Communications ethics and literacy is about learning how to ethically communicate with the "Other" in this time of constant differences in opinion and ideas. According to the book, it also seeks to address issues of "...religion, race gender and ethnicity" and how they have become a part of the question in dealing with communication literacy (pg 220).
Once we become aware of the cultural differences of the Other, we are better equipped to engage in an ethical exchange with them where learning can take place. For example, once I take the opportunity to learn from say, a transgender person, I at least know their individual perspective on being a trans person in the United States. As such, it is less convenient for me to have stereotypes about them and people like them. In that situation, I have used my communications literacy to avoid (for lack of a better term) "othering" them. Because their otherness has been lessened, the two of us can more easily work together towards a common goal, for example, a civil rights issue. I may, at that point, learn that a transgender woman and I have a lot more similar struggles regarding living in a female body than I had realized.
In this situation, the "other" and I have identified each other, used ethics to learn from each other, and have become more literate in the culture of another person, which means I have become a better person and future exchanges have become easier. Instead of just talking and looking at things from a theoretical perspective, the Other and I have taken a pragmatic, realistic approach in engaging in an ethical change.
Using a pragmatic approach gave us a learning opportunity and through learning we will have become more literate.
I totally agree with you. I like your idea that the “other” and you use ethics to learn from each other. As you said, we became aware of the cultural difference of the Other, the next step should be an application to our actual interaction. In particular, we can take advantage of the concept in interaction with someone in different race, gender, ethnicity and religious groups. I believe that communication literacy is not necessarily what we can gain through experience, but we should learn with textbook or lecture. Transgender women would have more concerns about sex than others. In this case, we would know how we should interact with them without making them uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteThere are many issues caused by misinterpretation or lack of understanding about difference in public. That could be expanded to racism or gender oppression. It is almost impossible to get rid of stereotype lens from our mind, but we at least can interact with others under communication ethics and literacy we have learned in this chapter. Personally, life in the United States itself teaches me how to live with people who are very different from me in terms of ethnicity and culture, and I actually enjoy doing it.