Willful Blindness

According to a book of the same name, "willful blindness" is a legal term for ". . . the idea that there is an opportunity for knowledge, and a responsibility to be infomed, but it is shirked." (Willful Blindness, by Margaret Heffernan, copyright 2011; Walker Publishing Company: New York.) I am still reading the book, and learning from it. The first three chapters discuss important reasons people ignore or fail to process important information. Expect a book review when I finish the reading. Unfortunately, that must take a back seat to my college courses, but I will persist.

I hope the importance of this to communication hits readers here immediately. Talking to people who fail to listen even if your subject affects them wastes your time and energy. Finding ways through the barriers stands to improve your communication skills much more than using "might" rather than "may" when some expert deems that appropriate.

Stay tuned for further discussions of this and related subjects.

You can take back anything you say . . .

In fact, many organizations and some people take back almost everything they say. You can do so at any time by taking actions that fail to match your words. For example, I attend a "university," which will remain nameless for now. They say wonderful things in their heavy advertising, including the front page of the web site. Then they go and cancel that in so many ways: by having a low graduation rate, some instructors not suitable to teach, many courses  and course web pages apparently prepared by amateurs, and allowing the public to believe they are not accredited (they are). I imagine most readers could give more examples of this. Hypocrisy costs a person or organization in more than morality and ethics; people who could not function at this school are giving their friends, relatives, and blog or social-networking readers word of mouth that the marketing department cannot overcome by words. Hence the heavy, expensive, advertising.