Stay Cool while communicating and defending your convictions
In a ‘Public Relations plan’ entry we put on the forum some months back, mention was made of the following:
•treat the media as an ally, give priority to demand, and generate a worldwide dialogue in public;
•maintain a style and tone of respect… While asking for respect, we should act with respect.
This blog expands on this idea, by putting together the main ideas contained in the following articles:
(1) Mutual respect: The “Public Relations plan” seminar suggested that mutual respect means, among other things, “never employing aggressive language, no attacks or threats, and never judging the intentions of others. … We have tried to act within the coordinates marked by these three concepts: freedom, responsibility, dialogue.” Any communications plan from a Christian site ought to be Christian in its content and positive in its tone; the response should always be well-mannered and friendly.
(2) Be civilized (Humor as ally): As the MercatorNet article suggests, “One of the most commonly employed tactics in … the Culture War … is name-calling. People and ideas are branded and dismissed summarily rather than being the target of reasoned argumentation. … Name-calling is akin to hitting your opponent over the head with a club, an approach to issues that should have been left with the cave dwellers. Lest we be branded “ancient” or “cave-dwellers”, I’d suggest that we be calm and cool especially as we give explanations for our faith and convictions. “Rational, fact-filled argumentation is one of civilization’s greatest achievements. And it is in very short supply…” One friend advised us, “Never lose your sense of humor; your good nature and humor is your best defense”.
(3) Serve “slowfood” as well: Media people might need info fast, and therefore might be munching on “fastfood” all the time. But we the sources of Catholic info ought to serve them “slowfood” as well, i.e., journalists cannot limit themselves to presenting mere facts but ought to analyze happenings in depth. Hence, it is our role to provide them the needed analyses of the information –the so-called “slowfood”, a diet ‘rich in intellectual vitamins’– to allow for serenity and ability for in-depth analysis amidst very complex phenomena (cf. Improving Church Communication).
(4) Marketing and communications strategies: The article Improving Church Communication has suggested several of these: (a) provide mediamen with an executive summary that is brief and that synthesizes one’s position; (b) learn to present Christianity in an attractive manner (choose catchy yet appropriate words; learn to use images and videos, as these catch attention better, etc.); (c) have sufficient creativity so as to open up more avenues for dialogue. In addition, the Harvard Business Review article suggests, “…you need to defend yourself without being defensive. The latter opens you to additional criticism because very often [being] defensive will provoke negative behaviors such as lashing out or shutting down. … Maintaining an even keel in the face of skepticism or even hostility is a vital attribute to leadership presence, the kind of aura that you need to radiate if you ever hope to instill followership.” The following 3 important characteristics are suggested: (1) Preparedness, (2) Generosity, (3) Patience.
(5) Christian charity: We cannot fail to mention the most important virtue, which is charity. For this, we have clear ideas from Chapter 15 of the book “Itinerarios de vida cristiana” by Bishop-Prelate Javier Echevarria: “At times, the limitations and defects of the others do not facilitate that holy obligation of recognizing in [others] the figure of Jesus; and this can falsely make us uninterested, feeling ourselves excused, thinking that in that case, the commitment of loving them ceases or is diminished. From the example of the Master we learn that nothing –neither the insufficiencies of the others, nor their limitations, nor their mediocrity whether real or apparent, nor their eventual offenses– would mean an excuse or a mitigating factor for not loving as Christ loves.”
We hope you’d send in your comments or ideas.
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Related article: Cyberspace Apostleship.
We share with you this important video “Social Media Revolution 2″:
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