Advocacy Vs. Dialogue

        It definitely has been quite a while since my fingers had singed being a GRE frentic;or rather Engliophile (Trying to bring out various nuances between very similar sounding words)as a few might clarify. After all which girl would have been interested going out with some walking-talking thesaraus who would rather confabulate rather than plain talk, perambulate more so than walk, fornicate if not f*&*k; it rather did lead to a lot of estrangement.

        So, when i suddenly came across one of our Profs explaining the differances between Advocacy and Dialogue... i was simply astonished, awestruck, fascinated, flabbergasted and marvelled.

here's quoting our Prof.
I read in the book a chapter 'From advocacy to dialogue and find following table

a. In advocacy the concept of decision making is a contest whereas in dialogue it is collaborative problem solving.
b. In advocacy the purpose of discussion is persuasion and lobbying whereas in dialogue it is testing and evaluation.
c. In advocacy the participants role is of spokespeople whereas in dialogue it is of critical thinkers
d. In advocacy the pattern of behavior is to persuade others, defend your position and downplay weaknesses. Whereas in dialogue it is balanced arguments, open to alternative and accept constructive criticism.
e. In advocacy the minority views are discouraged or dismissed whereas in dialogue they are cultivated and valued.
f. In advocacy the outcome is of winners and losers whereas in dialogue the outcome is of collective ownership.

        I am sure, that the above dialogues might not strike a chord with many of the readers, but i really urge everyone to give it some time to sink in.

        It has been observed that in general life, we come more across people who feel themselves deemed superior to be involved in Advocacy; but these exact arguments showcase how a dialogue is the right platform to be used if we have to propogate as a group.

        Maybe that's why we utilize these terms, "Diplomatic Dialogue and Political Advocacy".

        Leaving everyone with some thoughts for their own.

-Deepak