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Journal by The Mighty Buzzard
Something I've been thinking about a bit lately is the ability to communicate your message well. I'm not the best at it but it's not difficult to spot those who really are. Their number sure as fuck doesn't include Jordan Peterson. Or most any intellectual, especially with an academia background, for that matter.
You know who the best are? Really good standup comedians. They have to be. If you need to explain a joke, it's no longer funny. If you're consistently not funny, you have to get a dreaded day job.
If you want to take up public speaking in any sort of persuasive capacity, you could do a lot worse than to learn from them.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
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Operator, please trace this call and tell me where I am.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 12 2019, @03:16PM (2 children)
Sam Colt, Smith & Wesson, Remington, Bosch,
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 12 2019, @03:18PM
Bᵤ𝓏𝓏ₐᵣ𝒹, ᵢₜ'ₛ ₐ ₜᵣₐₚ, ₛₕₕₕₕₕₕₕ ₋ 𝒹ₒₙ'ₜ 𝓰ᵢᵥₑ ₜₕₑ 𝓰ₐₘₑ ₐ𝓌ₐᵧ!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday March 17 2019, @12:53AM
I'm partial to Henry Ford, myself. Wrote a damn good book and the vehicles ain't too bad either.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday March 12 2019, @05:28PM (3 children)
I just talk to myself. Then I'm (almost) always understood.
More seriously, one of the things I've learned over the years is that when a person can't effectively explain something to another person, that's usually because they don't understand it themselves.
Granted, that's less about public speaking, than it is about communicating effectively. At the same time, it's worthwhile to note that the most effective public speakers are generally those who either have their schtick down (like a good stand-up comedian or a demagogue) or have a good understanding of the topic at hand and specific goals as to what information they want to convey.
Those are two different kinds of speakers (and public speaking), with significantly different goals. A comedian or demagogue wants to engage you emotionally and push your buttons (whether for laughs or for outrage), while someone with the goal of elucidation and/or enlightenment wants to engage intellectually.
Both are difficult. One requires an intuitive understanding of human responses, while the other requires specific knowledge and a clear goal WRT communicating that knowledge.
When I was consulting, I used to teach a seminar on technical writing for my peers and the most important pieces were to "know your audience" and "express yourself as clearly and directly as possible." The same holds true for public speaking, IMHO.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 13 2019, @01:44AM (2 children)
That's the main thing that can be learned from comedians, yes. They don't have the luxury of being long-winded and getting sidetracked by minutiae. They have to speak so as to be easily understood by 95% of their audience and convey their meaning extremely efficiently or the joke dies. That academics specifically and intellectuals in general are largely unable to do this is why most people have little to no interest in listening to them [youtube.com].
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Wednesday March 13 2019, @03:59AM (1 child)
You're comparing apples to oranges. Playing on emotions as a comedian does is a much different form of communication than conveying knowledge and information.
Making someone laugh, cry or get angry requires significantly different skills and strategies from expositing complex sets of ideas like quantum mechanics, demand curves or game theory.
Louis CK would crash and burn trying to explain cell regulation through potassium channels. However, a biologist would likely be able to do so fairly well, even if he or she ended up pelted with rotten fruit at a comedy club's open mike night.
That's not to say that academics are all wonderful communicators of ideas, especially in verbal contexts. However, many do communicate well verbally.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 17 2019, @03:46AM
No, as a general rule they're complete shit at it. At best they can impart the message they're trying to convey eventually but very few of them excel at imparting it to a wide audience or with any particular efficiency. They have the luxury of having an audience that has self-selected to be there and has to take the consequences for their failure rather than the egghead in question having to do it themselves. That does not push communication skills worth a damn, thus very little growth in ability happens.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Tuesday March 12 2019, @05:35PM
laugh maniacally and between hysterics try to type out what i found so damned funny.
My success rate could be better.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Tuesday March 12 2019, @08:38PM (6 children)
You know, TMB, you might enjoy life a little more if you could remove that giant chip off your shoulder.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @10:02PM (3 children)
I offered to just eat the chips but he started ranting about handouts and socialism.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 13 2019, @01:48AM (2 children)
You should have brought dip or beer or something, then you'd be contributing too and sharing wouldn't be a problem.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:29PM (1 child)
I was contributing by the offer to help you remove a psychological burden, but as we see you're too concerned about me "getting something out of it" to see that it was a selfless gesture to help you out. Ah well, I'll just move to whatever state gets single payer healthcare passed and stop worrying about you "rugged individualists".
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 13 2019, @11:55PM
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 13 2019, @01:47AM (1 child)
You're very bad at empathy. I enjoy the complete hell out of my life. I'm likely the most content person you'll ever converse with.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:26PM
Then YOU are very bad at communicating. It seems that you are apathetic and somewhat pissed off most of the time. You should probably tell more jokes.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:04AM (3 children)
No, Minority Busstard, you have no idea. We get what you are trying to say, but you are not communicating it at all well, since everyone believes you are full of it. You do not believe your own BS. You are a fake, a pseudo-thinker, a troll, and a libertariantard. So you have nothing to communicate, no policy, no values, no reasons for anything. And thus, you have no power! You are powerless, oh Malingering Brouzanderer! Nothing you say matters, except here on the TMB blog. And everyone grows tired of your ego, and thus will not respond. Powerless. Unable to even command the response of any decent troll on the internet! Insignificant! Non-important! Not really worth reading. Thank you for your journal. Perhaps you would like to provide a URL in the future. Far, far, in the future.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 13 2019, @11:57PM (2 children)
Well, communication isn't just about talking coherently. It's also about the other party listening. If you already decided a priori that TMB is "full of it", then you aren't the intended audience.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:29AM (1 child)
Can't hear you, khallow! You are spouting bullshit, again, and I cannot hear that. Do you expect it to make sense to your recipients? That's cruel, bro! Try some empathy. Good for our debilitated Buzzard, good for you. Now, what were you saying, again? Backhoes?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 14 2019, @05:11PM
Indeed.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 14 2019, @12:04AM (2 children)
I think he's been given an unfair shake here. He cleans up nice, is willing to state his opinions coherently, and is understandable even if somewhat boring. The problem with the comedy approach is that rhetorical shell games are easy to do, particularly drive-by fallacies, and there's no blowback unless you cross the line to fruit throwing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @07:26AM (1 child)
Not really. Smells of catfish, and Southern Racism. Would not date again.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 14 2019, @05:13PM
I didn't know there were catfish in Canada. Learn something new [midwestoutdoors.com] every day.