Re: What is "democracy"?
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:14 am
I've gone over about 6 drafts of what I wanted to say next in response here, but I think I'll go with the post that most directly answers what Quite originally asked, taking into account what others have written since.
I'm not sure how democratic the Red Cross is, but I would assume not at all, and I'm not sure if we can make a comparison there anyway. And Tateru, you are right, if Gramma and Afon want to change the way NCI works, that's their choice, but we're not really discussing that, I thought. We're just thinking something through and it seems like it should be ok for Quite to ask it, and ok for us to think it over and give our thoughts on it, after all, she said this topic (Democracy) was one of the top 3 things people were asking about. So it seems reasonable to give it a fair hearing and give our pros and cons.
Answering Lethe and Tateru essentially....
"How does Democracy in NCI bring additional benefits to new SL users?"
Depending on how its applied.....
it might bring a feeling of involvement to more of the membership.
it might lead to more participation.
it might lead to more in-depth discussions of whether a decision is good or bad and bring more points of view into the mix.
it might lead to more people being identified as potential future leaders and volunteers in the organization through their prior involvement in discussions and so on.
it might lead to new ideas and directions that a limited number of people would overlook or potentially not envision
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Now its easy to answer the question with positive outcomes, and its also easy to just be naive about whether it would actually work.
I personally don't mind whether NCI is a democracy or a republic or a dictatorship..... as long as we get a good result from things, but like I think I said in my first response, I think people are more thinking about just wanting to Trust, if they bring up democracy, not that anyone isn't trusted now... but if everyone makes a decision, then we all get the blame for it, ya know
I'm not sure how democratic the Red Cross is, but I would assume not at all, and I'm not sure if we can make a comparison there anyway. And Tateru, you are right, if Gramma and Afon want to change the way NCI works, that's their choice, but we're not really discussing that, I thought. We're just thinking something through and it seems like it should be ok for Quite to ask it, and ok for us to think it over and give our thoughts on it, after all, she said this topic (Democracy) was one of the top 3 things people were asking about. So it seems reasonable to give it a fair hearing and give our pros and cons.
Answering Lethe and Tateru essentially....
"How does Democracy in NCI bring additional benefits to new SL users?"
Depending on how its applied.....
it might bring a feeling of involvement to more of the membership.
it might lead to more participation.
it might lead to more in-depth discussions of whether a decision is good or bad and bring more points of view into the mix.
it might lead to more people being identified as potential future leaders and volunteers in the organization through their prior involvement in discussions and so on.
it might lead to new ideas and directions that a limited number of people would overlook or potentially not envision
--------
Now its easy to answer the question with positive outcomes, and its also easy to just be naive about whether it would actually work.
I personally don't mind whether NCI is a democracy or a republic or a dictatorship..... as long as we get a good result from things, but like I think I said in my first response, I think people are more thinking about just wanting to Trust, if they bring up democracy, not that anyone isn't trusted now... but if everyone makes a decision, then we all get the blame for it, ya know