I have been observing the communication among groups on controversial issues in the United States, and it feels that it is more entertaining and emotion stirring than the movies that we pay to see.
Recently I realized something fascinating about different parties and how they interact. I noticed that many people that represent different groups are not really listening to the other side but wanting the other to change their mind, and even if they realize that a party is actually wrong about certain ideas, they still continue to stand their ground, which made me think that communication is used as a powerful tool in conflict among humans. I noticed that each group has given up persuading the other and instead has been focusing on communication within the groups.
This is brought me to realize something. Communication is used for different things, on one hand it is used to educate others or to persuade. But in this current time, I see a different kind of communication with various elements within it, it seems that there is not much interest in persuasion of opposing sides but instead of focusing on the self interest and/or also the group. The communication that I see is selective communication, sides are choosing talking points that benefit their agenda and ignoring the topics that the other mentions. What holds in the future of this? It seems like the healthy thing to do is to try to sit down and talk about the concerns of each side, but each side will not give in at all. This means that there is a lack of communication even though there is communication because each side is talking but only acknowledging their own talking points.
What is the natural progression of various entities battling for their own interest?
- There a certain state of things that both wish to have, but the only outcome is that one can win or other will lose
- There is a period of negotiations and communications, each side trying to persuade the other
- If unsuccessful, the rival group will increase inner communication on how to receive their desired outcome
- If both sides view that losing the battle will inflict too much loss, the environmental morals will deteriorate, techniques of force continue to be used on the opposite side, initially starting with emotional manipulation and passive aggression.
- If both sides continue in this demoralized atmosphere then the next step becomes winning by force.
Just some thoughts and observations of things.