.
Generally, I prefer talking about things.
But occasionally, especially with my husband or someone close, I find it necessary to talk about the way we communicate.
This happens when there's been a misunderstanding, as part of discovering who meant what.
Or it can happen if a friend is helping me find ways to use words more skillfully.
Why? One of my strongest interests is how we communicate.
P.S. Once in a blue moon I can take umbrage at insulting and prejudiced language, especially if it's rooted in ignorance. I have in such an instance, spoken about speaking about the subject, in the hope of setting the record straight. I doubt if it worked. I probably wasted my efforts.
depends on what youre talking about
Semantics is always involved hartfire. No matter how close people are words have different meanings to us based on our intellect/experience/baggage. So a very benign word to you might trigger painful memories in me and then I would act/react accordingly, It's a always a tightrope walk. I think you have an unusually astute ability to understand me/my intentions. I have seen you explaining me to others when they get it all wrong and you are always right on the money. I guess folks can't really help it if they
're on different pages or don't speak the same language. It is a real blessing when they are both in the same place with the same understanding, Thank you for your reply! :)
Good point pearl. Thank you for your reply and Happy Saturday! :)
That's a very kind thing to say. Thank you.
Denotation and connotation always play their roles. But, as I'm sure you know, so also do tone of voice, facial expression, and gesture - things which we can't hear or see as easily in this medium. Context plays a huge role in meaning. And also that which is not said - the subtext.
You and I have a little bit of history now, in our exchanges, so we know each other a bit. My Mum was in your age group, your generation, and I can sometimes hear her in the way you choose some of your words. Although often your questions are more like the ones my father used to ask. Or like Professor David Armstrong when he taught philosophy at Sydney University.
Hello Rosie:
I dunno, but I'm gonna talk about talking... I'd RATHER talk about racism, but if the people you're talking to think you're NUTS, then there's not gonna be a whole lot of communication going on..
Let's talk about Driving While Black, for example.. Some of us grasp that it's a thing, and some of us absolutely don't.. Ron Sims is an aging local black leader who says he's pulled over in his own neighborhood EIGHT times for doing NOTHING wrong.. The local news reported it, but, it was met with total disbelief.. His story was denounced for being an anecdote. People demanded statistics and data. Others came up with all manner of reasons why Ron Sims, the former King County executive with a clean driving record, might be pulled over repeatedly in his own neighborhood. Police were probably just looking for wanted criminals who matched Sims’ description, some said. Wrote one: “If a crime was committed near where Ron Sims was driving, and the suspect was described as a black man driving a vehicle similar to the vehicle Sims was driving, wouldn’t it make sense for a cop to pull Sims over?” And, this is liberal Seattle..
Or, we can believe Tim Scott, the only black Republican Senator. He opened up about his mistreatment by cops.. “I have felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted. I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness, and the humiliation that comes from feeling that you are being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself.”
The first time he was stopped by police, his car had a malfunctioning headlight. A cop approached, hand on his gun, and told him, “Boy, don’t you know your headlight isn’t working properly?” He felt “embarrassed, ashamed, and scared. Very scared.”
Other traffic stops followed. Skipping past many of them, he chose to focus his remarks on “a time in my life when I was an elected official,” noting that while he would not share every interaction, “please remember that in the course of one year, I’ve been stopped SEVEN times by law-enforcement officers. Not four, not five, not six, but seven times in one year as an elected official. Was I speeding sometimes? Sure. But the vast majority of the time I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood, or some other reason just as trivial.”
But, they're NOT going to be believed because, according to the right wing, racism is over.. So, talking, in the conventional sense, doesn't work.. It's time to take to the streets..
excon
That is a very lovely compliment m'dear! I remind you of a College professor? My son, as I think you know, is a college professor. Chair of his department at the University of Hawaii in the Manoa Valley, Honolulu. His field is Computer and Information Sciences. That is about the bestest compliment I have EVER had in all my born days. Folks used to tell me that I should have been married to a college professor! I did better than that! I gave birth to one! Thank you for your reply and sharing some more about yourself. You know how much I love it! ((hugs))
Well! This is about the best answer in reply to a question of mine you have EVER given me kiddo and we go back a long way and you've given me a lotta good stuff. Thank you for the time you put into this excon. A tragedy of great proportions occurs daily in the lives of blacks . The foolish superficial ignoramuses dispute it. They can't hep it! They is just not smart enough to get it. Ya gotta pity dem and dere kids because this is what they will always be from here to eternity! Deniers/despises/attackers. Will that ever change? I doubt it. They like being ignorant so much they will NEVER give it up. I would like you to disagree and tell me there is hope that one day it will change. Thank you for your heart felt reply. You elevated the question signii
fcantly with your response. For which I thank you excon! :)
