{"id":656,"date":"2011-06-13T10:05:53","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T10:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/?p=656"},"modified":"2011-06-13T10:05:53","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T10:05:53","slug":"lets-just-be-against-stuff-shall-we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2011\/06\/13\/lets-just-be-against-stuff-shall-we\/","title":{"rendered":"Let&#8217;s Just Be Against Stuff, Shall We?"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>If we don&#8217;t agree with the politics then we must be\u00a0against\u00a0the policies, mustn&#8217;t we?<\/li>\n<li>If the idea comes from the bosses, then the workers need to oppose it, don&#8217;t they?<\/li>\n<li>If the council propose cuts, then we should fight them, shouldn&#8217;t we?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Well, actually, no.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I do choose to be &#8216;against stuff&#8217;, particularly if it meets some or all of the following criteria:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It will\u00a0involve\u00a0investing public money to further increase the gap between the rich and poor.<\/li>\n<li>It puts at unwarranted risk a vital organisation or service.<\/li>\n<li>It means committing to a course of action that cannot be escaped.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The first of these will always get me into opposition mode! \u00a0And sadly most of what we call &#8216;development&#8217; in a modern city meets this criteria. \u00a0 The pursuit of GDP means finding ways to provide services, usually\u00a0retail\u00a0and entertainment, to people with disposable income, at a profit for investors. \u00a0Usually\u00a0this\u00a0criterion is quite easy to apply. \u00a0And as soon as a proponent of &#8216;stuff&#8217; calls &#8216;trickle down&#8217; into the\u00a0debate\u00a0than you can be pretty sure that your opposition is well founded.<\/p>\n<p>The second of these is harder to apply. \u00a0It is more personal and subjective. \u00a0After all what constitutes an &#8216;unwarranted risk&#8217;? \u00a0And which services are &#8216;vital&#8217;?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s deal with &#8216;vital&#8217; first. \u00a0I usually do a little thought experiment. \u00a0I\u00a0think\u00a0about the service users and try to\u00a0empathise\u00a0with some of the least powerful amongst them. \u00a0I now go on to ask myself &#8216;Is it\u00a0likely\u00a0that any of them would put this organisation or service close to the top of their list of essential services? \u00a0If the service was lost would their life be forever blighted, or could another service substitute? \u00a0Can they find another way to fill the gap?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>This is why I <em><strong>will<\/strong><\/em> get\u00a0exercised\u00a0over policies that impact on\u00a0health, financial inclusion\u00a0and education for example, but get less exercised, although sympathetic, about the shutting of libraries, the banning of hunting with dogs and closing swimming pools. \u00a0There are other ways to access books, if access to books is the priority. \u00a0There are other ways to exercise and socialise. And there are greater causes competing for my time than the modern day barbarity that is hunting. \u00a0It is also why I can&#8217;t get overly exercised about communities building tree-houses, unless they are affordable housing!<\/p>\n<p>Unwarranted risk is trickier. \u00a0Subjective. \u00a0Personal.<\/p>\n<p>Here I do another thought experiment (if they worked for Einstein&#8230;..:-)) and try to assess the consequences of a &#8216;false positive&#8217; compared with the consequences of a &#8216;false negative&#8217;. \u00a0A &#8216;false negative&#8217; is when we decide not to pursue a course and it later seems to be a wrong decision. \u00a0So, if we decide not to build nuclear and we all end up dying in cold, dark caves, that would be a &#8216;false negative&#8217;. \u00a0If, on the other hand, we go nuclear and end up frying in a \u00a0radioactive hell &#8211; that would be a &#8216;false positive&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Now it strikes me that with coalition &#8216;healthcare reforms&#8217; that Cameron and Clegg both reckoned that Lansley was about to press the button on a &#8216;false\u00a0positive&#8217; when a &#8216;false negative&#8217; would be a much better option. \u00a0Hence the listening exercise. \u00a0Of course, ideally the world would be full of &#8216;true negatives&#8217; and &#8216;true positives&#8217;: we would only ever make right decisions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-657 alignnone\" title=\"FalsePositive\" src=\"http:\/\/leedscd.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/falsepositive.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"398\" height=\"304\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It is sad that more politicians don&#8217;t feel like it might be\u00a0electorally\u00a0acceptable to say &#8216;we are just going to leave it be&#8217; from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>And my 3rd\u00a0criterion\u00a0is that of generally, but not always, opposing a step that can&#8217;t be undone. \u00a0Burning the boats may have worked for <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire#Scuttling_the_fleet\">Cortez\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0but as a rule of thumb it is not for me. \u00a0Engineering a situation where people are compelled to push forward with a policy once it is enacted whatever the consequences\u00a0rarely\u00a0turns out well.<\/p>\n<p>So\u00a0these\u00a0are the guidelines that I use when deciding whether to be against stuff. Far from perfect, but they work well enough for me.<\/p>\n<p>However I try not to be against very, much at all.<\/p>\n<p>If my criteria leave room for doubt then I will &#8216;leave it be&#8217;. \u00a0A &#8216;false negative&#8217; is often\u00a0better than a &#8216;false positive&#8217; in my experience. \u00a0Choosing not to object at all is better than deciding to object to something that you are not deeply\u00a0committed\u00a0about.<\/p>\n<p>I prefer instead to be &#8216;for stuff&#8217; wherever I can.<\/p>\n<p>Especially stuff that will narrow the gaps between rich and poor in our society. \u00a0But also stuff that will be fun,\u00a0engaging, creative\u00a0and challenging.<\/p>\n<p>And usually when I choose to be against stuff it is\u00a0because\u00a0it steals resources away from the things that I would like to see happen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Posts\"><ul class=\"entry-meta\"><li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/08\/09\/an-imaginary-open-letter-to-those-who-would-engage-us\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some thoughts on Best City outcomes\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/07\/05\/some-thoughts-on-best-city-outcomes\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some thoughts on Best City outcomes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some Barriers to Engagement\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/13\/some-barriers-to-engagement\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some Barriers to Engagement<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Getting to Grips with Social Finance &#8211; FREE TRAINING\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/12\/getting-to-grips-with-social-finance-free-training\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Getting to Grips with Social Finance &#8211; FREE TRAINING<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Working In Community Development Today&#8230;\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/05\/23\/working-in-community-development-today\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Working In Community Development Today&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If we don&#8217;t agree with the politics then we must be\u00a0against\u00a0the policies, mustn&#8217;t we? If the idea comes from the bosses, then the workers need to oppose it, don&#8217;t they? If the council propose cuts, then we should fight them, shouldn&#8217;t we? Well, actually, no. Sometimes I do choose to be &#8216;against stuff&#8217;, particularly if [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36,38,63,115,134,149,157,177],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-community-2","tag-community","tag-community-development","tag-engagement","tag-leadership","tag-motivation","tag-person-centred","tag-power","tag-responsive","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}