Communication (was Re: Important Follow-up Message)

In a message dated 04/12/2002 11:25:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:

<< Interesting Flame War. >>

Interesting, maybe.  Unfortunate, definitely.

The thing is, as RAW says, communication is possible only between
equals.  It cannot exist between unequals, such as in heirarchical
relationships, power relationships, etc.  That doesn't mean that
people in those relationships don't talk to each other; talking does
not equal communicating.  Examples of these unequal relationships
include parent-child, teacher-student, professor-grad student, boss-
employee, sysop-forum user, President-citizen, and as many
feminists will point out, husband-wife (the general system being
referred to as patriarchy, which bears an equivalence relation
to oligarchy, monarchy, etc.).  Many but not all of these relationships
characterize the Beamterherrschaft stage.

The "flame war" illustrates actual, genuine communication, precisely
because none of the parties involved is in any kind of power relation
with respect to another.  As a result, people are left to draw upon
their verbal repertoires.  We see the results of that, posted in
crystal clarity.

I think many people, not only in America, but because we now have
an approximation to a global civilization, around the world too, are
both unfamiliar with and uneasy with genuine communication.  That's
because most of the situations and relationships they are in are
unequal ones, where communication does not happen.  Viewed
another way, this Beamterherrschaft era is typified by a set of
metacontingencies that have resulted in unequal relationships,
and thus selects against communication.

You find almost no genuine debate on the TV, for instance, about
any significant or controversial issue.  You will find it about marginal
trivia. People are willing to discuss whether Tanya Harding will
beat Paula Jones up in Fox's Celebrity Boxing, and the like.  But
there is no genuine debate or discussion about national policy. The
relationship between media-reader or media-viewer is unequal, and
thus the "communication" is one-way only (and hence not real
communication).  This is what people are used to now, what they
expect, and what happens.

That's why I'm sitting here trying to figure out Joe Plaud's rather
interesting
mand -- which is what it was -- to me to "stop it!"  That's the kind
of verbal behavior selected as a cultural practice, I think, by the set
of metacontingencies that now define our culture and its practices.
That kind of verbal behavior is so common, so pervasive, because it
forms part of the complex set of metacontingencies, I think.  It is
the kind verbal behavior characteristic of our bureaucratic era.

Oh well, welcome to the Beamterherrschaft!  <grin> It's not a question
of may we live in interesting times. The times are too interesting
and have been too interesting for several years now, and will only
get MORE interesting in the days, weeks, and months ahead.  --JE