Group Communication

SO, what do you think of this group dynamics?

The size of it seems pretty ok, large enough for different ideas yet small enough for equal participation. They also seem extremely comfortable with the person in charge; in fact, they don’t even listen to her. However, with the source of distraction removed, they revert back into getting down to work.

For people out there who actually watch 30 rock, you will know that OCCASIONALLY, such meetings are actually productive! They have in Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), a good, quirky leader, who is more or less able to bring her group of producers and writers together to produce a comedy show. Although it is not obvious in the clip, her gang of people are actually able to handle both task and maintenance roles very well! Of course there are occasional slip ups here and there, but it is to be expected, with it being a comedy and all.

WELL, let’s just jump forward to an article I read in the straits times on the 27th of September. I was attracted to the article because of the big picture of President Bush in a meeting with congressional leaders- basically, a big powerful group of people sitting down to discuss what to do with their country. BUT from what we’ve learnt, about optimal sizes for groups, the roles that people in the group must take on etc etc, it is no wonder that politicians never seem to get their work done in peace. Under the façade of wanting to implement a bailout plan for the financial crisis, I do believe that most of them do have hidden agendas or simply, a conflicting perspective as to what needs to be done. I don’t claim to be very knowledgeable about this particular issue, but my opinions do stem from what I’ve read about in newspapers and such.

NOW, let’s jump back a couple of days, to September 23rd where (I’m so sorry I’m using him again) President Bush addressed the 63rd UN General Assembly in New York. This article spoke about how the West was losing its dominance in this organization. The UN functions as an organization made up of 192 member states to facilitate cooperation in several areas. If I may, I’d like to think of the UN as a REALLY humongous group.

There is a saying that “too many cooks spoil the broth”. But in this case, the broth is so overcooked; it probably leaves a pretty disgusting taste in your mouth. The UN hasn’t had the best policies despite its good intentions. With members that have conflicting interests and ideals, the UN has been more or less inefficient and redundant at worst. I could probably write another 1000 or more words on the UN’s extremely negative involvement in the 3rd world debt crisis and the arab-israeli war, but I’m probably boring you enough as it is.

MY point is, I’ve described 3 different types of groups. The small and not so significant one, the medium and not very effective one, and the really large and controversy filled one. The communication within the groups differ a lot, but yet at the end of the day, the individuals that come together become more or less interdependent, and they try to fight for a common goal despite differences they may have. The larger the group, the more complex the dynamics become, and more so for the case of the UN where the members are countries that have to protect the interest of their own people too. Nevertheless, there are instances where such groups communicate well and function at their best, and those are what we should be trying to achieve. You think so?

I have no other title except this

As I think most of you all know, the California Supreme Court recently struck down a ban on gay marriage by ruling it unconstitutional. This resulted in quite a numbers of gays and lesbians tying the knot legally.

Today however, I’d like to focus on the marriage of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. I want to point out to those who are against the ruling, that the GLBT community has come a long way to where they are standing at the moment. Although they are still not accepted by many, and ignored by even more, we can’t disregard the fact that they are still humans. They, like any heterosexual, have feelings too. They come from all walks of life, and they are a significant part of the human race. For those of you who think that who they are, is an abomination, well, who are you to judge?

But getting back to my point, the media has recently published some photos and a video of Ellen and Portia’s wedding. When I viewed them, I was pretty overwhelmed by the emotions that seemed to emanate from the pictures and the video. [Just for learning sake, think nonverbal communication! Nonverbal communication!]

Anyway, take a look at the couple of pictures. Look at their facial expressions, their saccharine smiles at each other. Look at their dreamy gazes at each other! It just screams “I’m so in love with you right now I wish we could just be alone”.

I don’t know about you, but it did make me feel kinda happy and smiley when I saw them! Haha ok, I’m a girl, I can’t help but like sappy romantic stuff.



As you can see, their body language and postures do speak a lot about their love for each other! They give each other hugs, and light touches, conveying their love and support for each other as they go through a rather hectic and big day for them. And as for proxemics - their need for “personal space”- I think I can safely say that if they could they would’ve just been happier sitting on each other’s laps.



I guess I’ll leave you guys with a video of what they did on their wedding day. Take a look at how they interact with each other and with those around them (Especially their nonverbal communication). If you can still say that their marriage is wrong, and that it’s probably a publicity stunt or something…. All I gotta say is just OPEN YOUR EYES AND YOUR MIND.




Just for fun though- not that I’m trying to turn everyone pro-gay- I found this on the internet awhile back and thought it was really funny.

10 reasons why Gay Marriage is Wrong!

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.


Pictures and video taken from http://ellen.warnerbros.com/

we are animals

Watch this video. What do you think it's about? I don't wanna sound like a gameshow host, but the answer may shock you.

Wrangler: Humans
by dropkickmonkey

Any thoughts? well...

Every now and then, brilliant people in the advertising community come up with some new way to attract viewers to patronize their goods...




But every now and then, the very same people also come up with advertisements that do the very opposite...





Are you confused yet? Thinking "Why is there a corpse?! Was she part of the video? Is it the same girl?? did she die? commit suicide? she looks like she was raped and murdered!"

Depending on you past experiences, your culture and how you interpret what you perceive, you may find that the video and pictures above have either grossed you out completely, intrigued you a lot, or just plainly confused you.

So for your enlightenment, this is the new Wrangler "we are animals" campaign for their jeans.
This was what they said in their press release for this particular campaign:

"In today’s society, our animal instincts are smothered by daily modern life, city-living and constant technological developments. Man is an animal, but he no longer knows it.

Wrangler’s new strategic and creative platform seeks to re-awaken our bottled-up instincts and to encourage who and what we fundamentally are, by putting all that is pure, natural and instinctive back into Man."

I'm not so sure if i go along with how they have chosen to create this campaign based on man's natural instinct and raw emotion. After all, do the above few pictures elicit the urge from you to go buy a pair of their jeans? Maybe protective camping gear, or shampoo, and soap, and maybe a nice top. But jeans? REALLY?

I say this ad is dark, it's edgy, it's animalistic. It's interesting, unique, it certainly captured my attention (more bad than good). But just one question. Have you seen a lion wear jeans?!

I understand the predator and prey vibe that the advertisers have created. But do i "UNDERSTAND" the advertisement as a whole? No i don't.

In my opinion, this ad confuses me. On one hand, we are "animals", we are alive, strong, we are hunters. But on the other, we are... dead? murdered? We look like extras on the set of CSI.

Are the jeans supposed to have caused the animalistic feelings? Turned the people who wear them into wild beings and therefore create a cheap horror show like atmosphere of a camping trip gone wrong? OR are the jeans so darn great we ought to get murdered in them?

Nevertheless, those are just some of my feelings, and perhaps, i have perceived the ads in a totally wrong light. Afterall, I can't help being prejudiced against ads that make females look like they have been sexually assaulted and then dumped face down in water.

This ad wont stop me from buying their jeans, but neither will it make me WANT to buy one.

To kill or not to kill...

(From Wikipedia: Euthanasia (literally "good death" in Ancient Greek) refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner)

I read an article today about euthanasia. It wasn’t one of those typical debates about whether countries should legalize euthanasia, or whether someone wanted euthanasia desperately but was flatly refused. No, this article, based on the diary of Marc Weide, is a poignant recollection of the final days of his mom who had chosen to terminate her own life.

In 2008, while most of us were still enjoying the many months of rest before a new school year started, a woman, having been diagnosed with “secondary cancer in her lungs”, was preparing her own funeral and cremation in the Netherlands, where assisted suicide had already been legalized in 2002.

What struck me the most about this article was how the newspaper (The Guardian) had decided to publish excerpts from the diary of Marc Weide. I presume such was done to communicate to the masses, that choosing euthanasia affects both the, the person who chooses it and also her friends and family. On one hand, Weide’s mother did not want to prolong her life with chemotherapy as she would lose all her “beautiful hair”, and on top of that, go through bouts of unbearable pain and sickness. However, on the other hand, she snapped at her family constantly, tried to fill up her days with as many things to do as possible to stave off thinking about her end. After all, who wants to die early when they have a good life and a comforting family?

This collection of diary entries can be said to be, I suppose, full of pathos. It brings the reader into the life of the Weide household as they banded together to support their mother through her darkest days. The reader, along with the family, experiences the emotional and psychological ramifications wrought because of Mrs. Weide’s choice. Such would include the pain, the frustration, the irritation, the rare moment of humor, and the worry and care they feel, all because of their mother. Upon finishing the article, one can only wonder if euthanasia is actually something that should be legalized throughout the world.

At the end of the day, this article can only give us an insight to one of the many cases of euthanasia that has been performed. In my opinion, although the author’s mother had chosen euthanasia as her way out of her sickness, ultimately, she never did come to terms with the fact that she was to die so abruptly. Even though her nerves did not get the best of her, her hesitation showed to us that even by spending so much time planning her death; she still could not truly accept it.

My interpretation of what the author thinks of euthanasia however, would be based mainly on the last entry that he wrote. I think that Weide regrets that perhaps, if his mother had prolonged her life with chemotherapy instead, both of them would have been able to settle the “ clashes between [ him and his mother] “ that had amassed because of her impending death.

Murderous or merciful? You decide.


Article mentioned taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/23/euthanasia.cancer