Monday, May 26, 2014

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

            I have discussed my topic as thoroughly as I ever will, so I must now leave you with a final statement about effective persuasion and my project. When I began reading The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins, I knew that I was reading a book that I would enjoy for its non-fiction and scientific qualities, but I did not know that I would find something interesting that is unrelated to these qualities. I ended up taking Dawkins’ attempt to communicate his ideas in general to be the foundation of my topic, rather than using the specific topics he discusses. This surprised me that I could take something out of a book that the author could not have intended. However, I began to research communication and what makes a particular type of communication, persuasion, effective. This research led me to a surprising discovery that I used as the basis for all my genres and turned into my golden thread: that effective persuasion is not necessarily logical, but that it appeals to the personality and biases of the audience. I discovered the human side of argumentation. I chose to use this as my golden thread because it embodies the main idea that I wanted my project to convey.
            I was pleased with how my project turned out. Making the genres was a struggle for me at first. I had just gotten the idea for my paper and the topic I would look into when I started trying to write genres. Having not done much creative stuff in the past, it was a challenge to try to be creative with my genres. So I started with a narrative about qualities, since you showed us this in class and it seemed a lot easier than coming up with my own ideas. I needed this guidance, this little push to unlock my creative side. In my narrative, Persuasive and Understanding attend the same high school, and Persuasive personifies the human side of argumentation by having everyone believe that he is always doing the right thing even when it may not be true. My second genre is a sort of welcome letter creative piece titled “My World.” It’s meant to represent how the human side of persuasion can be and is abused, and by setting it in the world we live in, it serves to criticize the money-driven attitude that is prevalent in our society. While unrelated to the topic, a similar criticism is also made by Dawkins in his book. I also made a poem in first person where I am green and my whole world is red, and I have a great green idea that nobody understands because the idea is green and they are red. This poem is a metaphor for the problems that most people run into when they try to communicate their ideas. Many great ideas are lost because people don’t know how to convince people how of their idea’s greatness. The green guy’s idea doesn’t appeal to the red people because it isn’t red, so even though it is a great idea, it is rejected. My final genre is a description of a broken cell phone that can still be considered to “work” because it is a prop in a play, and the audience believes that it works. This expresses the aspect of the human side of argumentation that arguing is not always effective because it is logical because it is not logical the phone still “works” even though it is broken. I chose to describe a phone because phones are how most people communicate, and so the phone itself is a symbol of communication too. Overall, everything I learned from this project was surprising and not at all what I expected to learn. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change anything but how long it took me to turn everything in.

Sincerely,


Zach

My Phone

My phone has a screen and 10 buttons. The buttons each have a number on them, and also three or four letters for typing out a message. The screen and the buttons are separated in the middle by a hinge. It’s a flip phone. It’s gray, and there is also an antenna on the left side that can be pulled out up to two and a half inches.

 I’m holding my phone up to my ear and speaking. I look out and there are a thousand pairs of eyes staring out at me. I look up and see a sign that reads, “Come out and see the spring play! Thursday at 7pm.” I look down and realize that I stopped speaking, and I need to remember my next lines.

The weird thing about my phone is that it doesn’t work, at least not how it’s supposed to. By that I mean that it can’t make calls or send texts. But in a way, it does work. It works in the sense that all the people out there believe that it works, and that there really is someone on the other end. Because they all believe me, it's as if my phone had never been accidentally dropped in water. My phone isn't broken; it works fine.

Green

I’m a green guy. My skin is green, my hands are green, my hair is green, even my teeth is green. I live in a green house, with a green dog and green family, with a nice green convertible resting on my green driveway next to my expensive green basketball hoop and green trampoline. I go to a red school, where all the teachers are red with red hair and hands and teeth and skin. At my red school, I see my red friends. My red friends and I always eat our red lunches together and ride the red bus home down the red streets in our red town.


One day I had a brilliant green idea. My green idea would change everything. It was perfect. My green idea was so amazing; it could solve any green problem you could think of. I wanted to share my green idea so everyone would benefit from its greenness too. When I told my red friends about my green idea, they got quiet, and their faces flashed a brighter red. I didn’t understand their redness. And they didn’t understand my green.

My World

Welcome to my world. In my world, there are friendly people and mean people, funny people and serious people, determined people and people who wouldn’t do work if it were the last thing on earth they could do. There are actors and celebrities and presidents and CEOs, and there are lawyers and teachers and plumbers and cashiers. The people come in many colors and from many places. But as different as we all are, it seems that most of us share something in common: a penchant for making money.


The only meaningful characteristic that separates the people from my world is whether they are honest or if they know how to get what they want. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, but they might as well be. Lying, cheating, scamming, stealing; these actions pervade my society and no end is in sight. The bottom line is that these things benefit those who can pull it off.  The people in my world are too vulnerable. Everyone wants to make money, but only the cunning liars wins, and everyone else loses. In my world good guys finish last. My world seems pretty messed up, right? Open your eyes, because it’s your world too.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Being Convincing

The ability to communicate complex thoughts and ideas is one of the most important things setting people apart from other animals. By improving communication, people can exchange ideas and opinions with much greater ease; effective communication is one of the most valuable skills that someone can have in the modern world. This means that it is important to know what separates effective communication from ineffective communication, and how effective communication should be defined. Richard Dawkins’ book on the theory of evolution, The Greatest Show on Earth, is an attempt to communicate the understanding of and belief in evolution to his readers. This example of communication can be picked apart to determine what Dawkins communicated well and what he didn’t, and by examining the techniques that make communication and, in particular, persuasion, it is clear that effective persuasion consists of the use of logic, evidence, and most important, appealing to the audience.
Debate is an organized form of argumentation in which people argue sides to convince an audience, and the techniques of debating are meant to reflect a perfected style of communication and persuasion. In other words, looking at the way people debate will help construct the foundation of the definition of effective communication since debate techniques are meant to best communicate an argument. An article from Simon Frasier University’s website outlines the basic ideas behind how to successfully debate. The article focuses on many of the activity-specific skills involved in debate, such as the pace and the volume of a speech and making eye contact with the audience. These skills may seem useless outside of debate, but summarizing what the article says, speaking at the right volume and having the right tone (in both voice and vocabulary) and showing enthusiasm and interest all make it easier for the audience to listen, and if the audience is listening then they are more likely to understand and agree. Although outside of debate there may not be a rigid structure to arguing and communicating, there is always an audience to someone communicating, so the same skills apply. Of course, the article also talks about how to create good arguments using logic and evidence, which is an obvious element of effective persuasion too. However, the less obvious elements consider the audience, such as the tone and interest mentioned, as well as other aspects that are considered from the audience’s point of view.
 One of the most important facets of effective persuasion is making the audience want to agree. This is a factor outside of any arguments themselves and is not obvious. Richard Dawkins book is trying to convince people to believe evolution, and this means his audience is people who disbelieve and he is trying to sway them, otherwise he would only be preaching to the choir. In the book, Dawkins refers to disbelievers as “history deniers” and says that they are similar to people who deny the holocaust.. In an article on the University of Maryland’s website, it says that making a point effective requires to “recognize their side and their concerns to show respect. This usually results in reciprocal behavior.” Dawkins book exemplifies why these things are true, since Dawkins’ comparison of his audience to holocaust deniers is disrespectful, and will lose him many people who might have been swayed if he had been more respectful. Understanding the situation of the audience and being careful to say things that will be taken well are more important than any other aspect of effective communication, because most people will stop listening to somebody who is insulting them. Logic isn’t everything. Written communication may be more difficult, but as an article from the Journal of Oncology Practice states, “As with all written communication, the most important aspect to consider is the audience. Consider the knowledge and biases of the person… the purpose of writing is to engage the reader… write it in a way that helps the reader” This offers a new perspective on considering the audience: it is just as important to be interesting as it is to be correct and respectful. Past the disrespect, Dawkins’ argument is as interesting as it is informative. He makes evolution matter. He makes it seem like an issue that everyone should care about. He talks about the implications of not believing in evolution and how those who do not believe have stunted our nation’s scientific development. Making an argument relevant to the life of the audience is something not always considered, but is critical to effective communication.
Communication is not straightforward. It would be strange if it were, since it is one of the most complex things that our species can do. The subtle aspects of argumentation such as making arguments relevant to the audience and being respectful, along with conveying the message in the exact right way are the most important facets of effective persuasion, even more so than presenting a logical argument. Adolf Hitler had one of the worst and most dehumanizing worldviews out of anybody who ever lived, yet he somehow was able to convince a nation that he was right by appealing to his audience in just the right way. While Hitler’s manipulation is an example of how this knowledge can be misused, knowing what really makes communication and persuasion effective will lead to a more cohesive and developed tomorrow.
Works Cited
"Developing Effective Communication Skills." Journal of Oncology Practice 3.6 (2007): 314-17. Web.
"FSAP - Effective Communication." Welcome to the University Health Center. University of Maryland, n.d. Web. 22 May 2014.
Kidd, A. "HOW TO DEBATE." HOW TO DEBATE. Simon Frasier University, 26 Aug. 2002. Web. 22 May 2014.