Re: [WDDM] Regarding the social network site

[Georges Metanomski <zgmet(at)yahoo.com>]

--- ROY DAINE <rdaine(at)btinternet.com> wrote:

> Georges,
>
>   One of your previous posts mentioned the three
> functions(and I'm going to paraphrase here) -
>
>   The group arrives at a decision when the consensus
> reaches some pre-determined threshold.
>
>   I take this to mean 'a majority decision'.
===================
G:
Not necessarily. Let me repeat one of my examples:

<<<
...  a kibbutz counted 20% religious members,
who absolutely insisted on kashrut.
For 80% kashrut was a nuisance, but a bearable one.
The decision process considered not only how many
prefer, but how important it is for them. The majority
accepted a bearable nuisance in order not to lose
the 20% who were good friends and would have to quit
the non-kosher kibbutz.
>

Consensus is established, considering:

WHAT I (dis)favor,

WHY I (dis)favor it, which is the base of discussion
and eventual, BTW quite frequent, refinements and
changes of the discussed option.

HOW MUCH it means to me, which protects and sometimes,
as in the above example, favors minorities.

It's important to note "good friends" in the example.

You say below that
"majority and minority in a democracy, ... are
obviously in disagreement"
and that
"It (consensus) does not conform to human nature,
which has self-interest high in the list of its
traits".

Yet, human nature is largely conditioned by the
context and what you say certainly holds for the
dog-eats-dog jungle. In the real DD (which is
necessarily communist) self-interest is identical
with group's global prosperity. There is no majority,
nor minority, but a friendly solidarity within
which some individuals may differ with respect to
particular steps enhancing this prosperity and
discuss their respective merits in view of the same
global goal.

It makes me think about a rehearsal of my blues that
we had to play in a cabaret. The simplified melody
goes in a place: a a (A minor) fis fis e (A major).
Now, we played this transitory fis in D major, but a
youngster said that E9 would sound better. Others
first disagreed, but we tried two or three times and
when the ear got accustomed, all agreed and that's
how we played it in the show. I can hardly find a
better illustration of kibbutz discussions.

This friendly solidarity contaminated several
extra-kibbutz areas including such apparently
anti-democratic institution as the army.
An example:

<<<
Solidarity bridged, in my IDF unit, the
secular-religious gap. The company counted several
religious Yemenis, gentle, helpful and appreciated
as best craftsmen one has ever seen. It visibly
disturbed them to drive army vehicles on Shabbat,
even if they did not refuse to do so. All secular
soldiers proposed to swap their weekday duties
against Yemenis' Shabbat ones, even when that
could mean a lost Shabbat leave.
>

I skip the rest till meat eating, as I believe that
what I said so far answers it.
===================
You say:
>   I have not devastated any part of the planet and
> am not making billions starve.
===================
G:
You did each time you bought a piece of meat. (You
could throw it away afterwards; it's not the question
of diet.)
===================
>   I don't know if I can be convinced of your
> assertions re meat-eating but you're welcome to give
> it a shot.
==================
G:
Once you scolded me for uncalled for explaining.
Should I understand that you wish me to explain how
come meat consumption is the worst pollution and
starvation cause?

Georges.
==================