Replying to LO30921 --
dpdash writes in LO30921:
> I will mention three types of responses I have seen discussed in the
> systems literature:
> 1. Large-scale social planning: Improve prosperity in the society,
> invest in job creation in the hinterlands, improve economic position
> of women in society, allow free and respectful interaction among boys
> and girls, provide safe and socially non-disruptive sexual outlets for
> boys and girls, etc. etc. ...
> 2. Create capacity for self-defence: Teach potential victims the
> skills of self-defence. Of course, it might seem an 'un-systemic'
> idea, but it can have a system-wide impact, if successful. ...
> 3. Re-order the interdependence: In other words, create new
> observations and new communications. This involves answering the
> following questions: What kind of observation (or communication) could
> provide the actors with new alternatives? For example, would girls
> like to know how other girls 'avoid rape'? Would boys like to know
> what is 'more interesting' than rape? Would mothers like to know which
> areas of the town are likely to be unsafe tonight? Etc.
This is an interesting classification. What doesn't come through to
me is the intended subject of these imperative sentences. Are they
addressed to local, regional, or national governments? To social
agencies? Or perhaps to informally organized community leaders?
Changing the focus slightly, which of these (or other) entities would
be best equipped to make the kinds of change that would become an
integral part of the affected communities, as opposed to suffering the
archetypal systems failures?
> [This third option is the least clear in the systems literature, but,
> in my humble opinion, the most promising. I have been working on this
> perspective. Recently, I have explored this approach on traffic
> accident problems. The results are interesting. I will have a report
> ready in 2/3 weeks.]
I'll be quite interested to see it.
Warm regards,
--Don Dwiggins d.l.dwiggins@computer.org "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them" -- Albert Einstein
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