausible to raise concerns of doubt of his guilt. A million man march organized by Farrakhan Louis, a minister unnerved majority of the Caucasian Americans troubled and mystified by the fact that a bigot, sexist and demagogue attracted a huge gathering (Hill 1). Majority of them failed to comprehend that neither the messenger nor the stated message on self-atonement which drew many people to the Martin Luther triumphant speech, was the force behind it. Although the protest had no political theme, real demands, most of the ordinary African Americans had a feeling that they had to show America they were vaguely criminal or indolent.
African Americans would not completely appreciate white antagonism to assenting actions and other social action plans focused in correcting ages of iniquity. Most of the Caucasian Americans citing the eventual success of penurious immigrant descendants in the face of racial discrimination, hold on to their faith on civics class, often corroborated by experience in the US as essentially a democratic meritocracy (Berger, Roloff, & Roskos-Ewoldsen 186). Majority of the whites have effectively integrated into the structures of power in generations while clinging on to their language and culture.
African Americans on the other hand see a double standard in that the magnitude of the opprobrium piled on Farrakhan is not matched correspondingly enthusiastic expressions of disgrace by Caucasians Americans at the insulting pronouncements by Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh argues that many African Americans who have lived long with a constant fear of racialist violence and retribution do not understand the fears experienced by Caucasian Americans especially the members of the so called “underclass”. However, contrary to what some African American’s thoughts the reaction is not automatically knee-jerk or flight retaliation, or racism hostility.
Work Cited
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Berger, C. R., Roloff, M. E., & Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R. The handbook of communication science. Los Angeles: Sage. 2010
Binder, Leonard. Islamic Liberalism. Chicago: University press of Chicago, 1998.
Buhring-Uhle, Christian and Gabriele Lars Kirchhof. Arbitration and Mediation in International Business. 2006.
Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford, 2004. Document.
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