Re: Consensus/ was Another Bush Crime against humanity and Gaia

on 1/28/05 7:08 PM, Globalcircle at [email protected] wrote:

> 
> Just because you don't like my idea of consensus doesn't mean I don't
> understand consensus. Let's be adults. You can define consensus any way you
> want, and so can I. I've never heard consensus defined as everybody doing
> something together, but you can believe anything you want.  In fact,
> consensus in most local societies simply means people usually go along with
> whoever exercises leadership by persuasion or initiative. Leaders arise in
> every kind of organization and this is natural.  The main reason so many
> intentional communities' grandiose plans fail miserably is because someone
> decides in advance that this or that process of consensus must be used by
> the group to make decisions.  And before it ever gets off the ground,
> everybody involved gets really tired of every clueless participant wasting
> everybody else's time.  You see it all over the Internet.  One person
> thinks they have to impose their vision on the others, and the others
> aren't buying.  Case in point - your insistence that "Dissenting views are
> accommodated and integrated throughout the process".  You're narrowing down
> consensus to what you think it ought to be, and that's final.  Call it
> whatever you want, but traditional local or tribal governance ("consensus",
> if you will) generally rejects or ignores dissenting views because they
> can't be "integrated".  Most want it one way, and some want it the other
> way. They can't have it both ways. A little common sense would go a long
> way here. 

there are many models of consensus out there, some are more corrupt and
unworkable than others, just like democracy, and even the old traditions of
monarchy and dictatorship....but to ignore decentralized consensus in groups
of twelve or less in this modern high tech world is, imh-bs, subject to
disaster at some point....we need idealism more than ever, we are sitting on
the brink of environmental and political breakdown and without some
idealistic organized solution we will most likely not fair too well imh-bs
and those who survive will be thrown back into the dark ages for who knows
how long....if we organize decentralized consensus land trusts, etc. now
there may be time to prevent total retrograde situations...me two cents
worth anyway.....aloha,
-- 
forest
[email protected]
http://www.lavazone2.com/forest/


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