Community?

[Steve]

Forwarded with permission.


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Mon, 23 Nov 1998 19:37:40 -0800 (PST)
From:          Rich Littleton <be718 at scn.org>
To:            Steve <steve at advocate.net>
Subject:       RE: Community?


Sounds like they just can't take a good discussion.

The problem I have with politeness is that it usually is an excuse for
(1) an intentional two-faced evading of the issues or (2) an
unintentional, but spineless, cowaring behind claims for calmness that
is a disguise for hiding from the issues. 

[I know, you all want me to really say what's on my mind.  (*:]

My tongue is partially (only partially, mind you) in my cheek.  But I
have seen too much used-car-salesman diplomacy that has nurtured delay
of essential changes for a long time.  (e.g. delaying electronic
voting, supporting the un-elected and restricted Executive Committee
as a decision-making body, allowing the board to cut their meeting at
least in half, etc.) 

The bottom line is, if an organization has a lot of tension, then it
probably has a lot of choke points in the membership access to the
basic processes (as is the case with SCN).  

Civility is nice, but not as an excuse to bury dysfunctional processes
in an organization.

Soooooo, prove me wrong.  Let's see some serious pushing by the "calm
ones" to get some of these basic issues fixed.

One bright spot:  Jim H. is coordinating the e-mail revision.  Good
show, Jim.  (By the way, Jim, when is our next e-mail meetingJ)

Peacefully yours,

Rich



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