The Silencing
Communication is very important in the lives of human beings. This is because it fulfils the following social needs, identity needs, physical needs and practical needs. This is a brief write up on the relationship between the article “The Silencing” and the above needs fulfilled by communication. It also exemplifies when I felt isolated.
‘Silencing’ is the word used by the academy for training Cadets to refer to the act of separating one from the rest. This is characterized by ‘eating alone each day at a table of ten’. In this case, James Pelosi was being silenced for allegedly cheating on an engineering exam. Part of the ‘silencing’ involved seclusion from others for long time. This greatly curtails the human needs of communication. Specifically, being separated from others contravened the principle of social needs. According to Adler and Proctor (4), social isolation could lead to coronary complications. In addition, he was not physically in company of the others. Further, by scrutinizing the way silencing was done, it becomes apparent that identity needs of a person are limited. In other words, one is not able to identify with what he or she like. Lastly, in practical terms, it is just difficult to stay alone and silent. It has been found out to be a bad way of punishing people.
Personally, I have ever been isolated in a classroom. The teacher argued that I was making noise and that I should stand outside the classroom until I was told to do otherwise. Since I was being observed, I could not talk to anyone else lest the ‘silencing’ was prolonged. What I would say is that it is inhuman to punish people in that manner.
