I have three personality traits, all borne out of my names – Eric, Nii Ashong and Tawiah.
According to www.wellfamily.com, Eric is an Old Norse name derived from the Norse word “Eirikr” which means “sole ruler” or “ever powerful.” Applied to me, this is not familiar, unless you have contrary evidence to controvert my supposition. Simply put, prove me wrong, if you can.
“When people hear the name Eric, they perceive you as someone who is full of life, uplifting, inspiring, and even charming. You are the life of the party with your lively, intelligent and witty personality. Others will find you as strikingly attractive.” – www.myfirstname.rocks. Yes! This is me. Any disagreements?
Nii Ashong means I am the seventh boy of my parents. This reflects my calm nature which usually pops up at church and other solemn occasions. At church, some even wonder if I am dumb.
Tawiah? That means, I was born after twins. The personality trait this name comes with is my no- nonsense self. Our nickname is, ‘Apiagyei Busum’.
Ordinarily, (this word should sound familiar to you), I will not trouble you. If you dare, the ‘Busum’ –deity in the name will come at you. If you happen to see me not yielding easily to calls for calm under any circumstance, it is not my fault. It comes with the name.
Indeed, as humans, it is normal for everyone to have two sides. The regular Joe and the angry one.
And it seems to me that the events of last week, as regards the communication between IGP George Akuffo Dampare and the British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, give credence to this.
In my considered opinion, Dampare’s response was given from a position of anger. I will prove this presently.
The communication context and how it affects meaning of a message
In my article titled ‘How feedback can make or mar your communication effort”, I alluded to the critical nature of feedback in the communication process.
What I failed to stress enough is what we refer to in communication as the barriers. Usually, noise, ambiance, use of jargons, emotion, lack of attention, distractions, differences in perception and viewpoint are cited as factors that could cause a message to be decoded differently from the meaning the sender sought to convey.
Clearly, two of the aforementioned barriers were at play in the George-Harriet communication effort. They are; emotion and perception.
This is the shortest rendition of the whole caboodle.
On May 17, Harriet tweeted, “Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the convener of #FixTheCountry Movement, arrested again, I understand, for a motoring offense on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes.”
On May 31, a letter signed by IGP Dampare in response to Commissioner Harriet emerged. His response was a four-page letter, the content of which sums up in four Akan words- ‘Di wo fie asɛm’, to wit, “learn to keep within the limits that concerns you.”
Why George decoded Harriet’s message as interference in our internal affairs
