Idk man. In every org I’ve been apart of, there comes a time where you can slowly start to see people suddenly switch their use of language and become fully engulfed by whatever “system” they belong to. Corporate America, church, clubs, it’s kinda fucking terrifying to see in real time. And the people who notice this happening/tell people to check themselves never seem to have enough power/authority to get it to stop. And then it fucking spirals out of control and you’re dealing with borderline cults.
What’s the fucking antidote
I’ve noticed in my leftist org that some people, particularly new members, are quick to support whatever issue the majority of the org support whenever we put it up a vote. But the org also discourages this because the senior members regularly mention “no investigation, no right to speak,” and I don’t vote on things I’m not knowledgeable on. I’m hoping it encourages other people to realize it’s okay to not have an opinion on something because we’re not always up to date with everything.
I have no reason to doubt that the senior members’ decisions and choices are bad, so I let them deal with things they have more knowledge on.
Gahhhhhhh I see why people are anarchists now
My brain is thoroughly broken, I swear that every org I join seems to turn into a meet up space after awhile. But is that inherently bad? Fucking beats me, maybe I just need to realize that I’m not changing shit and should just enjoy good times with good people
I would say, yes. At that point just hangout with each other outside the meetings lol. It’s fine to socialize and have fun at organization meetings, but what’s the point of having a political / aid organization if you just hang out and do nothing? You can do that without driving away people who joined to carry out its objectives
I mean, it’s a real psychological phenomenon and has been pretty thoroughly studied but it’s super hard to quantify. I don’t think anyone’s immune to it, but that’s why it’s so important to always keep yourself in check imo.
Probably just a different version of propaganda if I’m being honest
You make sure that everybody feels safe speaking out and different opinions are wanted to be heard and thoughtfully discussed are obvious first steps. It’s not easy, but anonymous regular surveys help from own experience catching unhealthy environments early. Reddit is the cesspool of groupthink because of wrong reward systems and poor moderation. Everybody can (and must) do their part here. If you feel someone might not have been heard out or dismissed (correctly or not), ask follow-up questions instead of just moving on.
It's called culture, yo.
Developing one is value neutral because cultures can be good, toxic, or have both in different ways.
An important aspect of analyzing culture is to investigate what discrepancies exist between what the culture states as its ideas and practices and then what is actually done in practice. Is it a culture that does land acknowledgements but then fails to be anti-Zionist? Etc etc.
Culture is a part of social policing and co-creation, so it's also an opportunity to make your org better.
This kind of collective thinking isn’t harmful, what’s harmful is when the organization is trash. Humanity’s future is going to be some kind of hivemind so there’s no point in saying it’s bad.
