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Straight talking

We often refer to people as straight talkers, and we also like to think that we are all just that - straight talkers, you know, we say what we really mean. This week in NZ, there has been quite an uproar about the Government pushing through legislation despite the fact that the nation voted in a referendum, not to pass the law. I was left wondering why that was the case, as after all, a referendum is a means of getting a nation to voice their opinion, in a straight talking kind of way - and the Government decided to ignore what the nation said and do 'its own thing anyway' ... so in essence, that left me feeling that if the NZ Government do not listen to straight talk, then why the hell should anybody? Ok, that's a little bit simplistic, but, we all learn our behaviours from those around us. As a rebellious youngster a few years (well quite a few actually) ago soaking up the experiences around me, I'd have been left thinking "well hey, if the Government doesn't have to listen to straight talk from the masses, why the hell should I....my opinion isn't going to be heard or valued". I guess 'that's just politics' would be one answer for the Government's actions..

Straight talking is often hard at the best of times, when we are unclear about what it is we really want or want to achieve through a dialogue or conversation, our speech slurs, we get the words mixed up and what comes out isn't exactly what we have expected ... and the trouble is, once we've said it, we've said it. The voice is a very powerful thing and so often we find ourselves saying things that, well really don't get us anywhere or move us forwards - sometimes no words at all are far better than a 'curvy statement' - what do you think? What do we mean by straight talk and how can we identify it without resorting to monitoring body language or lie detectors!?

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