RCA
04-25-2009, 08:09 PM
In our local community there seems to be a lot of confusion, competition, envy and strife between different but related Meetup Groups. Since the Meetup phenomenon is rarely new to us, there isn't a lot of understood etiquette in place to avoid these types of conflicts.
Let me explain what I mean further. I'll start with expressing my opinions about the benefits of our movement being splintered into several different mini-movements as well as the benefits of uniting behind a common cause.
Separate Groups:
A few months ago, I probably would have said that multiple liberty-based groups trying to accomplish similar goals wouldn't be as affective as a single larger force. However, I now believe the opposite to be true.
Let's say you have 500 liberty activists in your city. Imagine all 500 being part of the CFL, sounds awesome correct? Yes, this would be an amazing thing. Now, imagine you have 100 CFL members, 100 RLC members, 100 9/12 members, 100 We Are Change members and 100 Libertarian Party members.
Now, I just picked 5 random organizations with similar ideals. The total amount of activists is still 500. Doesn't the second group "appear" stronger because it's a coalition of forces? To explain this illusion closer, imagine you have 10 activists who attend a local political party meeting and all sit together and mingle together on one side of the room away from the other 90 people. Even if each of those 10 people stood up and spoke throughout the meeting, the room would still consider them the "fringe" opinion of the room.
Now imagine at the next meeting the same 10 people sit at random places throughout the room and mingle with OTHER people (making the numbers appear larger). Then at random intervals each of the members stands up and makes a point. To the average onlooker, it would APPEAR that there is somewhat of a consensus among the entire group about the points being made even though the total number of activists is the same.
This optical illusion is the main benefit of having separate groups. Also, it gives the media more organizations to report in the news, further adding to the illusion effect (more than just one name of organization in the local paper).
Another benefit of having multiple groups is making it harder to discredit a single large group. Let's say in the example above, all 500 activists were part of a local RLC chapter. It would be much easier for the media or a political opponent to target one of the leaders of the group and discredit the entire group. This would be much harder if there were 5 groups with 5 sets of leaders.
Multiple groups also provide other smaller benefits such as specialization. For instance, the CFL may be a good vehicle for reaching across party lines whereas the RLC may be good for liberty activism within the Republican Party.
Reducing internal strife is another benefit. If you had to persuade all 500 people to join one group instead of allowing them to join the group they are most comfortable with there would be more dropouts, drama, egoism, etc. when compared with letting each join ranks with the organization that fits his interests best.
Coalition Group:
Even though I explained the many benefits of having several different activists organizations in your town, now I want to explain the coalition concept. I think most activities within your chosen organization will be EXCLUSIVE from the other groups. These activities may include by-law meetings, gun shows, canvassing, etc. In other words, events where you don't need large numbers and/or may only fit into your organization's goals are called EXCLUSIVE events.
However, some events do require the largest numbers possible. These events would include the Tea Parties, End the Fed rallies, etc. Now, since I've already stated it's best to leave all the groups separate for most activities, these events demand that all the liberty groups show up in large numbers and push aside minor differences (back to the illusion again). These events are called INCLUSIVE and may only happen a few times a year.
Meetup Etiquette:
How does all of this relate to Meetup etiquette? Well, I'll give you an example of a situation that happened locally. The local CFL group created an event at an 8 lane gun range for CFL members and set a maximum RSVP limit of 8 members (8 lanes). One of the members of the CFL who is also a member of the RLC created the SAME calendar event on the RLC Meetup website.
Well, guess what happened? The CFL event had 7 people RSVP and the RLC had 4 people RSVP. See the problem? Had proper Meetup event details been used for the CFL event, it would have been clearly noted: EXCLUSIVE. This would have been the que to the CFL/RLC member to NOT post the same event on the RLC website. For this exclusive event, a dual member could go to their other Meetup website and post a "note" in the calendar about the event, but not post an actual event itself.
INCLUSIVE events would work differently. Let's say the CFL group is the first to post an event for a Tea Party so they enter the details on the CFL website and label the event as INCLUSIVE. This is the que to dual members and other group organizers that it is accepted and encouraged to create the same event on their calendar because the more RSVP's across the groups the better.
The above won't solve all conflicts of interests between different groups of the same local, but if we all start to think in these terms, it may help our cause advance to where we all wish it was now. And remember there may be dozens of related groups in your city that may not agree on all talking points like FairTax vs. No Tax, but it would be worthwhile to remember the benefits of working together at least a few times a year. I guess it goes without saying that this means the MORE liberty groups there are in your town the better the illusion. Now get to work finding the groups already in your area and remember they don't have to be "perfect" groups (i.e. Constitution Party).
Let me explain what I mean further. I'll start with expressing my opinions about the benefits of our movement being splintered into several different mini-movements as well as the benefits of uniting behind a common cause.
Separate Groups:
A few months ago, I probably would have said that multiple liberty-based groups trying to accomplish similar goals wouldn't be as affective as a single larger force. However, I now believe the opposite to be true.
Let's say you have 500 liberty activists in your city. Imagine all 500 being part of the CFL, sounds awesome correct? Yes, this would be an amazing thing. Now, imagine you have 100 CFL members, 100 RLC members, 100 9/12 members, 100 We Are Change members and 100 Libertarian Party members.
Now, I just picked 5 random organizations with similar ideals. The total amount of activists is still 500. Doesn't the second group "appear" stronger because it's a coalition of forces? To explain this illusion closer, imagine you have 10 activists who attend a local political party meeting and all sit together and mingle together on one side of the room away from the other 90 people. Even if each of those 10 people stood up and spoke throughout the meeting, the room would still consider them the "fringe" opinion of the room.
Now imagine at the next meeting the same 10 people sit at random places throughout the room and mingle with OTHER people (making the numbers appear larger). Then at random intervals each of the members stands up and makes a point. To the average onlooker, it would APPEAR that there is somewhat of a consensus among the entire group about the points being made even though the total number of activists is the same.
This optical illusion is the main benefit of having separate groups. Also, it gives the media more organizations to report in the news, further adding to the illusion effect (more than just one name of organization in the local paper).
Another benefit of having multiple groups is making it harder to discredit a single large group. Let's say in the example above, all 500 activists were part of a local RLC chapter. It would be much easier for the media or a political opponent to target one of the leaders of the group and discredit the entire group. This would be much harder if there were 5 groups with 5 sets of leaders.
Multiple groups also provide other smaller benefits such as specialization. For instance, the CFL may be a good vehicle for reaching across party lines whereas the RLC may be good for liberty activism within the Republican Party.
Reducing internal strife is another benefit. If you had to persuade all 500 people to join one group instead of allowing them to join the group they are most comfortable with there would be more dropouts, drama, egoism, etc. when compared with letting each join ranks with the organization that fits his interests best.
Coalition Group:
Even though I explained the many benefits of having several different activists organizations in your town, now I want to explain the coalition concept. I think most activities within your chosen organization will be EXCLUSIVE from the other groups. These activities may include by-law meetings, gun shows, canvassing, etc. In other words, events where you don't need large numbers and/or may only fit into your organization's goals are called EXCLUSIVE events.
However, some events do require the largest numbers possible. These events would include the Tea Parties, End the Fed rallies, etc. Now, since I've already stated it's best to leave all the groups separate for most activities, these events demand that all the liberty groups show up in large numbers and push aside minor differences (back to the illusion again). These events are called INCLUSIVE and may only happen a few times a year.
Meetup Etiquette:
How does all of this relate to Meetup etiquette? Well, I'll give you an example of a situation that happened locally. The local CFL group created an event at an 8 lane gun range for CFL members and set a maximum RSVP limit of 8 members (8 lanes). One of the members of the CFL who is also a member of the RLC created the SAME calendar event on the RLC Meetup website.
Well, guess what happened? The CFL event had 7 people RSVP and the RLC had 4 people RSVP. See the problem? Had proper Meetup event details been used for the CFL event, it would have been clearly noted: EXCLUSIVE. This would have been the que to the CFL/RLC member to NOT post the same event on the RLC website. For this exclusive event, a dual member could go to their other Meetup website and post a "note" in the calendar about the event, but not post an actual event itself.
INCLUSIVE events would work differently. Let's say the CFL group is the first to post an event for a Tea Party so they enter the details on the CFL website and label the event as INCLUSIVE. This is the que to dual members and other group organizers that it is accepted and encouraged to create the same event on their calendar because the more RSVP's across the groups the better.
The above won't solve all conflicts of interests between different groups of the same local, but if we all start to think in these terms, it may help our cause advance to where we all wish it was now. And remember there may be dozens of related groups in your city that may not agree on all talking points like FairTax vs. No Tax, but it would be worthwhile to remember the benefits of working together at least a few times a year. I guess it goes without saying that this means the MORE liberty groups there are in your town the better the illusion. Now get to work finding the groups already in your area and remember they don't have to be "perfect" groups (i.e. Constitution Party).