We live in an age where anyone located on any place on earth—or even in outer space, can communicate with almost anyone at any time. This situation changed dramatically 40 years ago. I remember being on The USS Virginia, returning from many months at sea, and pulling into Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I then had to stand in line for a couple of hours so I could access one of two pay phones on the pier in order to call my parents in Columbus, Ohio.
Today, sailors and soldiers can talk to their families even as they are deployed and in operational environs in real time via their own cell phones and computers. I am sitting in the middle of the Strait of Georgia halfway between Canada and the USA, writing this article, and when I click the send prompt, my publisher can be reading it in seconds. Despite the advancements in technology, I believe the way people communicate with each other is deteriorating. And this includes those in the professional classes—doctors, lawyers, engineers, and especially IT specialists.
It doesn’t matter if I am talking about the written word, or how we engage each other verbally. It only takes me a few sentences reading a legal brief before I can discern if it is written by a seasoned attorney or a (young buck or doe). My own language skills are deficient, and I will continue to work on them. Across every aspect of our lives, as we engage each other personally or in groups, our communication skills are limiting us as we try to find solutions to problems. Who can forget the Captain’s Speech in COOL HAND LUKE? “What we have here is a failure to communicate”:
When Winston Churchill was defeated in the British Prime Minister election immediately after he had led the British People and Allies to victory over Nazi Germany, the British government sought his input about physically redesigning Parliament into a more open space format. He resisted. He said that he wanted to “feel the spit” of his opponents. He wanted to watch their body language, and he wanted to watch their passion, and just as importantly he wanted to watch the reaction of others.
A person reading an e-mail or text message can’t observe any of those things. As they rely ever more on their electronic devices their people’s skills and their communication skills deteriorate. I watch IDAHO REPORTS and IN SESSION on Idaho Public Broadcasting. I watch C-Span to watch speeches from the floor of the US Congress. AOC, Bernie, Chucky the Schumer routinely give speeches from the floor with nobody on the floor. Who is present to “feel their spit”? Most importantly I want to react to their passion.
In the Idaho legislature so much effort is made to suppress communication. Controversial bills never reach the floor, debate rules are stifling at best. The intercourse of governance, with lobbyists and special interests pulling the strings of politicians and government agency heads, looks more like WE THE PEOPLE getting intercoursed.
I had lunch several weeks ago with one of Idaho’s most respected mediators. Not a lawyer he, but a retired developer—some of Boise’s biggest buildings, who at the age of 70 returned to college and received his master’s degree from one of the West’s most respected institutions, in mediation. Since Covid he has mediated at the request of the courts, labor and construction disputes (over 100) mostly successfully. His observations to me seem to be apropos as they pertain to the neighborhood dispute that we are involved in at the Plantation in Garden City, and as I interact amongst the legislature—as little as possible please, at our state capital.
His most important observation has to do with the fact that issues of law or the facts of the case seldom are what is standing in the way of resolving any type of conflict. A high percentage of the time the hurdle has to do with the personalities of the parties. Many times, not resolving the conflict serves a purpose—business or legal, of one of the parties. Other times there is “an alpha pied piper in the room” who tries to gain a political or personal advantage with the parties involved in the case or with the mediator or judge. These are the most difficult disputes to resolve according to my friend, because the “alpha party” only plays by their own rules and will only agree to an idea or proposition if they can be made to believe that they have come up with the idea themselves.
The “alpha” in the room can take on different roles. It can be a City Father at a Council meeting or P&Z meeting. It can be a chairman of a legislative committee. It can be a lobbyist, or a real estate developer. No matter what the role, unless they believe that everyone in the room acknowledges their power, popularity, and uniqueness, nothing can be accomplished. They need to be as my Basque friends would say—”The Nagusi” the boss person.
The party in power, the lobbying group that controls campaign purse strings, and HOA Board member or Mayor of Garden City, who is only seeking to maintain their status as “the boss man” will have little interest in opening up the lines of communication or following the law or the rules of the game. The status quo is precisely what they want.
But for me, I still like a full throated in person debate
The great bridge that Donald Trump has crossed and is continuing to cross has been the bridge of communication—between himself and those he has put in power, and WE THE PEOPLE. He doesn’t need an agent or a surrogate to present his case. He is genuine and flawed. He is smart and reactionary. He possesses the virtues of courage and justice, and maybe he should show more prudence. To many people today use prudence to not move forward courageously to support justice—Not DJT.
Many people on both sides of the political divide choose not to engage each other personally. Instead, they use Face Book, Twitter, e-mail, and even blogs like the ones I am privileged to write for. My preference—I WANT TO FEEL YOUR SPIT” WC
