An important pre-requisite for an efficacious communication activity is to visualise properly which one of the three major varieties of communication represents our priority.
In fact the approach that can be considered adequate in one modality may be counterproductive in the other modality.
· Propaganda has to "win over" the resistance of the counterpart and therefore it requires "arms" and "strategies". Victory is achieved when persuasion is achieved. The method of persuasion is the "rhetoric": it is of two kinds: the friendly and the hostile. Therefore success is based upon seduction and/or threats.
· Information has to be "objective", i.e. it has to furnish to the counterpart with adequate knowledge for aware choices. The one who delivers the information should present herself as "neutral" with respect to the choices that the counterpart will do.
· Education has to be "maieutic", i.e. has to help the counterpart to develop her personality according to what she values most. To educate is to help the person to develop her faculties and to express her individuality. In order to become education, communication primarily has to built a sense of respect and trust in the community that the learner considers as its own.
The efficacy of communication dependant upon only one of its modalities: either seducing or objective, or self-revealing.
See also