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14.3: Sensitivity and Respect

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    9046
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    Perhaps the most important advice in speaking to a global audience would be to cultivate a sense of sensitivity and respect — a keen awareness of and sensitivity to differences among people from diverse cultures and respect for others who are unlike the speaker. When speaking to a global audience, it is imperative for public speakers to suspend ethnocentric judgments and engage audiences in an open, tolerant, sensitive and respectful manner. According to Chen & Starosta (2005), the basic components of intercultural communication competence include intercultural sensitivity, awareness and effectiveness. Intercultural sensitivity requires speakers to know and control themselves. Intercultural awareness requires speakers to know and respect others. Intercultural effectiveness requires speakers to manage their behavior. Potential roadblocks to achieving intercultural communication competence include stereotyping people, harboring prejudices against people and being ethnocentric.

    stereotypes

    A stereotype is a standardized conception or image of a group of people. Stereotypes are akin to a mental cookie cutter, forcing a simple pattern upon a complex mass of people and assigning a limited number of characteristics to all members of a group. Stereotypes are simple, acquired, often erroneous and resistant to change. People usually acquire stereotypes through the process of socialization and through the mass media, such as cultural stereotypes portrayed in advertising. Stereotypes become problematic when they reduce the wide range of differences among people to simplistic categories and transform these categories into imagined realities, fueling attitudes of us versus them (Gudykunst & Kim, 1997). It is important for public speakers to be aware of the stereotypes they might harbor so that they can steer clear of using stereotypes that might offend diverse audience members and harm the speaker’s credibility.

    snapshot from real life

    Rush Limbaugh, the conser- vative radio talk show host, has often been lambasted for using sexist and racist stereotypes in his broadcasts. In an article on the CNN website, Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem (2012) of the Women’s MediaCenter argued that the Federal Communications Commission should ban Limbaugh from the airwaves. Some instances of stereotypes of women he employed included referring tofemale cabinet members as “sex-retaries”. On another occasion,he used a racial stereotype, telling an African-American female caller he could notunderstand to “take that boneout of your nose and call me back.”

    prejudices

    Similarly, prejudices are negative attitudes toward a cultural group, often based on little or no experience. Prejudices may arise from multiple sources, such as tensions between groups, unfavourable past encounters, status differences and perceived threats. The causes of prejudices could include societal sources, an innate need to maintain social identity, and scapegoating. Expressions of prejudice can range from subtle non-verbal acts to outright hostility. Public speakers can best avoid or overcome prejudices by increasing personal contact with groups with whom they do not regularly interact or through education (Cooper, Calloway-Thomas & Simonds, 2007). Similar to stereotypes, prejudices must be handled carefully. Public speakers should question themselves and identify potential prejudices they might have toward certain groups, steer clear of these negative attitudes, withhold judgment and deliver speeches free of baseless prejudices.

    snapshot from real life

    A recent example of prejudice vocalized by a prominent person was the case of John Galliano. The French fashion house Christian Dior dismissed its chief designer, John Galliano, after the broadcast of a video that showed his anti-Semitic outbursts at a Paris bar in March 2011. The video appeared to show Mr.Galliano declaring that ‘‘I loveHitler’’ and that ‘‘people like you would be dead,’’ and ‘‘your mothers, your forefathers’’ would all be ‘‘gassed.’’ While Galliano hashis defenders and the content of the video has been contested, observers said that the company might have acted swiftly in order to deflect mounting public criticism (Saltmarsh, 2011).

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    ethnocentrism

    Ethnocentrism refers to the notion that one’s own culture is superior to any other. It perpetuates the idea that other cultures ought to be judged by the extent to which they measure up to one’s own cultural standards. While ethnocentrism is universal and contributes to cultural identity, if left unchecked, it can stand in the way of achieving intercultural communication competence (Samovar, Porter & McDaniel, 2010). In the quest for intercultural communication competence, speakers can aim for ethnorelativism, the acquired ability to see multiple values and behaviors as cultural rather than universal. This notion assumes that no one culture is central to describing and evaluating reality. Moving from realms of ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism helps public speakers move from egocentric to empathetic attitudes while preparing speeches for a diverse audience.

    Samovar et al. (2010) proposed some guidelines to intercultural ethics, such as respecting differences, seeking commonalities, recognizing the validity of differences, looking past the superficial, withholding judgment and taking responsibility for one’s own actions. Suspending ethnocentrism and choosing the path to ethnorelativism and intercultural communication competence are undoubtedly sound advice. There are specific ways to prepare and deliver speeches to global audiences, and the next section explains the techniques that can be adopted at each step of the speechmaking process.

    snapshot from real life

    An American professor was in Singapore to talk about his research on environmental sustainability. He was an authority in the field and the audience, comprising mostly Singaporeans, was looking forward to the talk. However, he alienated the audience right from the start of the speech. He said that after traveling all over the world, he had decided not to reside in Singapore because of pollution and that he would continue to reside in his home country, which was far cleaner. While he continued to speak eloquently on the topic of his speech, he had remarkably reduced the audience’s enthusiasm by displaying an ethnocentric attitude. To make matters worse, he singled out the Formula One night race Singapore was then embarking on (and the audience was justifiably proud of) and the resultant pollution it would cause as a key reason affecting his decision.


    This page titled 14.3: Sensitivity and Respect is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Ganga S. Dhanesh@National University of Singapore (Public Speaking Project) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.