Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: RE: Voting backup

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> One note: I loved Sharon's earlier post that pointed out that since
> consensus is a full agreement among group members, you can't "block"
> consensus--you can't block what doesn't exist.   The behavior described by
> Rob ("These type of people have held groups decision  making hostage by
> blocking all decisions") does, however, seem to deserve the term
> "blocking."  That is, they are blocking not consensus, but the entire
> decision-making process.

I think this is a good distinction. Is the person really involved in the
group process but has serious concerns about the direction or tone of a
particular decision or they trying to reject the process and control or
divide the group.

Those who reject one person's objections can also be attempting to control
or divide the group -- majorities can play that game nicely.

A difference of perception about what the issue is and whether it is being
addressed or not may cause more of what Rob is calling "blocking" than
anything else. 

Process can be used to avoid dealing with issues just as easily as to deal
with issues. My favorite at the moment is "Process was followed therefore
you can't question the outcome."

Which brings us back to one of the best reasons I've heard for using
consensus -- it is the only way to avoid creating a social system in which
there are subgroups whose only recourse is violence and disruption.

(The other being that decisions reached by diverse groups are better
decisions.)

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org




_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l