In Chapter 12 of Arnett et.al, they discuss the importance of communication ethics in an age of difference. While reading the chapter, I thought of how difficult it is to distinguish the ‘correct’ good, in an age where everyone has different opinions and different ideas of what the good is. The author talks about how communication ethics takes on pragmatic currency and how “we must learn about other views of the good with recognition that, like it or not, multiple views of the good exist and contend for attention in the ongoing postmodern marketplace of ideas” (Arnett et.al, 3). I think it is extremely important to remind ourselves that everyone has different positionalities and different narratives, which influence their idea of what the ‘good’ is. Arnett et. al also talks about how “it is possible to ask another to seek to understand our position as we seek to understand another’s position, but agreement and endorsement are no longer a sure bet” (Arnett et. al, 5). This reminded me of the importance of invitation within communication. While we can invite someone to understand our position, we cannot expect them to be persuaded into endorsing our position.
This made me think about the United States political parties and policy making. When it comes to Republican versus Democrat, they both hold very different ideas of what the ‘good’ of the country should be. For example, when it comes to Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice, for the most part, Republicans lean towards Pro-Life and Democrats lean towards Pro-Choice. When Roe vs. Wade was overturned, I found it to be extremely difficult to understand why anyone would support the overturning of the bill, and why the government thought that a women’s bodily autonomy should be up for debate. I had a hard time trying to understand the opposing view from my own perspective, and even strayed away from learning about the opposing view’s motivations. I think that this shows a clear example of the complexities of communication within an age of difference.
I think your example of the overturning of Roe v Wade to be a great way to depict the struggle I also had with the Arnett reading, and the idea that there can exist more than one "good" or view in our ongoing postmodern marketplace of ideas. It can be difficult and often feeling nearly impossible for us to put ourselves into the shoes of another, but it's important that we at least attempt to do so to keep effective dialogue.
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