Everyone has ethics whether we whether we realize it or not. Ethics can be considered as your moral principles as a person that guide your decisions and your life. Every single person has ethics, even the ones in your audience, so you have to make sure that when you give a speech, you are not offending one belief or leaving one out.
When talking, or even before you deliver your message, scan your audience to see if the words and phrases being used are appropriate. You also do not want to separate your audience because of differences, instead you want to celebrate the individualism and diversity within the room, hall, or wherever you are speaking. You want to avoid any and all hate speech that you can, this will isolate your listeners and possibly make them feel like they need to be defensive against you. Instead of saying "you", try saying "we" instead, it will make your audience feel more included. Social awareness is also a very good thing to have in the back of your mind while speaking; this means that you are aware that the people in your audience have different beliefs than you, so you choose your words very carefully and possibly change it on the spot if needed so that you do not offend your listeners.
It's very easy in today's heated climate to offend someone, or even a group of people. One's tone can make all the difference in the world! It's a wonderful idea to look out over your audience to try to determine what you should be saying, and, as you mentioned, being inclusive is extremely important to a good speech!
ReplyDeleteCaroline, it's tremendously important to include your audience and to make sure we use words like "we" instead of saying "you" and to avoid all hate speech at all costs. Dividing a crowd you're speaking to may be the last thing you want to do. Separating your listeners early will account in you losing their attention as well as them possibly becoming defensive against you.
ReplyDeleteI like how you included that everyone has some sort of ethics, whether they are good or bad. Especially when you talked about speaking, I think ethics play a big role in making sure that we don't offend people or stay respectful to different views around us.
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