Computer-Mediated Communication

The prevalence of technology in our society today has given rise to many more convenient forms of communication compared to the former pen-and-paper-snail-mail way of communication all those years ago. Nowadays, even emails are outdated! We use anything from text messaging to MSN to Skype in order to communicate with our loved ones near or far (: 

 

What is Computer-Mediated Communication?

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) has traditionally referred to the form of communiation that occurs between people with the aid of a linked computer network. Common examples in our daily lives would include emailing, instant messaging on MSN or Skype (virtual voice call or video call). In recent years, even contact through social networking sites such as Facebook are considered CMC because it involves the use of a computer and most importantly, the Internet.

 

Technological Diffusion

Why is the world so taken to the Internet, with many users seemingly even unable to live without the Internet?

 

• Cost-benefit tradeoffs

Most would agree if I say the Internet is free. It does not demand anything for it to work (except for a computer and electricity) and most often, we find ourselves referring to the Internet more than anything else, when we need a current piece of information, be it the latest news or Hollywood gossip. As a student, my project references are more often from the Internet than from anywhere else. From scholarly articles to medical journals, my work is constantly sourced from the Internet because it can be a reliable source of information and the Internet is also easily accessible, allowing me to complete a large part of my work and also doing research without all the hassle of running to the library.

• Functionality

In the same way, the Internet is convenient in providing access to many sources of information, local or abroad. Whether it is (.sg) or (.au), using the internet to access a website takes mere seconds. In the same way, it is no longer difficult to communicate with someone, a friend or a stranger who is based on the other side of the world. The internet certanly provides a cheap and fast way for many to communicate and where information is also free on the internet for all. Technology has also enabled MSN (instant messaging), Skype (video calls) and it is only a click away to catch up with friends who are studying abroad, such as in the United States or Australia. The telephone at home does not seem as innovative as the Internet in long distance communications, as video calls now allow you to see the ones you are communicating with. Many would choose the Internet as a long-distance communication tool as it is a more novel and inexpensive way of communication.

• Substitutes 

Similarly, instant messaging and video calls over the Internet long distance is effective in substituting former modes of communications, such as the traditional phone call (we now can see and hear, rather than just hear) or the pen-and-paper-snail-mail (communication online is so convenient and quick, provided you have a computer). Moreover, the services online are free. The Internet definitely provides a faster and more convenient access to communication and it is also an added advantage that the Internet is inexpensive!

• Complements

With the rise of technology comes computers and the Internet. Nearly every home has a computer and everyone walks around with a notebook nowadays, I’m sure many would agree when I say, the computer is only useful when there is access to the Internet!

 

Meanwhile, check this out:

Scammers Target Online Job Seekers

In the economic downturn which started late last year, many people have lost their jobs. Even in dire circumstances when the Internet is supposed to be a useful tool in helping the unemployed find jobs in order to provide a living for their families, there are online scammers who go to lengths just to cheat the innocent of their critical personal information and commit identity theft. In a world where the Internet is sometimes even more effective in helping us acomplish certain tasks (eg. finding employment on the Internet beats reading from the Classified in our local newspapers), many people turn to the Internet hoping to find information that is reliable but identify theft is such an easy virtual crime to commit, simply by communicating with the victim through email (as seen in the above-mentioned news report).

Much as the internet may seem safe to many of us, there are disadvantages to note, such as spyware or trackers that can hack into the most confidential of our details online, eg. email passwords and critical personal information such as identity numbers and bank account numbers, so that criminals can commit identity theft with these details. Many a time, it is easy for these online criminials to win their case, as there is no evidence or proof of their activity online (Many hackers or online criminals are good with computers, thus being able to avoid capture) and it is also easy for them to gain access to private information, just as long as the unknowing victim simply replies to an email. It is thus, important to be vigilant and not to easily trust every piece of information we find on the Internet but to use our better judgement in discouraging these online criminals or hackers from successfully committing these online crimes. 

Functions of Media

As learnt, mass communication appeals to the general audience through messages delivered by official establishments through media forms. The media aids in communication with its many functions such as:

• Surveillance (information)
• Correlation (analysis and evaluation)
• Cultural transmission (education and socialisation of receivers) 
• Entertainment (enjoyment and gratification)

I will be listing down examples in my daily life to highlight how media displays its functions (:

 

Functions of the Media

Surveillance –

By gathering and disseminating information.

Normally refers to a print advertisement, TV commercial or the likes that provides a source of information for audiences who are receptive to it, such as selling an item (mobile phones to fast food) or promoting an event by listing its details. It can also appear at any place or time, from large bilboards to public bus-stop ads and TV commercials aired during primetime on home TV networks. An example would be the clip above: A recent promotion by fast-food chain MacDonald’s on promoting the scenes of “love” found in the heartlands which are all associated with MacDonald’s. Some recent examples would be “love loooong dates”, in which a girl is pictured in a similar commercial asking her date, what time it was when he reveals it’s 2.30am and they’re shown seated in a quiet MacDonald’s restaurant which opens 24 hours; or “love booting up”, another similar commercial which shows a man in his office booting up his notebook in his office while enjoying his morning coffee, a promotion on McCafe’s Premium Brewed Coffee available with a MacDonald’s breakfast set. The above video is a running promotion of “love 12:01pm” when MacDonald’s restaurants islandwide offer a $4.50 meal on weekdays from 12 to 2. This example of mass media as circulated on local TV networks inform interested viewers with its frequent air on primetime TV, complete with details of the ongoing promotion in order to entice receivers of the commercial, and more often, to promote sales of the mentioned product or service.

 

Correlation –

By evaluating any events happening around the world or analysing the problems in society.

The daily newspaper or news on TV is a form of mass media that offers analysing daily happenings in the world and helps viewers to analyse problems in society that may affect them in life, such as when the news broke worldwide of the current recession, resulting in the loss of employment in many people which in turn, affected the economies of many countries. The 3-minute video above shows a recent “short story” commissioned by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) where a teenage girl is narrating her father’s love for her after her mother had passed away when she was young. From working late nights to enduring her tantrums in primary school and even getting her a pair of red heels in preparation for her first date in secondary school, the various scenes show the extent of a father’s love for his only daughter. An alternate message that was brought across in the video also showed that the girl truly understands the sacrifices that her father makes for her. Even though she may be from a single-parent family, her father’s love makes her feel special and contented. This story-line which is the main importance in this video allows viewers to process , analyse and evaluate the points covered in the video before coming to a conclusion about its intended meaning and the message it is trying to bring across. In this case, it is about highlighting the importance of family.

(See below for misintepretation of “Family” as voiced by some viewers)

 

 Cultural transmission –

By serving as the mediums for transmission of cultural information and educating and socialising receivers.

Why do we enjoy movies? Because of the idea that we can get lost in another world that is entirely unlike our own and the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a place or a situation that we would unlikely find ourselves in our real lives. In movies, another common form of mass media, we interact with situations we do not get the chance to see or feel in our daily lives. A recent movie “Departures” that I have caught recently, introduced me to the Japanese culture and how the natives deal with the subject of death and mourning. The lead character, a professional cellist finds himself in limbo after his orchestra dissolves, leaving him without a job. Desperate to earn an income to clear his debts and support his family, he responses to a job advertisement in the newspapers asking for a person to “assist with departures”. Mistakenly believing the company is a travel agency and he is to assist with departure flights, he is shocked to realise that his job is in fact, now of a professional in assisting the departed with the ritual of encoffining and a peaceful “departure”. This movie provided me with an insight into the traditional Japanese rituals in encoffining, which basically refers to preparing a body for encasement into a coffin and has also cultivated in me, a deep understanding and a new-found appreciation for the job that these professionals do, the patience and detail involved, in order to prepare the departed for a peaceful journey into the afterlife. The rituals in Japan could be very different from local customs, hence the movie (as a medium) serves as an effective communication tool for transmission of cultural data to people like me, who, prior to watching the movie, may not understand the exact meaning of a certain custom or tradition in a particular culture. 

 

Entertainment –

By providing an outlet to de-stress from the problems in life and an opportunity to escape from the actual world.

This is probably the most common function we use the mass media for. From the internet, to movies and the ubiquitous television set in our homes today, the usage of media as an entertainment tool or a cure for boredom is a universal function of media for many of us. I’m sure many of us use the internet as a good source of information for completing assignments and projects but it is also as likely to be used for entertainment purposes when we are bored and frustrated (eg. upon reaching a block in completing an assignment). I have found myself browsing the many videos on Youtube when I’m really supposed to be doing research! The easy access to the internet these days also makes it convenient for us to log on to the internet as and when we want to and with the limitless sources of information on the internet, it is with no doubt that many of us choose the internet as one of the best tools for both communication and entertainment in mass media.  

 

Characteristics of Media Messages

However, messages in mass communication may sometimes get distorted or have far lesser “reaching” abilities that it is often intended. This could be due to many different factors such as if the communication message reaches invisible receivers, like a dead end. Invisible receivers  have little or no direct contact with the media sources transmitting the messages and thus, do not receive its intended meaning. Most often, media messages are not individualised and are also temporal. These messages are constructed to appeal to a very wide-ranged audience (message cannot be individualised) and only run for a short amount of time or in a specific timeslot (non-exclusivity and temporal) eg. the “Family” video commissioned by MCYS, which was possibly intended for audiences from teenagers to aged parents. The video’s message may not entirely reach many viewers in its true form (some viewers may wrongly decode the actual, most important message) when it was aired on local TV networks. Many primetime viewers reported on its portrayal of a “broken” single-parent family as being less-than-ideal, because a wholesome image of a family normally comprising of 2 parents and a child is not entirely portrayed. Many also thought that the single-parent idea was deemed “incomplete” and may be unhealthy to a child. Nevertheless, the message brought across was only intentional to highlight the importance of a family and a parent’s love. Most viewers may feel that there is a need to  portray a “rightful” image of a family of 3 or 4, doing enjoyable activities as a family to come across as a truly wholesome image of “family”.

Sometimes, mass communications also occurs in interposed channels with the common use of different technologies in a bid to transmit a particular message to many more audiences everywhere. For example, the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic mobile phone, which has print adverts in the newspapers and magazines, adverts at public areas such as bilboards and bus-stop ads and also TV commercials such as this one:

This effectively reaches more audiences. For example, someone who does not tune in to the television that often may be seeing the print ads more often in the daily papers. In general, different media forms would require different skills and the ease of access for receivers to interpretate the intended message correctly. In the Nokia adverts, the company has employed different outlets for advertising, thereby probably reaching a wider audience and the media certainly serves as an effective tool for the message to be sent out for “far-reaching” effects.

 

 

References:

An Overview on Mass Communication

The Role of the Mass Media in Community Development

Stereotypes & Intercultural Communication

Watch Paris, Je t’aime (full length movie) on Fanpop 
(Apologies that this is subtitled in Mandarin)

or

(Apologies that this is subtitled in Italian)

 

Paris, je t’aime (French for “Paris, I Love You) is a 2006 film consisting of 18 short-films set in the different “districts” of Paris. I have just caught the film recently on DVD and found the individual short films intriguing in their very own storylines. The films were directed by 21 directors, among them Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading) and Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban).

I found 1 short film very interesting, highlighting both stereotypes and intercultural communication in today’s times: Quais de Seine (Ve arrondissement), the 2nd short film.
(Please preview the mentioned short film at the above links.)

 

Quais de Seine (7:35 – 13:18 in the video link)
In this short film, a young man and his 2 friends are seated by a river, making lewd comments, teasing women who walk by them. A young Muslim woman is seated next to them, listening to their group banter and flipping through her books. When she gets up to leave, two men walking past her gawk at her appearance/attire (most possibly because she is the only girl around with a traditional Muslim headdress). Missing a boulder in the road, she trips and falls, much to the amusement of the 2 passer-bys and the 2 friends of the young man seated by the river who burst into loud laughter. The young man witnesses her fall and goes forward to help her up, ignoring his friends’ tauntings. He then helps her with her headdress, which has slipped off her head, exposing her hair. The two then strike up a conversation before the girl rushes off for prayers; the young man complimenting the Muslim girl on her beautiful hair and asking her why she wears a headdress when no one around does.  

Stereotyping
Stereotypes are a general belief by which a certain group of people makes sense of the world. Stereotyping differ between individuals and also among different reference groups. There can be many points that lead to stereotyping and in the short film mentioned, there is an example of stereotyping as displayed from intercultural views.

The young man’s friends, who are Caucasian, pass many lewd remarks to the girls who pass by them on the street, among them a Caucasian girl wearing a visible thong and an Asian girl whom one of the boys requested for “a massage at his nearby house”. This comment to the Asian girl reveals that the boys have somewhat stereotyped the Asian girl by the way she dressed and compared her to an individual who is likely to hold a job as a masseur and willing to perform other “lewd acts” as required by “clients” in seedy massage parlours (possible prejudices against the way this Asian girl dressed flamboyantly – fur coat, short skirt and boots). The stereotype may also stem from views that there may be a slightly higher percentage of Asians as compared to Caucasians who take up “lower-income” jobs such as masseurs, in “higher income” countries (negative social attitude) where Asians (and most other immigrants) may be likely to secure less stable jobs with lesser income. However, being an Asian myself, I don’t actually agree with this stereotype. Nevertheless, it is a stereotype somehow. This example of stereotyping “typecast” Asian women in general, although it is understandably in the name of “fun” as presented in this scene. Another example would be when the young man asks the Muslim girl about her headdress, wondering why she is a beautiful girl who should but does not let down her hair or dress like every other girl on the street (assumption of similarity) and instead, abides to her unusual dress code which he later learns, is linked to her religion.

In the same way, when the young man helps the Muslim girl with her headdress and then proceeds to take a photo of her with his phone to show her how she looks, the girl stereotype the young man as one of his friends, who are only interested in picking up girls and getting into their good books in order to “get laid”. This stereotyping is also because of the assumption of similarity. As the young man socialises with his friends, he is also thought to have the same values and interests as them, including prejudices and similarities in lifestyle choices, etc. 

Intercultural Communication
Upon learning that the Muslim girl hides her hair under a traditional headdress for her own religious reasons, the young man comments that it is “a pity”. However, the girl enlightens him to the fact that as long as she knows that she is beautiful, it does not matter if she has her hair covered up or not. She also highlights that with her headdress, she knows she is strong in her faith and that she has an identity and that alone, is a beautiful thing. Here, culture plays an important role in identifying the very different characters of the 2 leads. Paris, a seemingly more open-minded society has cultured in the young man a stereotypic image of the girls on the street as promiscuous or “easy to get laid” and that beauty is shown only skin-deep or appearance-wise when the girls dress up. However, the different Islamic teachings of the Muslim girl gives him an insight into her Muslim culture instead, learning that not all girls are as “easy” as his friends may have thought and that beauty is profound.

The young man, fascinated by his encounter with the Muslim girl, then waits for her outside the mosque after her prayers, seemingly attracted to her strong, positive attitude to life. The end of the film reveals a hint of an intercultural relationship developing between the girl and the young man when she introduces him to her father and they leave the mosque together, exchanging personal introductions.

 

References:

Wikipedia – Paris, je t’aime

IMDB – User Reviews for Paris, je t’aime

Overview – Paris, je t’aime

The Manson Family

Police raid Manson Family ranch, Death Valley, California, 1969

While browsing the internet last week, I came across a news article about Susan Atkins. Atkins is a former Charles Manson Family follower in the 1960s and was also convicted of the murder of actress Sharon Tate in 1969. She has since been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer while serving life imprisonment in prison. Despite being refused parole several times in the past, she is now requesting for her release from prison after doctors determined that she has less than 6 months to live.

In today’s Comms lecture, the concept of Groupthink was introduced which I found extremely interesting and the mention of Susan Atkins leads me to research on the Manson Family.

The term, Groupthink was conceived by Irving Janis, a research psychologist at Yale University and a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. It refers to a situation in a group when members are deeply involved in the activities and beliefs of the group and feel a very strong sense of belonging such that their unity overrides other factors that may influence each member’s individuality. This will normally result in the group’s own unique thinking that they are “invincible”.

Immediately, the background of cults/sects came to mind where followers would devote their time and worship a person or an object. One perfect example of Groupthink in history would be The Manson Family.

 

The Manson Family 

Charles Manson was the “leader” of The Manson Family cult which was responsible for 9 murders in the summer of 1969, including the famous “Helter Skelter” murders of Sharon Tate and her other 3 house guests on August 9, 1969. He gathered followers who were mainly female, back in 1960s and at one time, they resided together at the Spahn Ranch, northwest of Los Angeles, CA, with almost 100 followers. Manson was discovered to have a domineering personality and was also referred to both as “Satan” and “Christ” by his followers, believing that he is a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

Manson started out with 8 or 9 young female followers and travelled with them hippie-style in old school buses. The number of Family members increased throughout the months of travels to many places, eventually residing in the Spahn range in Chatsworth among other secluded locations close to deserts, etc. An artist inspired by art to make his own rock music, Manson was acquainted with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys and was subsequently introduced to The Beatles’ White Album by acquaintances. Since then, Manson has been obsessed with  The Beatles and preached to his followers that they could “surpass them in fame” and convinced his followers that the social turmoil in the world he had predicted, was also predicted by The Beatles. (The Beatles’ songs were often big sources of controversy with many fans interpreting certain songs to be harbouring mysterious codes hinting apocalypse, the Devil’s work, the consumption of hard drugs and even the “Paul Is Dead” urban legend that revolves around the “death” of a member, Paul McCartney. These controversies were mainly centered around their lyrics and album artwork. The song “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” was infamously banned in some places including BBC because many thought its lyrics were a description/reference to an acid trip triggered by the consumption of the drug LSD.) Manson had also convinced his group that they should prevent disaster in the world, as if the White Album was directed at the Family.

Manson moved a couple of times with his group, to secluded places like Death Valley and the Canoga Park in a bid to place the group far from any interaction from the outside world. In Canoga Park, he even named the Family’s home the Yellow Submarine, a Beatles Reference. Charles Manson would have sexual intercourse with his female followers and reportedly called them “Charlie’s girls” and gave them aliases which they would live by, naming an obedient follower Susan Atkins, Sadie Mae, as influenced by a Beatles song “Sexy Sadie”. In one particular case, a father of one of the girls, Ruth Ann Moorehouse, had came for her after her parents believed that she was lured into a cult but he was given many doses of LSD and then became a follower of sorts himself.

Why did Manson command such respect and worship from his followers?

Manson is often described as having a “tremendous drive to call attention to himself” and would resort to negative behaviour to satisfy this urge. His sexual relations with his followers commands them to “listen” to him that he “owns” them in a way by calling them his “girls” and also normally uses LSD to manipulate their actual personality to his needs. He also found success in manipulating other people, even though not all of his followers agreed with his ideals such as a female follower, Linda Kasabian who was one of the 4 Family members told to go over to the Cielo Drive property where once of Manson’s acquaintances, Terry Melcher once resided. Manson instructed the 4 to “totally destroy everyone” in the house, even with no clear intention given by Manson (Atkins would later say that it was to instil fear in Terry Melcher because he gave his word on things that did not follow through, although they knew by then that Melcher is no longer living in that house) and having no idea who might be in the house that night.

This intention for the killing of Sharon Tate and her fellow house guests in the house she shared with her director husband, Roman Polanski is in fact, a very questionable excuse to why Manson wanted them killed. He also believed that the war between the blacks and the whites should begin very soon and since the blacks didn’t know how to start, he would show that how it’s done by carrying out the “Helter Skelter” murders, named as such because the media discovered the motivation behind Manson’s orders to his members for these murders were found in the lyrics of the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter. Atkins later revealed there were more murders to be carried out, killings of rich wealthy white people that would “shock the world”. Those targeted included Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones with planned gruesome details as dictated by Atkins.

I guess the concept of Groupthink relates to interpersonal communication on a group level. A large number of followers believe in the ideas of a person who serves as their leader. All the actions and thoughts of the Family and how the members all obediently followed his instuctions are reflective of the symptoms of Groupthink. The symptoms of Groupthink are as follows:

Symptoms of Groupthink

Illusion of invulnerability

The group will generally feel like they “are the best” and “authorities” in the group will feel that their decision is made in the best interest of the group and that nothing will go wrong when going through with their plans.

– Manson felt as if he was “the best”, convincing his Family that he was both “Christ” and “Satan” and was going to be responsible  in bringing about a big change in the world, ruling it with the blacks after the massacre of several rich white people, targeted in the music and entertainment industry, all this despite being a white person himself.

Belief in group’s own morality

“Authorities” in the group will feel that their group’s decision towards or against something is the only correct decision in the group’s morals. These group morals do not necessarily mean that the decision made is seen as correct in the eyes of the law or outsiders.

– His Family believed in Manson’s words that a “war” between the blacks and whites were ensuing outside of their “hideout”. Manson had mentioned that there would be numerous murders of the white people by black people and the society of white would eventually fall, leading to self-annihilation by the whites. Murdering “wealthy white people” according to his plan in order to start the war and then hide in a secret city underneath Death Valley only to come out again when the war was over would seemed as if anyone who believed him should be deemed psychological disturbed but he held an influenced over his followers such that they believed his words were true. Carrying out his orders of the murders obediently has also affirmed in Manson’s status and resulting in his other followers thinking that his “laws” were correct and whatever they did was moral and just.

Shared stereotypes

Members in the group will share the same stereotype about a certain thing, situation, person/group or idea.

– Manson and the Family would share the same ideas he did, that they are changing the world as decoded in the Beatles’  White Album. They even wrote songs wth Manson and sang with him, hoping to release an album as widely-received as the Beatles’ White Album in order to promote their own views to the masses and trigger further chaos.

Collective rationalisation

All members in the group will follow exactly what their leader says and reject other forms of thinking that is not similar to their own.

– Carrying out the Tate/La Bianca murders will implicate the members whereas in Manson’s case, it may be more difficult to charge him seriously as he would be seen as the instigator/mastermind behind the plans. However, the members are willing to “blindly” follow his instructions, although fully knowing that they are commiting a crime in the eyes of the law. Atkins, one of his most obedient followers even explains that she will be willing to do anything for him based on how much she loved him alone. Even when Manson told Atkins to “leave a sign… something witchy”, she does it for him, scrawling “PIG” on the front door of the Cielo Drive mansion in Sharon Tate’s blood. She had also harboured the thought of carving out Tate’s unborn baby (Tate was 8 and a half months pregnant then) and presenting it to Manson wrapped in a towel, thinking it would please him greatly. 

Self-Censorship

Everything said or done in the group will be according to the “culture” of the group. No other opinion or decision will be made that contradicts the “rules” of the group.

Illusion of unanimity

If an individual in the group does not agree with the decision being made, he does not speak out and instead gives his consent with the rest of the group, hence the “leader” mistaking it as a 100% agreement.

Pressure on dissenters

However, in the case that an individual voices a different opinion that’s unacceptable by the group’s beliefs, he will be “quelled”.

Mind-guards

The “leader” of the group will not stand to hear any other opinions that contradicts the thinking he has imposed on the rest of the group.

– In self-censorship, illusion of unanimity and pressure on dissenters and mindguards, the concepts are similar such that anyone with a different opinion or who did not agree to the Family’s actions do not speak out for fear that they could be forced to leave or even worse, get killed.  Due to this fear, any who did not agree with Manson probably did not dare to speak up, furthering the Groupthink and also empowering their leaders, who would think that all his followers are agreeing on everything he says.

– There was one such follower who was not as keen on the Family’s ideas as the rest of the followers. It was Linda Kasabian, who was also brought along to commit the Tate murders at the Cielo Drive house but was told to keep watch outside. She was not involved in the actual murders and at one point after hearing “horrifying sounds”, walked into the house on the rest to falsely inform Atkins that “someone is coming” in a vain effort to stop the massacre.  In another instruction by Manson for another killing of a “piggy”, as he would name his victims, Kasabian was told to go to the home of an actor she knew to “finish him off”. However, once there, she deliberately led the others up to the wrong apartment, a neighbour of the actor and then hurriedly left before any murder took place. This was, however, not known to Manson.

Groupthink comes across as a powerful tool in empowering a certain group of people which may grow into a larger number over time and cause massive devastation. The Family’s ill actions are a cause of their mentally-disturbing ideals as broadcasted to his followers by Charles Manson. In a better perspective, if the influence had been about positive life-changing experiences or spreading the word on a religious belief, it might attract many who could place their beliefs in something trustworthy, positive and most importantly, harmless and undisruptive to society.

 

References:

What Is Groupthink?

Wikipedia – Charles Manson

Official Website – Charles Manson

Charles Manson and the Manson Family – A Detailed Biography by Marilyn Bardsley

Cielo Drive – The Story on the Manson Family & Their Victims

Biography of Charles Manson

Los Angeles Times – Susan Atkins Seeks Release from Prison

Picture Credit – Sheriffs Begin Dig at Manson Ranch 

 

Wicker Park – The Ups and Downs of A Relationship

Video on Wicker Park:

Wicker Park is a movie released back in 2004. It is a romance-mystery film revolving around the relationships connecting 4 main individuals as told from their own individual perspectives. The film is not shot in a typical chronological order and refers to various points of time when important events happen in the characters’ lives in order to unravel the story in the end.

A man named Matt (Josh Hartnett), meets a girl Lisa (Diane Kruger), capturing her on the street with his video camera at a video store and subsequently “stalking her” before they both finally meet and fall deeply in love. However, Lisa mysteriously disappears one day after he asks her to move with him to New York from Chicago where they reside. After some time, in an an incident at the start of the movie, Matt is shown in a restaurant with a new girlfriend and is closing a business deal with clients when he spots a girl looking similarly to Lisa. Matt runs after her but Lisa disappears from the restaurant before Matt has the chance to confront her. Investigating her disappearance, he picks up a hotel room key that she has left behind and slowly starts to search for Lisa again.

While making his way out of the restaurant, Matt runs into an old friend, Luke who aids him in locating the owner of the missing hotel room key. All the leads he finds at the hotel brings him to Lisa’s apartment and he is almost sure the girl he saw at the restaurant is Lisa. Obsessively, he abandons a business trip to China and a series of flashbacks relate us to how Matt and Lisa had first gotten to know each other some time back. In his quest to track down Lisa again, Matt enters her old apartment which apparently now belongs to another girl, Alex who identifies herself as Lisa and seem to assume every aspect of Lisa’s life, staying in her apartment and using her clothes and subsequently, falling in love with Matt.

Unknown to Matt, Alex is an actress and disguises herself as Lisa in a bid for him to fall in love with her. Alex was mesmerized with Matt the first time he bumped into her at the video store where he was admiring Lisa on a video screen for the first time (I know, it’s confusing!). Upon realising that Lisa and Matt are attracted to each other in a serious relationship, Alex who is also Lisa’s neighbour takes advantage of Lisa’s trust in her to destroy the relationship between Matt and Lisa, while she maintains a serious relationship with Matt’s own friend, Luke, unbeknownst to Matt that she is actually his friend’s much-talked-about amazing girlfriend.

The video above recounts the moments that leads from Initiation to Terminating and then back to the Initiation stage again, in the relationship between Matt and Lisa over a span of 2 years.

1. Initiation: Self-presentation, approaching the subject and introduction.
In the video (0:07), Matt first sees Lisa on a video screen. Love at first sight, he then proceeds to follow her around her activities and realises that she’s a dancer at the academy. Matt, who is working at a video store then proceeds to admire her from afar and is at Luke’s shoe shop when Lisa walks in for the first time. At 0:43, they have their first interaction when Matt tries on a shoe on Lisa where Lisa then exposes Matt of stalking her and subsequently suggests a dinner date.

2. Experimenting: Self-disclosure and reciprocity.
In 1:14, Matt and Lisa are on their first date where they exchange information about themselves, understanding each other better with Matt reassuring Lisa that he really is not a stalker but purely mesmerized by the very sight of her. Very soon, it leads to the next stage, the Intensifying stage after they share a kiss and then spent an entire night together.

3. Intensifying: Increased commitment, disclosure of feelings to the other party, physical contact.
In 1:36, Matt and Lisa begin to spend a lot of time at Lisa’s apartment. Physical contact between the 2 also disclosures their feelings for each other and there’s an increased sense of commitment telling by their non-verbal cues such as body language that they are very much attracted to the other party.

4. Integrating: Coupling of individuals, encompass their social networks (enter a relational unit as one).
In 2:29 onwards, both Lisa and Matt are obviously presented as a couple, also witnessed by Lisa’s neighbour, Alex from opposite her window who seem to stare longingly at the couple. In 3:20, dancing in Lisa’s apartment is also another sign that Matt is willing to embrace Lisa’s passion and interests, further proving their status as a couple.

5. Bonding: Significant ritual that formalises the relationship, commitments or promises made.
At this stage, Matt proposes that Lisa move in with him to New York where he is offered a job opportunity. This creates promise/ commitment in the relationship that Matt is willing to invest in, with Lisa and is letting her know how significant she is to him, his amount of commitment to her and to their relationship in general.

6. Differentiating: Communication and interaction marked by conflict, reaffirmation of individuality.
As Lisa did not give Matt a definite reply as to whether she has accepted his invitation, he misunderstands her non-verbal cues in response; Lisa did not smile when Matt first asked her to move to New York with him, but only mainly because she was shocked at his proposal and she also hurriedly leaves to rush from their meeting for a dance rehearsal (Matt could have thought that Lisa was avoiding the question by rushing away without giving him an answer). He starts to become upset that Lisa does not contact him, even though she said she would and learns from the academy that she has left on a dance tour and will not be back in a short while. Here, both Matt and Lisa seem to be on their own intepreting each other’s actions individually.

7. Circumscribing: Communication reduced to safe areas, shrinking relational interest and commitment.
In this relationship, Lisa and Matt met with an abrupt break and though Lisa had passed on a message to Matt (to tell him that she’s happy and surprised he asked her to go to new York with him but needs a bit of time to embark on her dance tour first) through her neighbour, Alex, she does not find out that Alex has in fact, lied about passing on the message and has devised means to cut contact between the couple, for example, keeping away letters, erasing voicemail on their machines and posing as Lisa by “borrowing” her old apartment. Hence, Matt and Lisa are faced with this misunderstanding and without communication to resolve it, quickly progressed to the Stagnation stage next in their relationship.

8. Stagnation: Absence of joy and excitement, alienation.
Matt, mistaking Lisa going on her dance tour as a form of avoidance from their relationship, starts to get upset as he is unable to get in touch with her and rids his apartment of all the memories they shared previously. In this stage, Matt and Lisa both alienate each other, misunderstanding the intentions of the other party, thinking that they have not been in contact because the other one does not want to.

9. Avoiding: Withdraw physically and emotionally, channels of communication sealed.
Matt finds himself a new girlfriend who is helpful with his work and Lisa seldom reminisces about Matt anymore. This shows that they are both slowly withdrawing their feelings for each other. While searching for Lisa in a chance encounter, Matt even starts to fall for Alex’s advances towards him. Unable to contact each other through these misunderstandings, Lisa and Matt has also cut off all channels of communications possible between them through Alex’s lies.

10. Terminating: Relationships cease to exist, parties move on from the relationship.
With a new girlfriend at work whom he does not exactly love but does not mind marrying, Matt has displayed some form of termination in his relationship with Lisa, until he sees her again in the chance encounter at the restaurant. Both thought that they have moved on from their broken relationship until Matt finds Lisa again after both discover the lies from Alex and they reunite at the airport’s departure as Matt approaches Lisa from the back and she senses his presence behind her, as if bringing them back to the first stage of Initiation (seeing each other again for the first time in almost 2 years).

Alex is finally exposed when Luke decides to introduce his girlfriend to Matt and Matt then pieces together much of history and realises that Alex has been posing as the “Lisa” that Matt has known all along. In a smart scheme, he buys Alex a pair of shoes after knowing that her previous pair (also bought by Matt for Lisa) which was lying in the apartment, had a broken heel. However, Matt is suspiciously of Alex’s recount and while trying on the new pair of heels, realises that the size of the broken heels do not match Alex’s feet size, then realising that Lisa had apparently sustained a fall while running from their chance encounter in the restaurant as she was rushing to meet with Alex and that she had previously been in the same apartment Alex was currently staying at. Matt discovers Alex’s lies and Lisa’s letter that was supposed to be passed to him before she left.

As Lisa was suddenly offered a place on an international dance tour, she wrote a letter to Matt informing him of her abrupt departure and had passed the letter along with Matt’s apartment key to Alex. But Lisa failed to inform him of her decision to move with him as Alex had withheld the letter from Matt and had also deleted Lisa’s voicemails to him on his answering machine. Through Alex’s lies to both Matt and Lisa, she schemes to keep Lisa away from Matt even when she’s back after her tour had ended, creating many misunderstandings. Filled with guilt, Alex at last then informs Lisa after she had been exposed by Matt, that she has been lying to her when she said she caught Matt cheating while Lisa was abroad on her dance tour, causing their break in communication and an abrupt end to their relationship then.

Wicker Park highlights the importance of interpersonal relationships between people and how things can work out based on the fact that one person decide to distort the truth, leading to an end in relationships that connect the 4 main leads. In RELATIONAL FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Lisa had forged a close relationship with her neighbour, Alex based on their SIMILARITIES in many ways and also PROXIMITY as they were neighbours, finding it easy to spend time as friends. Using the fact that Lisa was abroad and unable to keep close tabs on her activities and whether she had indeed passed her message to Matt, Alex used lies as a COMMUNICATION TACTIC to form a different story about Matt to Lisa’s impression by misusing Lisa’s trust in her as a friend.

In RELATIONAL DISSOLUTION, Lisa and Matt both dissolved their relationship not due to their choices but because of lies Alex had weaved in an indirect way to make them distrust each other and break communications. In the same way, isn’t that how all rumours come about and how messages can be passed through a group of people and end up distorted? It is due to PERSONAL PERCEPTION as well and in the case of Alex, she has a deep liking for Matt which motivated her to weave lies around the minds of the people who relied on her for support and communication. It is so important that INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION is pure and accurate as a single flaw can distort any entire message and convey the wrong meaning to the recipient. And in the case of Matt and Lisa, it is a fine example to show how INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS depend alot on INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION as well. In a world where we have social and mutual contacts between friends and family, it is easy and convenient to pass messages through people we know to the other party and to trust people to bring our messages across as its intended meaning. Lisa only found out too late that she had placed her trust wrongly in Alex and it resulted in a heavy price.

Give Bush The Boot!

Picture credits to yospyn.com

 

In December 2008, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, identified as an Iraqi journalist with an Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network was at a Baghdad news conference when he got up and threw his size 10 shoes, one at a time, aimed at former US President Bush but missed. Wth Baghdad’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki standing beside him, Bush ducked to narrowly miss the shoes flung at him during his farewell visit to war-stricken Iraq.

The video:

On February 2, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was giving a speech at the University of Cambridge on a visit to the United Kingdom when a man in the audience stood up, blew a whistle and shouted, announcing his displeasure at the Premier before throwing his shoe on stage, which landed a few feet away from Wen.

 

It seems almost as if shoeing is getting popular around the world.

Throwing shoes or showing the soles of shoes at someone, is a serious form of insult in Mid-Eastern culture, especially among the Arab community. The first incident with former President Bush has resonated around the world and many Iraqi supporters had even hailed al-Zaidi, the shoe-thrower, as a hero.

 

Non-Verbal Communication

In communications, language plays an important role in getting our ideas, thoughts and opinions across to our intended recipients. However, other than verbal cues, non-verbal cues like our body language plays a very important role too, if not more important than language. There are many types of non-verbal communication that is being used today, such as:

Kinesics – body language that is symbolic/illustrative such as shoeing as mentioned above;

Paralinguistics – vocal non-verbal cues such as tone and pitch of voice, sounds, pauses/fillers in conversations;

Chronemics – Psychological link between time and meaning (past/present/future, various associations with culture or status and events)

Objectics/Artifacts – Meanings conveyed through objects (Environmental/physical/personal identity), in the case of shoeing, the “dirty” soles of shoes are used to show disrespect to a person.

Oculesics – Associated with eye contact/ expression (fluent regulation of verbal communication)

Haptics – Touch in expression (Power, intimacy, friendliness, status relationship – mother/daughter or complete strangers)

Proxemics – Space and distance although affected by factors such as environmental design and crowding (Intimate – close proximity/social – average proximity /public – far apart)

Physical appearance – Judging a person by his appearance

Symbolic Meanings (Kinesics & Objectics/Artifacts) – The shoeing of former President Bush lends its roots from the Islamic beliefs in the Middle East. In the Islam community, Muslims are to remove their shoes before entering mosques. Arabs even consider the feet to be the most impure part of the body, because of the feet being the lowest part compared to the rest of the body. Shoes are generally considered a symbol of impurity in many cultures (e.g. Thai culture) since they are in constant contact with the ground and in turn, dirt (Objectics). Hence, throwing of one’s shoes aimed at a certain someone signifies utter abomination for that person (Kinetics).

 

 Defining Non-Verbal Communication

This week in lesson, attributions and perception were also covered in lecture. In defining non-verbal communication, it occurs in creating meaning of what we are trying to communicate and its intentional symbolic behaviour, such as in the case of shoeing, where it is considered a serious insult and what the shoe-thrower uses to expresses his contempt of the target. Non-verbal cues in communication are also often attached with deep meanings and understood within certain cultures or social relationships and occasions. The meaning of any non-verbal communication is also in the “eye of the beholder” and its interpretation can be varied, depending on the people viewing or receiving it and the context in which it was used.

The journalist who had thrown his shoes at former President Bush is Iraqi and he knows very well what an insult it is to show his soles at someone of high importance, much less throw both of his shoes at this person during an important event such as a news conference which has a definite possibility of being televised to many people around the world. In order to correctly interpret his actions, we have to understand his stance and this leads to attributions (assigning cause to certain behaviours covered below). In turn, the “copycat” man in the audience who threw his shoe aimed at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the UK had also recognised through the Bush-shoeing incident that throwing a shoe at someone despised will convey disrespect which he senses towards the Premier, hence the attempted stunt.

Attributions and Perceptions (Of Non-Verbal Communication)

Cognitive and psychological, we perceive non-verbal communication by both psychological and social factors, such as the environment we’re in and by its social context. Thought processes, experiences and what we learn through hearing and reading information around us, such as on the internet and in the news will lead us to accurately perceive that shoeing is a deep form of insult to former President Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. As it is widely understood in the Arab world that shoeing presents a serious insult, that is the main meaning that attaches itself to the act of shoeing.

What caused the behaviour observed? al-Zaidi himself was kidnapped by assailants in Baghdad and was heavily involved in reporting about the plight of widows, orphans and children in the Iraq war. This makes him a very likely candidate for such a “violent” act to display the displeasure he feels so close to his heart. It probably also shows that he is not afraid to express himself in such an unconventional way, which may seem extremely rude to other people, especially towards a much higher authority like the former American President. The man who threw his shoe at the Chinese Premier in the UK probably just did so because he also felt the same way al-Zaidi did, towards a different person in a siilar situation and setting. al-Zaidi’s actions have also brought on many “copycats” in other parts of the world, many not televised or reported widely.

Cultural backgrounds will also play a major role in the way we perceive non-verbal cues. In other cultures, especially in the Western world, spitting will be considered an alternative form of insult where shoeing is not commonly used. Certain hand gestures are probably also more widely used in Western countries than in Middle Eastern countries. Similarly, situational “rules” that govern the non-verbal communication we use will also be a factor in perceiving what types of non-verbal communication we can or are allowed to use. We would be more open to using oculesics (eye contact) to convey our attention in a speaker at a formal setting (giving an important speech) rather than paralinguistics (vocal cues such as “Hmmm” to convey our sentiments) which would disrupt the speaker’s attention and disturb other intent listeners. However, in a casual setting such as a dinner with a friend, one would be open to using BOTH oculesics and paralinguistics to express concentration in what the friend has to share (maintaining constant eye contact) and using vocal fillers to express your own agreement or even pauses and silence to express either a strong interest or lack of common ideas in a topic of conversation.

 

 References:

Youtube: Bush-Shoeing Video

Youtube: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao – UK-Shoeing Video

Shoeing – Wikipedia

Arab culture: The Insult of the Shoe

Culture Wizard – Shoes in Arab Culture

China’s PM Trip to Britain Ends In Show Protest

Wen Jiabao Seeks Closer Ties – Despite Flying Shoe

What Exactly Does A Journalist Throwing A Show At Bush Mean?

Muntazer al-Zaidi Confesses to Throwing Shoes at Bush

I Have a Dream

“Yes, change can happen.”

 

With Barack Obama inaugurating into presidency as the first African-American President of the United States tomorrow, I recall another historic moment in the world-wide race for black and white people, among others to co-exist amicably as equals.

 

 

 

Coincidentally, today is Martin Luther King Day.

 

Almost half a century has passed since Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the notable “I Have a Dream” speech back on 23 August, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (Wikipedia, 2009). Through his speech, he inspired many across the world and the American Civil Rights Movement saw hope. Today, 46 years later, “change has come to America” in the form of Barack Obama.

 

 

In “I Have a Dream”, Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to inspire people to feel the same way he does about equality among all of humanity and his legacy has spread far and wide, even to generations such as mine, long after his assassination at 39 years old in March 1968. For his strong progress as a human rights activist, his death later sparked numerous riots in over 100 cities in the United States (Wikipedia, 2009).

 

 

So what made King’s speech resound so strongly even after so many years?

 

 

“Rhetoric”

– The study of effective speaking, writing and the art of persuasion.

 

My first communications class last week brought me to rhetoric and the characteristics that make language works the way it does, successfully. So what made King’s speech so phenomenal, and its content so meaningful and appealing to me, so many years later?

  

 

Logos

– The logical content of the speech

King’s “I Have a Dream” touches on sensitive topics, such as fair treatment of black people, that they be alleviated from slavery, equal treatment of both blacks and whites in public and sectors such as employment, education and rights legislation. Under the American Civil Rights Movement in 1963, it was a pressing issue which would identify with most of the 250,000 civil rights supporters present that day (Wikipedia, 2009). As civil rights legislation is often a hot topic for debate even until today, King’s speech would appeal to possibly anyone and everyone around the world who is concerned with current issues that involves our very own human rights. Appealing to reason, “logos” allowed King to reach out to a wide range of audience and those who believe in the very same ideals as he did.

 

Lexis

– Style and delivery of a speech

King’s speech was “widely hailed as a masterpiece of rhetoric” (Wikipedia, 2009). King included many strong religious messages adapted or quoted from the Bible, a recognised religious source, which would most appeal to his audience of American civil rights supporters. Using the rhetorical device of allusion (Wikipedia, 2009), King also makes citations and references to important texts from history which would lend him more acclaim in his speech. This relates to the use of  “ethos” where King’s persuasion has credibility, both from his character and from what he believes in.

 

As an effective communication tool, King also used repetition, an example being the widely recalled phrase “I have a dream” which starts off every description in which King portrays a unified America. Towards the end of his speech, King also repeats “Let the freedom ring…” at the beginning of every short sentence in which he encourages and persuades his audience to take immediate action for the better.

 

In other memorable examples, King used many strong phrases and sentences to conclude his turning points in the speech, such as “This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.” and “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.” In this last mentioned sentence, he is using “pathos” in order to appeal to the emotions of his audience and connecting with them on a certain level, calling them “friends”, as he sees himself equal as them.

 

 

The “tree” in the forest of rhetoric

– Kairos

In addition, King delivered his speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which included not just African-Americans but also a mix of whites and other ethic groups. The March, which was organised by civil rights, labour and religious organisations seemed an ideal occasion /event to seek equality on areas such as employment, justice and peace among the different races.

 

 

 

Today, “change has come”.

America is welcoming their first black President and it is something I’m excited about and more than willing to embrace. 

 

 

 

 

References:

• “I Have a Dream” Video – Martin Luther King, Jr.  
• “I Have a Dream” – Text, Audio
• “I Have a Dream” speech – Wikipedia
• Martin Luther King, Jr. – Wikipedia
• March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – Wikipedia
• Barack Obama – Wikipedia