We choose to participate, we are accidental participants, we refuse to participate. The culture, society, group, family, and couple are affected by our shared and individual communication ethics. In our communication we are simultaneous utilizing and negotiating our communication ethic albeit usually implicitly and tacitly rather than overtly. In one sense the Greek rhetor addressed all those with power when he spoke in the Senate. Those that mattered were there.
Power is much more diffuse and complex in today's society.
Think of the power of CNN as it becomes the information source for the globe. Think of the power of the hacker invading the computers at the pentagon, computers governing the electric power grids, computers containing our personal medical or financial records, or creating an unstoppable computer virus because, using all the wisdom of her 16 years, she can. The Greek rhetor could be and was held accountable by his fellow rhetors. I suggest we treat our credo as an invitation for everyone to join in a social contract. People are asked to accept it and be bound by it because they should do so.