If We’ve Only Got One Life…

the second line is well put. could be me, could be my hearer. i would argue it’s on both parties for communication to work well.

the speaker needs to be as clear as possible with their word choice and structure and such. if i want to get an idea across, i need to craft my speech in such a way as to make it clear to my hearer to the best of my ability.

on the other hand, it is also hearer’s responsibility to try to understand what the message is that the speaker is trying to convey. if someone’s talking to me, i should be really listening to them, not merely hearing them; and i should be trying to understand what they mean by their words, not what i think they mean or what i want them to mean. taking things like structure and context and such into consideration when trying to understand what someone’s saying is very important. if i said “ouch”, it would mean one thing if i had just stubbed my toe, or if my arm just got cut off. the former would probably be quieter and more terse, while the latter would be more howl-ish and could use an exclamation point. the tone, the context, etc., help in the interpretation of what someone’s saying, and to neglect these things is the fault of the hearer.

however, the speaker should be as clear as possible, know what connotations certain words have, knowing how one audience is likely to react as opposed to another. this is especially true cross-culturally. the speaker should also clarify by means of both positive reinforcement, like examples, and negative, with counterexamples or explanations of what he’s not saying.

so the responsibility lies on both ends. the key on the speaking end is to know your audience and craft your words so they will clearly understand you. the key on the hearing end is to get at the intention of the speaker based on various things like context, tone, etc. this is far from perfect, but who ever said good communication was easy?

By walt on Jun 24, 2008

The *first* and *primary* responsibility for understanding lies with the author. If the author is not as clear as he can be, it’s game-over. The consumer of his work has *no* chance of correctly interpreting his work except by accident, and accidentally correctly interpreting a work implies exegetical carelessness on the part of the consumer. If it is true of the author that he has been unclear, the fault lies with him.

If the author is as clear as possible in stating his intentions, then it is up to the consumer of his work to interpret correctly. “As clear as possible” implies that there are a sufficient number of clues for and supports of the intended meaning. Only God has ever gotten this perfectly right, but given a large enough body of text with enough congruency, it should be possible for a consumer to interpret correctly. If the author has been clear and the consumer is careless, the fault lies with the consumer.

By Daniel Cox on Jun 24, 2008

is the bible as clear as it can be?
read matthew 13. the purpose of parables

By john sullivan on Jun 25, 2008

that’s true, john. but Jesus’ point in His parables was so that they /wouldn’t/ understand. if you want someone to understand what you’re saying, then you have to be clear. but that if isn’t a given.

By walt on Jun 25, 2008

I would tend to agree with Daniel, that responsibility for correct interpretation lies primarily with the author. An audience can, however, take a piece of “text” and twist it to mean whatever they wish, and indeed, I think students today, across a whole range of academic disciplines, are ENCOURAGED to deconstruct a text in this manner, which is something to keep in mind as you write. If so inclined, take a look at this piece of satire, written by a software engineer: http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/decon.html
I found it both amusing and insightful in regards to both postmodern literary criticism and our culture in general. Good quote (one of many):
“Mind you, the fundamental thesis of our presentation was Politically Incorrect, but we wanted people to get upset about the actual content rather than the form in which it was presented.”

By Colleen on Jun 25, 2008

That article Colleen posted should be read by everyone. It’s good, important, and very entertaining.

By Daniel Cox on Jun 25, 2008

Colleen’s article, in a cartoon.
http://xkcd.com/451/

By Daniel on Jul 18, 2008