Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The First Stone

I don't like anything about the current situation. I am dealing with people on all sides, who all demand that their ideas are the only way to go, I have people telling me that we have to enforce "moral living", essentially saying that we have to define a family unit in our community just like it was before the fall.

My personal thoughts seem irrelevant to most of them. Moreover, facts and reason seem to be completely ignored. Add to that the necessity of pulling people off of work details to investigate the vandalism last night, which puts some projects behind schedule, and it adds up to a pretty bad day so far.

I have taken care of most of our business for today, and delegated the rest. I need to get out for an hour, and luckily, my brother needs to go out and scout for some supplies we need for the wall. I am going with him, to ride shotgun, and we'll snag a few more people before we go.

I would much rather deal with a direct threat, even zombies, than the headache that this place has been the last few days. I am starting to see where Courtney is coming from. A few closed-minded bad apples really can set a bad example for the kids, and that's not tolerable.

Hopefully the folks I sent out to ask questions and see if anyone has paint on their hands will have something for me when I get back.

It tickles me that people are attacking others in the dead of night for a supposed lack of morals, and really makes me chuckle that they apparently don't see the irony in that.

Funny, huh?

5 comments:

  1. The horrible thing is, whoever did this might feel like he or she is actually protecting aforementioned children from unclean values or morals. Bleh. Have a safe and restorative journey. We're looking, of course, but I'm hoping this was just a one-time thing, a lashing-out that either provided catharsis, or (more hopefully) demonstrated that such acts are not to be taken lightly, and don't really accomplish anything.

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  2. Given the context, you'd think people would be more tolerant. Given the context, you'd think that anyone who is (A) not a Zombie and (B) not a Marauder would be greeted with a sigh of relief and a round of applause, no matter what their religious or political or sexual orientation may be.

    But no. Apparently someone out there thinks that these are the End Times foretold in Christianity, and anyone who is a sinner/nonbeliever is more to blame for our current situation than the Zombies.

    The "religious" graffiti is unacceptable. I really don't care if your religion rejects polyamorous relationships. That's your problem, not ours. And I especially don't care if your religion rejects my religion. Insulting and threatening comments about people's lifestyles or spiritual beliefs are hate crimes and will be dealt with accordingly. I may not agree with everyone in this community, and they certainly don't all agree with me. But we are a community, and we will defend each other from your hate.

    As for the swastika, if this is meant as a political critique of our camp's policies and practices, dialog is more productive than graffiti. There are those of us who are opposed to the more violent, cruel, and compulsory policies that have been mentioned (and not mentioned) on this blog. But rather than sneaking around in the night making graffiti, we express our concerns openly and honestly at the meetings, and we do our best to persuade people of our perspectives.

    That's what sane people do in a crisis. They set aside as many differences as possible and do what they can to resolve their conflicts peaceably.

    We've got enough to worry about around here without having mysterious figures who may or may not be violent spray-painting hateful messages on our walls. If you want to say something, come to the meetings, or come to our gates, and say it.

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  3. I will also note that there has been progress in our internal dialog. Part of why there is arguably a need for administrators now is because everyone gets to speak at our meetings and we need to come up with ways to implement the most popular and pressing suggestions. Some of these are purely logistical, like preparing for the winter. Some are purely ethical/political, like codifying something similar to the Declaration of Human Rights. Most are somewhere in-between. In addition to the time it takes to actually DO these things, it also takes time to PLAN them, and time to sort out what needs to be done when in order.

    Rich and Chris and I (and others) have been pushing for a distinction to be made between policy and administration. In other words, everyone in the community gets to participate in the major decisions of policy, things like how criminals and prisoners are treated, or which projects are most important to our survival. But Josh and the council take care of the administration of policy, making the plans necessary to turn those ideas and principles into a reality.

    Really, if we go with this, we may end up with a democracy that's better than the one that collapsed when the Zombies rose.

    [Yes, there are still some state governments that survived, and allegedly some members of Congress in a bunker somewhere. If those rumors are true, it would explain a lot. But for all intents and purposes, the previous system has collapsed, and it is up to us to rebuild on the local level, and eventually reach out to other survivors who still believe in democracy.]

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  4. Hello all again. I am glad you made it home, but not so glad of your current situation. Internal strife is the name of the game when people get too comfortable or too safe. I know this sounds strange but think about it for a moment.
    Question: Do you have people assigned to enforce the Law as you write it/make it? I know this may be some old fashioned thinking, but it's all the New West now unfortunately. Making a society over from scratch, as you found out, is extremely difficult and exceedingly time consuming. I can’t understand that if they elected Josh how they can turn so quickly, (Okay I know HOW they can turn so quickly,) but something has to be the tipping point. Maybe the ‘whipping pole’ was one such sore spot. I don’t know but I wish you all luck and cooler heads to prevail. You have good friends around you; use them to the best of their abilities. I am so glad I have nothing to do with the hard decisions, but I know one day, deep in my heart, something will come up to change this outlook.
    So far our small group of about 70 has done well working together, of course we got lucky early on and had a lot of intact families come to us. And a lot of people know each other in this small area.

    Remember, if any of you need an out, or just something to do. Look us up here or short wave. You got a place to go to if you want it. Hope the torrential rains did not damage too much of your area.
    Over.

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  5. Funny how every one is preaching tolerance during the end of times. The worlds tolerance brought about the end of days. You say speak out at the meeting well we have and been told to shut up because we are hate mongers. We've been laughed when we try to express our religious beliefs about the dead walking the earth. Well now we got your attention, now you want to listen and talk, or so you say. It does no good though, you hippie liberal types always know what is good for every one else and look down on any one that disagrees with you. Even now with evidence of GOD's wrath all around us you look down your noses at us. If vandalism is the only way to get your attention so be it. I'll even take what ever punishment I've got coming to me if it means that you'll try opening your closed liberal minds. But lets be honest that's as silly as voting on what to do when the zombies break threw the wall. Your beliefs brought God's wrath and now it will doom our community. You want to protect against our hate, fine but make sure you get every ones vote, even mine.

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