Dialogic Communication

Josina M. Makau and Debian L. Marty focus the second chapter of their book, Dialogue and Deliberation on the importance of communication on a global and interdependent scale. The title of this chapter is, “Dialogic Communication within an Interdependent World”. A main point in this chapter is how communication can affect humanity’s quality of life, whether it be truth, justice, individual happiness, peace, or flourishing communities. Unfortunately, argument culture makes it difficult for us to solve problems. Instead of using communication as a vital resource we use the “dog-eat-dog world” narrative to approach disagreements with aggressive and defensive communication habits. This narrative has become so universal that adversarial individualism is believed to reflect “basic human nature.” To counter this belief, we know that individual actions can have a “domino effect”, proving that we are more connected than we have begun to believe. Global
This contradiction can boil down to “the sticking point”. Makau and Marty explain that “the sticking point” refers to the point in a disagreement where all involved parties refuse to compromise. The competition derived from argument culture sets independence and interdependence against each other, forcing people to choose between them. For example, in American politics interdependence is seen as weak and unpatriotic, while individualism is portrayed as power and freedom. This example leads to another contradiction because the foundation of America stressed for the liberty of all, not the liberty of one. The individualistic worldview of the argument culture pulls us away from social responsibility and governance for the common good, it is important for us to understand that our beliefs an forms of communication have