Nathan Valentine

Mass Media and Society

Judith Dutill
2-22-14
Case Study #1
1. Dr. Muehlhoff quoted the following statement from The Miracle of Dialogue !" cannot
hear you #ecause of what " e$%ect you to say.! "dentify e$am%les from your own life where you
ha&e #een una#le to hear what someone was saying #ecause of your e$%ectations and stereoty%es
of that %erson.
" ha&e a two e$am%les of times when " was distracted #y my e$%ectations of a %erson the
first one is a little unusual. " was tal'ing to a young lady who was wor'ing at a hunting goods
store a#out an issue " was ha&ing with a rifle " ha&e. (ut she had a &ery high %itched and %er'y
&oice and was certainly not the middle aged #earded man that normally wor's at the store. " am
no se$ist #y any means. " &alue her o%inions and 'nowledge #ecause her dad owns the store and
she has #een wor'ing there for most of her life. (ut " was &ery distracted #ecause " was so
intrigued #y this tiny &oice #elonging to a #eautiful girl that ha%%ened to #e &ery 'nowledga#le
in a field you would not e$%ect.
)nother time that " was una#le to hear what someone was saying due to my e$%ectations
was when " met a man named *hris )nders. " s%end a lot of my time %artici%ating in *i&il +ar
reenacting as well as se&eral other time %eriods. *hris )nders is a well 'nown figure in the
reenacting community #ut sometimes for the #ad reasons. " had heard some negati&e things
a#out him. Some %eo%le " 'now told me he was an arrogant e$tremist in #oth reenacting and
%olitics he is also an acti&e %olitician. ,here was a long %eriod of time during which " was
hearing a#out him #ut had not yet met him. (ut when " finally met him " thought he was &ery
%leasant reasona#le and " could see him #ecoming a friend of mine. ,he %ro#lem was " was
not %ro%erly listening to him when " first met him #ecause all of this was going through my head.
" e$%ected him to act a certain way #ased on what " had heard a#out him and he turned out to act
a &ery different way and this caused me to not thoroughly hear what he was saying.