The Hong Kong government is often damned for its inability or unwillingness to seriously consider dissenting viewpoints. A rash of protests would suggest that many citizens continue to feel that they are not being heard. It takes skill to lend a good ear, however - an ability that is surprisingly rare.
In the private domain, most of the listening that people do is fairly inattentive. Typical conversations are more like alternating bouts of speaking than genuine dialogue. The conversational floor is taken and relinquished using subtle but fairly strict rules of conduct. Turns are 'bid for' and yielded using flurries of body language such as increasingly rapid head nods and directed gaze. It is extraordinary to watch the exhibition of unconscious co-operation once one has been made aware of it.
In most situations, that is what both parties expect and want. But when decision-makers such as government officials listen, they do so in atypical circumstances. The subjects are generally weightier and exchanges are in formalised and hurried contexts. The exchange tends to be unsuccessful unless the interlocutor is made to feel that they are genuinely heard, that the listening is active, and therefore, meaningful.
When a figurehead like the queen goes walkabout, the chat is largely content-free. For the crowd, it is not what is said that is important. It is the fact that a conversation took place at all. The queen usually asks a friendly question or two and she listens to answers that are often brief or lame, due to nerves. When the entourage and cameras move on, most individuals who were singled out are left with only a hazy idea of what they said. But few will ever forget the exchange. There is little in the way of empathetic, binding pride that cannot be attained by being listened to for a second or two in the loftiest conversational space in the realm.
But when concerned individuals in a crowd get a chance to talk to someone who yields power over their lives, they can be more in the mood to challenge power than to identify with it. For the most part, they are seeking confirmation that their views are, first, understood and second, accepted as valid. If a VIP can achieve both of these in his or her reply, they are made.
Even replies that directly address an issue are less important. What is vital is that the message is seen to have 'got through'. After all, there are few occasions in which anyone reasonable expects an issue to be resolved right there and then, and it is usually a bad idea to enter into spontaneous, detailed discussions.