RE: Diversity and Values | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Rob Sandelin (robsanmicrosoft.com) | |
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 95 13:46 CDT |
Buzz you interpreted: >The paradox is that without common values cohousing just isn't going to work >well (as Rob explains in detail), while on the other hand, if everyone has the >same values, we are validating intolerance and are going to have a hard time >creating any diversity, which is another goal. They are somewhat at odds with >each other. I am not sure I agree with your interpretation above. You can have scads of diversity and still have agreement on a set of core values. You can be of all colors, religions, incomes, etc. and still all agree for example, that environmental concerns are core to the project. By doing this you might exclude people who view environmental concerns a different way, but that is an extremely tiny bit of conformity against which can be applied a whole ocean of diversity in other areas. So I am not sure I agree that in making environmental concerns a core value of a project you would be validating intolerance or have a hard time creating diversity. You just wouldn't have "anti" environmental viewpoints around the dinner table. That's OK, you will have lots and lots of other issues to toss around at dinner between the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews, the Druids, the Latinos, the Asians, the African Americans and the Native Americans of your community. You do not have to have agreement on all values although you might want to get agreement on values and issues which cause difficulty in living together. When your values place you on an extreme edge away from most other people you generally know that. For example, I know of a person who calls herself an extreme Vegan. She actively is prejudiced against people who eat ANY kind of meat, won't have them as friends, etc. Her values are such it would cause a pretty major conflict to have her in any group that dines together that isn't Vegan and she knows this and thus excludes herself from eating with anyone who is not a Vegan. (including her own family) If she were to form a community, and NOT express her values in the values statement, it would cause huge problems. Thus issues which the core founders find important enough to filter out, such as non-violence, environmental, etc. should be written down clearly and so filtering the folks who join which can agree to live with those values. It does not have to be a huge list, covering every single issue, only those which the core founders strongly believe in. (note: what this means is that the core founders get to pick the kinds of people they want to live with to some extent) . I would also suggest that if a value has a specific meaning to the core founders, such as if non-violence means not using threats and intimidation in meetings or other settings and guns are not allowed, then I recommend detailing those as much as is possible so there is no confusion over the meaning of the statement. This seems like it may limit the people who come to join the community and it will. For example, the Sharingwood pet policy has turned people away. This filtering happens at several levels and I think it is better to do it on the first contacts then much later, after a potential member has more invested. There is then the whole huge issue of the political nature of all this stuff and how cohousing is supposed to be "non-political" and just a more convenient lifestyle not political like a commune, etc. And that is a very valid point - if you don't want to be "political" about who joins your development, you don't have to have any sort of values or mission statement. But what I keep learning is that ALL cohousing has some sort of political spin to it, its just not always up front and out in the open. Non-smoking is a political spin and I have yet to hear of a group which allows smoking in the common house. If I were just starting to form a group, I would be pretty clear about what my values were to all joining members. It would be a real tragedy to invest three intense years of life in creating a development which ends of full of people who don't share my core values and I really don't want to live with. It is very hard to build real community in this kind of environment. Rob Sandelin Sharingwood
- Re: RE: Diversity and values, (continued)
- Re: RE: Diversity and values Mmariner, April 13 1995
- Re: RE: Diversity and values Rob Sandelin, April 14 1995
- Diversity and values Adele94121, April 17 1995
- RE: Diversity and Values Buzz Burrell, April 17 1995
- RE: Diversity and Values Rob Sandelin, April 17 1995
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