Just a thought ...

We must remember that we are not dealing with automatons whose sole function in life is to embody an ideology and a party line, but with human beings - people who, like ourselves, have special areas of pride, prejudice, and sensitivity. I have found, for example, as have others who have discussed current issues with Soviet officials and citizens, that the whole trend of a conversation can be influenced by the way in which you begin it. If you confront them at the outset with an attack on the harshness of their ideology, the shortcomings of their economy, or the excesses of their dictatorship, you are likely to be rewarded with an outburst of chauvinism and vituperation about American policy and practices. There are those who find such encounters emotionally satisfying, but no one can deny that they are singularly barren of productive results.

If, on the other hand, you start out with a compliment about the successes of Soviet society - and there have been a few - or with a candid reference to the shortcomings of our own society - and there have also been a few of these - then it often happens that the response is surprisingly expansive and conciliatory. You are likely to hear an admission that everything, after all, is not perfect in the Soviet Union, and that there are even a few things about America that are admirable and worthy of imitation.

The compliments in themselves are of little importance. But the candor and the cordiality are of great importance. As any good businessman knows, they set a tone and an atmosphere in which emotion gives way to reason and it becomes possible to do business, to move on from cordial generalities to specific negotiations. They generate that minimum of mutual confidence which is absolutely essential for reaching concrete agreements.

J. Fulbright, 1964

posted by Lazarus, 7:43 PM