Josip Sesar

Some thirty years ago Marshall McLuhan, an English professor at the University of Toronto, suggested that technological changes in the media of communication were turning the world into a “global village.”35 Today we live in the village that McLuhan envisioned.36 Satellite transmissions bring news into our living rooms as it happens. The Internet provides access to information that was previously available only in the libraries of colleges and universities. Speeches that once were dusty relics in the pages of anthologies come to life on videotape. Computer conferencing makes it possible for executives in Singapore to “meet” with executives in New York without having to travel. National boundaries are dissolving as time and space no longer impede the flow of information and ideas.37
As we move into the twenty-first century, we must adapt to our diverse world. Although speaking to a diverse audience is a challenge, it is also an opportunity. Learning to communicate with diverse others can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your public speaking class. To find out more about your own sociocultural background, or about those of others, consult the relevant web sites listed at the end of this chapter. Again, keep in mind that the information you access relates to groups in general and not necessarily to your particular classmates. Try to integrate and reconcile such information with the information you derive about them firsthand.
To make the most of the opportunities of addressing varied audiences, you must be able to avoid some pitfalls. You must understand the power of streotypes and bias and of the problematic “isms”—ethnocentrism, sexism, and racism. Finally, you should know how to find and build common ground with your listeners.