Last updated on April 26, 2024
An Editorial by Nick Sarwark.
Being tolerant is a great value to uphold, but tolerating discourtesy is the quickest way to kill an organization known to man.
Dear Friends,
Many of you are aware that I served on the Libertarian National Committee for three consecutive terms from 2014 until 2020. A smaller group of you know that I currently serve on the board of parent teacher organization (PTO) at our children’s school.
During my terms on the LNC, we purchased a building with an $850,000 mortgage and paid it off in full. The Libertarian Party is one of three national political parties that own their own permanent headquarters. It’s a big deal.
During my time with the PTO, we’ve raised a ton of money for the kids and the teachers and the school, involving community residents with our events and improving the educational environment for all of the children who attend the school.
There’s some behavior that has been tolerated on the Libertarian National Committee and in the Libertarian Party that would never be tolerated in a successful PTO.
The first time you disparaged another board member personally for their religion, their weight, or their ethnicity, you would be bounced from any functional PTO. The work of helping kids learn is too important to allow it to be disrupted by assholes.
The Libertarian Party suffers from the #1 Geek Social Fallacy: “Ostracizers Are Evil.” A commitment to free speech and expression causes many members, who I will refer to as Rhonda¹, to work very hard to keep antisocial assholes inside the organization in spite of their shitty behavior toward other members.
Karl Popper was a philosopher who had a great many ideas, but the one most people have heard of is the “paradox of tolerance.” In simple terms, in a group with tolerant and intolerant people, the intolerant will take advantage of the tolerant to gain control of the group, at which point the tolerant will be forced out.
To avoid this situation, a healthy group sets minimum standards of behavior that will not be tolerated within the group.
An unhealthy group doesn’t set these minimum standards.
We shouldn’t tolerate toxic pollution of our environment or of our organizations.
Too much tolerance is toxic.
Do you know any Rhondas?
Can you convince them to set minimum standards of interpersonal behavior to ensure that everyone working for the mission of the organization has a good time when volunteering their time?
Yours truly,
Nick
1 Rhonda is the name that A.R. Moxon used for the person who wants to avoid the conflict created by confronting toxic people.
