I, 21st Century Communicator

By Iris Aringo

I, 21^st century communicator, did not really care about the advantage of demystifying how advertisements work and its correlation to stereotypes, did not really care about how Obama’s speech led him to victory and Santiago’s didn’t, did not care about how the word rhetoric is actually defined, and most importantly, did not really care about improving my skills as a 21^st century communicator. Communication was mainly expressing myself.

I, 21^st century communicator, was an apathetic person before taking up this class, and still am apathetic after finishing it. I did not feel any magical transformation, but I learned about things I did not bother learning in the past.

I, 21^st century communicator, learned that advertisements are a result of observing human behavior, just as how alcohol and women make a man feel accomplished and how wearing the same underwear the sexy human wore in the billboard makes you also feel sexy. Advertisements are breeding places for stereotypes where people hear, see and feel what they want to. Since I am already a wee bit aware, I will try to be a more sensitive in dealing with people in the context of stereotypes, and critical in discerning what ads are contributing to societal problems and not.

I, 21^st century communicator, learned that people love redundancy and stories especially those that spark hope, ad that Obama is very eloquent enough to have pulled this tactic off and won the hearts of millions. Since I am already a wee bit aware, I will try to incorporate these into my persuasion skills for my future courses and interviews and parental interrogation but rather than following Obama, I will try to be as honest as Santiago were.

I, 21^st century communicator, learned that rhetoric which was before only evident in written and oral situations, have now followed us in the digital world, and that it’s scope and behavior is getting more massive as it conforms into the do’s and dont ’s of this online world. Also, rhetoric is the art of speaking and writing effectively, as Merriam-Webster D defined it. Since I am already a wee bit aware, I will try to be more observant of how rhetoric is seen in real time, real life gameplays and enjoy its simplicity and complexity and take in as much as I can.

I, 21^st century communicator, leaned that there are numerous ways, both direct and direct communication behaviors, of how people express themselves. And since I now know that Filipinos are heavier on the indirect side, I will try to be more observant, try to see the patterns, as well as mentally take them into consideration to improve any setting I’m in when I’m among other Filipinos. And I promise to care more, not because I need something to write on my final paper, but because communication is not only expressing myself, but also understanding others.