Dahle Communication

Why Language Matters

There are many times in my life that I wish I was an English Major. For example, once I started blogging on a consistent basis, having an English background would have been nice. Additionally, giving speeches and helping critique speeches are a central component of English. While I feel confident in my abilities to give a great speech and critique someone else's speech, the composition portion of it could have benefited from an English Major.

Politics is no exception. Language defines how we look at different issues in politics. If a politician uses just one wrong word or one word is mis-construed to mean something else, it can get them into trouble. Minnesota Public Radio had a great program today on linguistics. Linguist George Lakoff discussed political language and how it is affecting the health care debate.

I thought it was a great interview and wanted to highlight it. Just remember that when you are giving your speech and you want to be persuasive - language matters!

Travis

Telling a Story - Broadcasting Legend Paul Harvey Passes

One of the most well known radio broadcasters has passed away.  Paul Harvey was known almost as much for his news broadcasts as he was for his segments titled "The Rest of the Story."

Paul Harvey was a story-teller.  He built up a fan base before twitter, blogging, websites and everything else we have in this technological age.  In fact, he rarely gave any interviews or released any archival recordings of his shows -- what he did do was communicate.

Listening to NPR yesterday, they had a few clippings from his shows and they ended their show All Things Considered with this sound bite from Paul Harvey:

It is for us that one must grieve tonight for a generation which has so refined its intellect that it can split atoms and communicate with the moon and yet remains at the mercy of its own undisciplined emotions.  If the world is one day destroyed, it'll come just like this, you know.  It'll not be the H-bomb that did it, it'll be the greed or the fear or the hate that set it off.

Paul Harvey, good night.

He was speaking that evening after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  He didn't go on about his policies or the tragedy of it.  What he did do was use his words to convey a meaning that went beyond just simple communication.  I grew up listening to Paul Harvey.  I remember listening to the news as I did my chores on the farm and hearing a lot of the stories he would tell.  While I disagreed a lot of times with some of his political thoughts, I enjoyed listening to him.

The world lost a great communicator this weekend and to honor him I just wanted to say....thank you Paul Harvey, good day.

-Travis