1. In Chapter 12 Woodward and Denton quote Conrad Fink’s definition of ethics as “a system of principles, a morality or code of conduct. It is the values and rules of life recognized by an individual, group, or culture seeking guidelines to human conduct and what is good or bad, right or wrong.” They describe two behavioral dimensions to ethics-- the ability to discern right from wrong, and to make the commitment to do what is right, good or appropriate. This idea of making a commitment to doing what is right or good is one that is constant in communication. There are fine lines that constitute ethical communication and I think that just saying the “right” thing can be unethical depending on how you say it. For instance, I was thinking back to Chuck Rowling’s visit when he was explaining the power of language and how easily it can manipulated people. He gave us different examples of this; “used car” vs. “previously owned vehicle”, “late term abortion” vs. “partial birth abortion” and “global warming” vs. “climate change.” We word things differently in order to get a certain reaction or standard for what we are talking about. My question is, do you think that this is ethical? Although you are stating the truth, is it ethical to word something in a way that makes it sound more appealing than it might be?
2. Chapter 12 suggests the different sources that our attitudes and values come from. Louis day argues that the four most influential sources are our family, peer groups, role models, and societal institutions. I agree with this idea; I think that no matter what a person thinks, we are always, even if its subconscious, being influenced or persuaded of something. The book went a lot into celebrities using their fame to promote charities or benefits. Celebrity faces can be used to promote just about anything-- food, clothing, drinks, etc.-- do you think it is ethical to use a person to sell a product even if that person doesn’t necessarily stand for that product? For example, I remember watching a Dave Chapelle skit where he was talking about doing a Pepsi commercial and a Coke commercial. He says he can’t tell the difference between the tastes, the one he likes better is the one that’s paying him at the time.
3. I liked that Woodward and Denton covered not only the considerations that communicators should follow, but also considerations for the receiver; they suggest to be open minded, to listen critically in order to make a proper interpretation, the be prepared to provide a response, and to not be defensive or ego-involved. I think that ethical listening is just as important as communicating the message. This idea reminded me of Kelsey and Rochelle’s PDF presentation about the news and the sort of things that it covers. How responsible do you think the audience is for what is being broadcasted? Do you think that there are any unethical decisions involved in what is put on the news in order to make a station more successful?
Response Ryan's Question #3
“Also in Chapter 6, Woodward and Denton explore the concept of beliefs. A belief is what we personally “know” to be true or false even if others disagree. There are many types of beliefs. Some are very crucial to our lives, while others provide connections to different objects. Do you believe that there are beliefs out there that could be concrete fact? Are there any beliefs that cannot be dismissed? An example of what I am talking about would be how everything in the study of science is still considered “theory”. I mean gravity, evolution, air and space, are all still theories, none of them has been said to be exact truth. So my question is, is everything a belief?”
Woodward and Denton describe the concept of belief as what we personally “know” to be true or false—our convictions, even if they are something others disagree with. They describe the different types of beliefs, some that may become core values, or ideals by which we lead our lives. Some are more secondary, such as what we believe is success, or how we define beauty. They continue on to say that beliefs are informal statements that link specific attributes to an object.
I like your example of air, evolution and gravity as things that we all know to be real yet are still called theories. It’s interesting to think of everything as a belief and that there are no actual facts. This idea brings me back to the beginning of the quarter where we discussed David Horsey’s question of why people ignore reality. There are some people who ignore aspects of poverty around the world or in their own country, simply because it’s easier to do so than to contribute, because they don’t believe that there is an actual issue, or because they believe that impoverished people, and this example can be used specifically with the US, are where they are because they put themselves there. There is no doubt that poverty exists, I would say that is a fact; I think the conflict arises in the idea of why it exists. And even to say that poverty exists could come into question when someone asks what poverty is. I think the descriptions will vary.
Woodward and Denton give examples of beliefs that contribute to someone’s attitude towards abortion. The first one on the list states that “The purpose of sexual intercourse is procreation.” Sexual intercourse does lead to procreation, and in many cases that is the purpose. But because there are other things that can be argued for the purpose of sex, such as love and happiness, this is a belief and not a fact. If you take out the word “purpose” and say, “sexual intercourse leads to procreation,” you might be making a true statement but even then it’s not a fact because sex doesn’t lead to procreation all the time.
We have learned in communication studies that language is abstract, therefore the word “cup” doesn’t make it is cup—it’s just a term that we have assigned to the object. Along with this, we have created numbers to show values. In this way, I guess someone could say that nothing we say has factual basis because it’s all created language. In relation to math and values however, there is no doubt that “2 + 2 = 4” right? I might be making this question way more philosophical than it needs to be.
Campbell argues that a lot of rhetoric is focused on getting people to move towards a particular kind of action. This goes hand in hand with the idea that we believe something about an object, and then develop an attitude towards it which influences our actions. The more we know about something the deeper and better we can form a belief. Ultimately, I think that there facts and not everything is a belief, because there are certain things that you can’t disagree upon, such as the value of 2 and 2 or primary colors. But I do think that more beliefs exist than fact, and perhaps we base many of our beliefs on these facts.
Woodward and Denton describe the concept of belief as what we personally “know” to be true or false—our convictions, even if they are something others disagree with. They describe the different types of beliefs, some that may become core values, or ideals by which we lead our lives. Some are more secondary, such as what we believe is success, or how we define beauty. They continue on to say that beliefs are informal statements that link specific attributes to an object.
I like your example of air, evolution and gravity as things that we all know to be real yet are still called theories. It’s interesting to think of everything as a belief and that there are no actual facts. This idea brings me back to the beginning of the quarter where we discussed David Horsey’s question of why people ignore reality. There are some people who ignore aspects of poverty around the world or in their own country, simply because it’s easier to do so than to contribute, because they don’t believe that there is an actual issue, or because they believe that impoverished people, and this example can be used specifically with the US, are where they are because they put themselves there. There is no doubt that poverty exists, I would say that is a fact; I think the conflict arises in the idea of why it exists. And even to say that poverty exists could come into question when someone asks what poverty is. I think the descriptions will vary.
Woodward and Denton give examples of beliefs that contribute to someone’s attitude towards abortion. The first one on the list states that “The purpose of sexual intercourse is procreation.” Sexual intercourse does lead to procreation, and in many cases that is the purpose. But because there are other things that can be argued for the purpose of sex, such as love and happiness, this is a belief and not a fact. If you take out the word “purpose” and say, “sexual intercourse leads to procreation,” you might be making a true statement but even then it’s not a fact because sex doesn’t lead to procreation all the time.
We have learned in communication studies that language is abstract, therefore the word “cup” doesn’t make it is cup—it’s just a term that we have assigned to the object. Along with this, we have created numbers to show values. In this way, I guess someone could say that nothing we say has factual basis because it’s all created language. In relation to math and values however, there is no doubt that “2 + 2 = 4” right? I might be making this question way more philosophical than it needs to be.
Campbell argues that a lot of rhetoric is focused on getting people to move towards a particular kind of action. This goes hand in hand with the idea that we believe something about an object, and then develop an attitude towards it which influences our actions. The more we know about something the deeper and better we can form a belief. Ultimately, I think that there facts and not everything is a belief, because there are certain things that you can’t disagree upon, such as the value of 2 and 2 or primary colors. But I do think that more beliefs exist than fact, and perhaps we base many of our beliefs on these facts.
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