Unpopular Opinions; Communication Breakdown

 

If you’re having a communication breakdown, any opinion is unpopular, and we’ve been in a communication breakdown for a very long time.

What are some of the ways that one achieves a communication breakdown? Trust me, a communication breakdown is not something that occurs naturally; it is most definitely planned, worked on and achieved.

One way, of course, is to put communication on autopilot and substitute identifying gestures and appearance for actual communication.

Back in the day, it was a peace sign, a tie dyed shirt or a joint.

“Are you cool? Are you hip?” ‘Nuff said!

Given the correct outward trappings and social tricks, opinions and attitudes are assumed. One need not be burdened with the effort of actually communicating.

In more contemporary times an extremely complex handshake will serve to bypass any need to communicate.

And if you want to avoid any serious discussion about religion, just carry around a bible or wear a cross.

These are the things that identify. They establish if you are ‘of the body.’ If you are ‘of the body,’ we can assume what your opinions are at the get go. Saves us a lot of time.

Another communication breaker is good old Aristotelian Logic, which says that everything is black or white, good or bad. Once you’ve handled that complex equation, you can just dismiss a ton of seemingly contrary opinions.

But don’t kid yourself. This is no accident. Communication is a natural thing. One must work hard to achieve a communication breakdown, which is probably why art and music are the targets of suppressive forces (you know, Blue Meanies,) since art and music essentially are communication.

Communication began to be replaced by identification somewhere around the nineteen fifties with the ‘Beat Generation.’ There was said to be a ‘movement’ behind these things and I believe there was, but putting the emphasis on identification took the teeth out of whatever movement may have been going on.