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What's the same with our differences?

It is inherent to humans to look at something, find patterns, and then attribute characteristics to it. This phenomenon is otherwise known as Stereotyping - the oversimplification of attitudes we have towards others because we assume they hold the characteristics of a certain group, and it functions to help people make sense of the world. It is basically related to categorization, a natural instinct of survival. However, stereotyping has resulted in detrimental and even deathly effects. It has led to bullying, hate crimes, genocide, xenophobia, and countless more - these things are characterized by intolerance, and therefore, unacceptance and even alienation. 

There are other forms of intolerance. Some of these forms include things that we unintentionally and unwittingly do. And it scares me because I just realized the gravity that intolerance influences my daily life. Whether that’s fundamental attribution error or ultimate attribution error - I have been susceptible to these things many times than I want to admit. But it starts with that realization and that very acknowledgement of your own personal shortcomings and your own personal biases. As Doctor Parhar mentioned in his TedTalk, the first thing to fix one form of intolerance, racism, is to acknowledge that we have a subconscious bias - that it is easier for us to think of a particular group as homogenous rather than diverse, because it’s easier to deal with our perception about them. Thus, the same concept has been discussed in another video that explained why Koreans are racists towards people from developing or poor countries but not towards developed and western countries - it is because of subconscious bias. 

We have to humbly accept the fact that as human beings, we are likely to be stereotypical, but as human beings with the capacity for proper judgment and cognition, we are likely able to correct this. To bring them to the forefront and deal with them, deal with the negative implications of our biases, of our intolerance. This means that we actually have to perceive people regardless of their backgrounds, as unique. Of course, it does not mean we should strip them of their race, color, and their culture - it only means that we are able to get to know them for who they are. The danger about over generalization is that it gives men the entitlement and justification for the way they treat a specific group of people, and let that treatment be the definition of who they are. This explains why it is a common thing for people to treat those with tattoos as bad people or individuals from African descent as poor or primitive, when these things - which are most likely to be untrue - definitely do not define who they are. 

Racism, Stereotyping, Bigotry, Prejudice - these all stem from intolerance. It hinders people from actually focusing on the common things they have - their feelings, their interests, their ambitions - things that every human has regardless of race, gender, and status. We are so much more than our differences, so it is very necessary that we try to understand the problem - our individual - level influences to rhetorical media influences - and consciously and constantly make ourselves aware of our bias tendencies and the way we treat others. Ultimately, we need to always be directly addressing intolerance - to allow ourselves to be uncomfortable - to acknowledge our privilege, our language and the rhetoric we perpetuate, and to promote and advocate for inclusivity. It is important that we transcend the need to just tolerate and put up with our differences, instead, we should accept them first as well as our propensity to be estranging, to always try to be aware and be educated, and eventually, appreciate who we are, what makes us different and unique, and what makes us the same: living, breathing, humans in this world. 

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Nonviolent communication towards constructive dialogue: a much needed conversation

The world has always been designed where those in power are the ones that control the social conditions that everyone else lives in. With regards to the Palestine genocide, various factors are at play here - it transcends more than just the conflict that is happening with Israel. It encompasses other factors such as the involvement of the USA to keep funding the weapons that continuously kill thousands of civilians and innocent children in Palestine, or the veto power of the major members of the UN that impedes the resolution of a permanent ceasefire. It seems as if the leaders we entrusted with the responsibility to protect us and keep us safe - are not interested in doing just that. Instead, they treat the matter at hand as if innocent people don’t die everyday, as if women don’t get raped on a daily basis, or as if children don’t get their legs amputated without anesthesia. It’s harrowing and indefensible - is it what humanity has led the world into? The world where we value political game playing beyond lives? So many actions have been taken to prolong the genocide, and no action has been done to actually provide concrete solutions to stop the bloodshed of thousand more lives. 

What we need is to engage in a reflective and constructive dialogue that transcends cultural boundaries and promotes global cooperation and understanding. What we need is meaningful Nonviolent Communication. 

One of the many significance of Nonviolent Communication as Roy highlights is that it can be aimed at fostering mutual understanding between cultures, or it can be seen as a way to address global issues, to promote an intercultural dialogue incorporating nonviolent communication in order to contribute to a more harmonious and interconnected world. This is particularly relevant in the context of the Palestine - Israel conflict, the principles of nonviolent communication emphasizing empathy, understanding, and finding peaceful solutions to conflicts align with the urgent efforts needed to address the complex issues underlying the conflict happening right now. Nonviolent communication offers a framework for promoting constructive dialogue - although this may seem like a surface solution to a very complex issue, one has to understand that this actually provides one closer step to converse and engage in meaningful discourse. 

The friendship of Amir and Amjad is one example of this - the social context within which they live impede them to build a close relationship with each other, but due to mutual respect and understanding, they see each other as brothers, worthy of dignity and respect. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for our leaders who don’t even give Palestine a place at the table to engage in conversation and discussion in the first place on the matters concerning ceasefire and displacement. This translates into an endless vicious cycle of people online pointing at each other on who’s to blame, who’s inferior, and promoting rhetorics and narratives that include justifying the deaths of innocent people. The relationship of Amir and Amjad shows that a simple empathy can go a long mile for one another. Nonviolent communication is a tool for creating a culture of peace and understanding through compassion, it plays a major role in addressing conflicts in a very globalized world. 

Moreover, Nonviolent communication also stresses the need for meaningful intercultural dialogue based on reciprocity, mutual recognition, and cultural broad-mindedness; this is something that should have been standard practice. Then, people wouldn’t have to live with the fact that all 12 members of their family are gone, or they shouldn’t have to be branded as terrorists for their skin colors and the language they speak - just like those in the videos presented. It is upon us to cultivate inner peace and interpersonal peace in order to live within a culture of peace and nonviolence. With things as simple as practicing patience, respecting other cultures, enhancing self-awareness, avoiding evaluative language, managing anger, practicing empathetic language, believing in the divinity of all human beings, caring for the needs of others, fostering flexibility and openness, and engaging in compassionate giving - by incorporating these practices into our personal daily interactions, we promote these practice within our communities. It starts with us, we contribute to the promotion of nonviolent communication and the cultivation of a culture of peace and understanding.

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What Distinguishes us is what Connects us: an Insight into Intercultural Communication.

Recognizing and appreciating the uniqueness of each culture allows one to find a common ground and establish meaningful connections - this is what Intercultural Communication is in a nutshell. If Samovar and Porter defines Intercultural Communication as something that “emphasizes a person’s perception of the world around them as deeply entrenched in the system of symbols that their culture uses to make sense of the world,” then it basically posits that the cultural lens through which I perceive the world profoundly influences my understanding and interpretation of different experiences.

For example, the culture that I am immersed in centers around being  family-oriented and that it is considered normal to live with your parents until you get married. However, in different cultures especially in western cultures, the children are expected to leave their parents’ homes at eighteen. At twenty-two years old exactly today, being far away from my parents feels unusual and challenging because in my culture, living arrangements are collectively decided and individual independence are not as highly emphasized. Acknowledging these practices allows and encourages an open and respectful discourse between individuals from different cultures, which ultimately creates a space for understanding, contributing to our interconnectedness. Thus, with the rapidly evolving world, the need for effective intercultural communication is more crucial than ever and the emphasis of this importance, according to Baldwin et. al., comes in five-fold: (1) the personal growth motive, (2) social responsibility motive, (3) economic motive, (4) cross-cultural travel motive, and (5) media motive.

Firstly, there is a need to study intercultural communication for one’s own benefit. In terms of  worldmindedness, self-awareness, and personal growth - intercultural communication rids one of ignorance and enables individuals to value the perspectives of others. In relation, the more we learn about other cultures, the more we learn more about our own cultures. This manifested in a personal experience when I was learning how to speak French. I learned that every object has a specific gender pronoun in the French language whereas the Cebuano language does not even have any gender pronouns at all. However, I also discovered that both cultures truly prioritize eating meals together and that arriving on time in social gatherings are not quite as valued, supporting the phrase: “communication is complex because people, in so many ways, are both similar and different.” Generally speaking, Intercultural Communication is so important just because it gives us new avenues to extend our thinking, emotions, and actions.

By looking at the status quo right now, the Palestine genocide that is currently happening along with the democratized source of information in different media platforms, shape our opinions on international conflicts as well as understand the intent behind them. Through intercultural communication, one understands the role that we play in these crises - personally, I do my best to spread awareness on social media about the matter because I know that when a lot of people are mobilized to demand more from the government, the more they are pressured to actually pass the resolution for an urgent ceasefire. Moreover, it also allows me to know that the USA - despite big media corporations' self-serving narratives - as a global superpower country, has rejected the appeal due to economic reasons, insisting its veto power in the UN security counsel. In a way, intercultural communication highlights the interwoven dynamics of social responsibility motive, media motive, and economic motive. These things are what Intercultural Communication is so crucial for, every matter of the global scale affects us one way or another, and thus, intercultural communication enables the possibility of the coexistence of diverse and even conflicting voices.

Culture affects perception and communication. Even things as common as gender roles usually vary in importance in different cultures, the hierarchy and value are often non-negotiable and therefore, because our cultures teach values and belief systems which create the conditions upon which cultures form our reality of the physical and social world around us, we tend to perceive the world from our own cultural beliefs and perception. This entails that we are accustomed to making judgments on the actions of other cultures based on our own belief and value systems. Therefore, international communication truly is a vessel through which that gap is bridged. By knowing more about the culture of other people that inevitably intersect with our own cultures, we recognize the diversity and adjust in a way that enables us to effectively communicate with them. Through employing intercultural communication, we immerse ourselves with other cultures - we determine our similarities and diferences - and through this, we give importance to the belief systems and values upon which other cultures are established, and through this acknowledgement, we constantly connect with them.

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