{"id":153298,"date":"2025-11-07T09:07:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=153298"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:08:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:08:53","slug":"listening-coaches-lafayette-asphalt-plant-example-of-people-hearing-but-not-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/listening-coaches-lafayette-asphalt-plant-example-of-people-hearing-but-not-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening Coaches: Lafayette Asphalt Plant Example of People Hearing, but Not Listening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A recent public hearing over a proposed asphalt plant near Taylor <\/strong>in Lafayette County<\/strong> played out in a familiar way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighbors, given a few minutes each to speak from a podium in front of a large audience, voiced  heartfelt concerns about the proposed plant\u2019s potential impact on noise, dust, water safety and the loss of rural character. The developer, in turn, defended his right to invest and create jobs. Reporters framed the meeting as a \u201cheated exchange,\u201d a \u201cfight,\u201d a \u201cdebate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever attended a public hearing or a \u201ctown hall meeting,\u201d this pattern will sound familiar. These meetings, meant to demonstrate transparency and community input, too often devolve into spectacles of frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They invite people to perform <\/em>their opinions rather than exchange <\/em>their perspectives. Participants speak in turn, into a microphone, facing officials who cannot respond and neighbors who cannot reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s civic theater, not civic dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a public hearing may seem as if it is open to all, it truly only includes those brave enough to write and deliver an oration that they hope will meet with the crowd\u2019s approval \u2013 perhaps censuring themselves in the process, perhaps grandstanding to win applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any event, it cannot ever become an authentic space to understand the full breadth and depth of a community\u2019s opinions. It also normally occurs just before elected officials will decide a matter \u2013 hardly a moment that allows them to incorporate input meaningfully into their decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public hearings are designed for recordkeeping, not relationship-building. They are procedural necessities, not spaces for understanding. They ask: \u201cDid everyone get a chance to speak?\u201d when the  more important question is, \u201cDid anyone really listen?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the meeting on October 20: Citizens opposing the plant, many of them longtime residents, spoke of family farms, clean air and the peace of their community. The developer spoke of economic opportunity and compliance with regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sides raised legitimate points rooted in values we all <\/em>share: safety, stability and stewardship of the land. But the structure of the hearing forced those shared values into competing positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of How can we protect our community while allowing responsible growth?, <\/em>the discussion became Whose side are you on? <\/em>It turned a complex issue into a binary choice.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are better ways. Across the country, communities facing similar land-use conflicts have experimented with dialogue-based models of public deliberation \u2013 charrettes, stakeholder dialogues and consensus-building workshops that focus first on understanding before decision-making.<\/em> These formats help residents uncover shared interests and explore creative options before opinions calcify into camps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if Lafayette County tried something like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine smaller, facilitated conversations where developers and residents alike articulate what they value most about this place and what they fear losing. Imagine supervisors who not only hear concerns but reflect back what they\u2019ve understood and how it informs their next steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public hearings will always be part of the process, but they should not be the only process. When we reduce democracy to a microphone and a timer, we mistake participation for engagement and hearing for listening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lafayette County deserves a model of governance that goes beyond compliance to connection. It  could be different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Graham Bodie and Larry Schooler<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Graham Bodie<\/em> is a resident of Oxford who teaches people to listen across their differences.  He can be reached at <\/em>gbodie@gmail.com<\/em>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Schooler<\/em> is an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Texas at Austin and an advisory board member for Unify America and the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation. He can be reached at Larry.Schooler@austin.utexas.edu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Mississippi Today<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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