Re: RE: Blocking consensus
From: Robert P. Arjet (rarjetLearnLink.Emory.Edu)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 10:47:01 -0700 (MST)
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org writes:
>Words are important. The term "blocking consensus" misrepresents the
>process.  It implies that consensus is something that ought to happen, and
>anyone who stops it is acting as an obstructionist.   Those are the wrong
>words to use here.

I strongly agree.  I object to "Blocking,"  because it almost always gets
thought of as a veto--"If I don't like the proposal, I can just block it."
Another way to think of the very same situation is as a group that has
almost reached consensus on a topic.  It's not about one person voicing
objection and killing the proposal at the last minute, it's about the
group's responsibility to craft a proposal that earns the consent of every
member.  Assuming that everyone is acting in good faith and knows what
they're doing (big assumption), the situation often called blocking only
means that there is still some communication to be done, still some
re-crafting of the proposal.

"Blocking" sounds like a decision by one group member to scuttle a
proposal.  That's against the very nature of consensus.  I think it's a
sign of how many of us are still thinking in terms of voting and "power
over" rather than consensus and "power with."  

Robert Arjet
Central Austin Cohousing
http://www.austincohousing.org

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