Words not said and gestures not made can have as much an impact as those words said and gestures made within a conversation. Indeed, it is possible for people to have a comprehensive conversation without talking at all. In America, Negative Stereotypes and Prejudices have been known to be the driving force for these unsaid words and gestures and also the reason why they are mainly misunderstood. It is this misunderstanding that forms the greatest barrier to intercultural communication. In America, among the most outwards indications of cultural differences are race. With race comes many presuppositions, prejudices and negative stereotyping. For example, when a white person encounters an African American, there is an undying expectation of some element of aggression. Therefore, even words as kind as a greeting can be considered to have been offensive, not based on the content of the greeting but on the underlying presupposition. At the very same time, the African Americans will expect the whites to be condescending and look down upon them. A very polite compliment may be received negatively since it will not be considered as genuine.
Eliminating this barrier is possible but extremely difficult. It is possible because it is not based on any real facts but rather mentalities that exist within the different cultures that live together in America. Therefore, if for some reason this prejudices and misinformation were to be eliminated through enlightenment, then the communication barrier kindred thereto can also be eliminated. However, as aforesaid, the elimination of this barrier is extremely difficult. For a start, the presuppositions that create it have been in existence for hundreds of years and are extremely deeply rooted. Further, and most unfortunate, the causes for communication barriers are mutual in nature. For example, the Muslims are prejudiced against the Christians and the Christians are prejudiced against the Muslims. This eliminates the chance of one group reaching out to the other thus making ending the barrier quite difficult.
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