Editorial - communicating and Communication

摘要

Don't you find it rude when you acknowledge someone and, in return, they just ignore you? A communication expert will tell you that you that people everywhere have a standard sense of reciprocity that is ruffled by such a rebuff. When you say "hello", you expect at least a grunt to come back in your direction - like when you say "good morning" to the family at breakfast. A communication expert would tell you - but I wouldn't dare to because communication theory is really at the ragged edges of my consciousness. I have some vague notion that communication, as a body of knowledge, is a relatively recent development. It seems to have been invented in Palo Alto, California, about 30 years ago - probably at a party fuelled by magic mushrooms - but had certainly not reached South Wales when I served my apprenticeship in journalism.