Publicado el 08-17-2012
Clear Explanations
About Laws, Rulings
or Government Norms
There are many laws, rulings and government norms that are difficult to understand by the people. When the public, particularly those who are simple people, with no specialization, want to clarify something, they are told to make a telephone call, which nowadays might be very complicated, or to go to the Internet to check the text of those laws, rulings or norms. And when one hears or reads the explanations given by the government on the radio or in writing they are not clear enough and any interested party might make a serious mistake to his detriment because of this deficiency.
The individual giving the verbal or written explanation on behalf of the government possibly understands everything, but the person who is listening to or reading it might still have doubts unless he is very knowledgeable. And these doubts are noticed during a telephone conversation because of the simplicity and lack of experience of the person requesting advice. The problem would not be as serious or detrimental to many persons if it did not involve serious subjects such as Medicare and Medicaid, for example, or immigration matters. Among those many persons who ask for help there are some who, in good faith, might incur in a very detrimental error, perhaps irreparable, believing that they are doing the right thing and acting within their rights.
Thus, it is a matter of fairness that when the government through any of its agencies gives these explanations on the radio or in writing, they take into consideration the inexperience of millions of persons who might make mistakes because of a lack of clarity and of proper explanation. The individual giving the explanation should bear this in mind, explaining everything clearly, to eliminate any doubts and confusions in many people who although not ignorant do not understand fully what rights they have or do not have in a certain case. And when telling someone “call this telephone number”, it should be remembered that getting through, knowing who you are talking to and understanding what they say is sometimes very difficult. And later it is impossible to say, after making a mistake, “someone told me to do this and I did it” because in many instances it is not a real person giving the explanation but a pre-recorded electronic message.
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