David Birren writes (LO21227) regarding the phrase "touchy-feely",
>I've heard this phrase a lot in state government, especially in my agency,
>which is heavily populated with outdoorsy folks (hunters & foresters) and
>scientists (highly-educated technical people). I have rarely heard it
>from women, but it is popular with men who like to disparage the "soft"
>side of being human. The most vociferous users of this phrase tend to be
>macho and impatient, and have either less education or a deep and narrow
>technical background.
...SNIP...
I do not want to be critical, and I especially I do not want to "flame"
David, whose posts I respect, but the "hunters & foresters" in your agency
(Department of Natural Resources), ARE "highly-educated technical people".
The folks who work in the Bureaus of Wildlife Management, Fisheries
Management, Forestry, and Endangered Resources generally hold a master's
degree in forestry, wildlife ecology, biology, entomology, toxicology, or
some related field or specialty. Some are hunters.
I also sense (feel) more than I read (think), that there is a subtext of
hunters & foresters/macho/impatient versus
scientists/highly-educated/technical. To focus it further, macho hunters
versus highly educated scientists. Is this your point of view? If it is,
you might want to consider, how have I come to these judgments? Who do I
know, personally, who fits this stereotype of macho, uneducated hunter?
Why do some of these people (you say men, mostly) come across that way?
What is their background?
It has also been my experience that introverted men [usually, stereotype
noted] with scientific/technical backgrounds are intimidated by the design
of some icebreakers: they have to open themselves up among people who they
do not know; strangers. A few poorly designed workshops with poorly
chosen "icebreakers" can lead to people to generalize that all they are
designed to do is embarrass the participants. Icebreakers that focus on
the topic of the workshop, as noted by others on this thread, can go far
toward reducing the dismissive, pejorative phrase "touchy-feely".
Dennis Presser
dennis.presser@dot.state.wi.us
Office of Policy and Budget Phone: (608)
267-7360
Wisconsin Department of Transportation Fax: (608) 261-8626
4802 Sheboygan Ave., P.O. Box 7910
Madison, WI 53707-7910
What do we think of as civilization? More and more people and taller
skyscrapers? Faster transportation? Universal gadgetry? Material comforts
and leisure and entertainment? Fads and dogmas? Industrialization and the
manners of holiday traffic, littering roadsides and scenic areas with trash?
Or should it be progress toward understanding and reason? Should not
civilization mean evolution toward what we know as good taste and decency
and thoughtfulness, toward the maturity that man now needs as he probably
never has needed it before?
Paul Errington
--"Presser, Dennis" <dennis.presser@dot.state.wi.us>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>