96301

4-17-23

Capstone

Dr. Kenneth Chase

Communication as a Means to a Friend

“One of these lives, I'ma make things right/With the wrongs I've done, that's

when I unite/With the Father, Son, 'til then, I fight” (Kendrick Lamar). I’m a

communication major and I sux at communicating. By the end of this paper, I’m sure

you’ll see just what I mean. I’m absent-minded, hyper-fixated, self-hating yet

somehow self-obsessed, basic, complex, and disingenuously authentic (this hook being

the perfect example). As a kid, I would write lamentful essays repenting for

wrongdoings simply to forge my way out of a grounding. The lesson I learned wasn’t

the one my parents had in mind: words are means and transparency is a weapon. I

became an actor, a conman, anything I wanted could be achieved through a facade of

communication.

This type of communication isn’t singular or distinct. We see it daily on social

media, people being fake to get likes that feed their need for validation, masking the

general terror of being alone. We see it in the streets, we are using our words as an

N-95 to mask the insecurity of our fragile egos. This is why the weaponized

transparency of this piece so far is appalling. All over the world right now there are

people in conference rooms, courtrooms, television, the oval office, and even

churches using communication as a means to garner favor. Hell, you even see it in this

paper. Why else would I be this transparent if I wasn’t trying to 1) shock my

classmates as they read this readying their critiques (shoutout you), or 2) demonstrate

I have some sort of unique communicative writing style so I can get a good grade on

this paper? I’m just as guilty as anyone.

“But a mask won't hide who you are inside/Look around, the realities carved in

the lies/Look myself in the mirror/Amityville, I ain't seen nothin' scarier” (Kendrick

Lamar). Wow, one whole page, and I haven’t even addressed the prompt. See how I’m

using communication to deflect a question that scares me? But what I am trying to

demonstrate is the reason why there is a general distrust of communication is that so

often it is used to only service the communicator. We are constantly getting lied to,

persuaded, or duped for someone else’s profit. “90% of modern news is someone

else’s agenda” (Schuchardt lecture 9-8-21). “Advertising has us chasing cars and

clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy sh*t we don't need” (Fight Club). But it’s

not just marketing and advertising, we do it to each other. Why do we only post the

good parts of ourselves online? If the root word of communication is community, why

does it so often leave us isolated?

“To become an effective communicator, one must understand both verbal and

visual signs” (Schuchardt lecture 2-3-21). But this isn’t enough we already have

enough effective communicators. How do we become good communicators? “Good

communicators must go a step further, analyzing how signs have functioned within the

world in order to assess how they should be altered for the good of the world”

(Schuchardt lecture 2-3-21). It is only through this altering of communication can we

reach social solidarity. It requires openness and attunement to each other’s needs,

vulnerability, and the acknowledged need for God and the body of Christ (Dan Hasse
lecture 1-26-23). I’m a communication major and I need to communicate better. “This

time around, I trust myself/Please everybody else but myself/Outdone fear, outdone

myself” (Kendrick Lamar).

 Work Cited

Fincher, David, director. Fight Club. 20th Century Fox, 1999.

Haase, Dan. “Spiritual Formation in Community .” 26 Jan. 2023.

Lamar, Kendrick, et al. “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (CD).” Interscope Records.

Schuchardt, Read. “Communication Media Studies.” 3 Feb. 2021.