So, as you probably saw, I got somewhat confused with the whole, RCL post and RCL homework post. These things do happen! Well, I figured I might as well try to get a post tossed in here at the eleventh hour. Where to start? Well let’s take a look at some political, nonverbal dialogue. Recently it was discovered that the United States was wiretapping its allies in Europe. Specifically, Angela Merkel was a bit annoyed by this invasion of privacy. When you look at the nonverbal message sent by such an act, Merkel’s response was completely justified.
Allies. The word suggests that two groups work together through mutual trust and toward mutual trust. When a member of the alliance does not trust the others, how can the alliance function properly? When the United States taps other foreign leaders’ phones, it indicates a lack of trust and respect for that nation’s sovereignty. Over the past fifty so years, the United States’ respect for other nations’ sovereign borders has deteriorated substantially. When this lack of respect is focused toward a third world country or a country that we do not have particularly good relations with, it is more acceptable for several reasons (none of them particularly savorable). When this broke, it became apparent that we no longer trusted our allies. We didn’t respect them, so why should they respect us?
Over the past few years the United States’ abilities to conduct foreign policy have regressed substantially. Other countries have quickly outpaced our rhetorical ability. This was recently shown in the situation in Syria as the United States made several errors when negotiating with both the rebel forces and Assad. These recent faux pas have produced the idea that the United States is weak and unable to truly function on a global scale. In some ways, this is not just an analysis of how nonverbal, political rhetoric works. It is also an example of how civic life can sometimes include just being polite to others and watching what we say.
