🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <17DEC199211335228@carat.arizona.edu>, jms@carat.arizona.edu (A virtually vegetal non-entity) writes:
> You're droning.  If you have to dance around for 175 lines to refute a 4
> paragraph message, you're droning.  Take it from someone who has to fit
> 2000 words into a 1000 word box for a living.  Tighten your prose and fix
> your grammar; your response will be more convincing.  But on to the fight:

That's okay, Joel, I think he's droning too :-)

> These people make the decisions on how DECUS will be run, and they do it
> without any consultation with the rest of leadership, and they do it
> without sharing the interests of the Society.   Your examples are, to be kind,
> ludicrous.  This reminds me of George Bush and his tour of supermarkets,
> where he was amazed by the bar-code scanner.  It sounds like the beknighted
> deigning to come down to where the little people are and listen to their
> problems.  

Joel, in general, I agree with you.  However I don't think you're being fair to
broad brush all of top leadership being out of touch.  I would say an argument
could be made that many are, but this, like all generalizations, really isn't
giving a fair hearing to the issue.  I've seen enough of Jeff's statements to
feel that he is pretty much in touch with the needs of the membership.  Also
Marg.  But if you talk about leaders like Clyde Pool, Bill Brindley and such,
I'd definitely agree with you.

I think the problem lies in the view of the seriousness of different issues and
the priorities top leadership places on them, rather than a total distancing
from the rest of us.  Leadership NEEDS the ability to act without polling the
membership for everything they do, otherwise nothing would get done.  This
forces some amount of distancing that is really unavoidable.  OTOH, leadership
needs to recognise that this happens and actively work against it.

-- 
   Don Roberts                   Internet:  dsroberts@beckman.com
   Beckman Instruments, Inc.     Phone:     714/961-3029
   2500 Harbor Bl. Mailstop X-12 FAX:       714/961-3351
   Fullerton, CA  92634          Disclaimer:  Blame me, not Beckman.
   "Abortion isn't a 'choice', it's the slaughter of the innocent"