Dear LO'ers
In LO19116 (system thinkers and hurting) At de Lange made me a great
compliment. Thank you, At.
Your message ended with the following question:
> Leo, hopefully you and I will not be excommunicated too. Thank you
> for showing us that in our system thinking we have to think of
> boycotts (impairing flows) if we want to deal with hurt. Do Boycotts
> really stop the hurt?
Well At, I hope indeed that we will not be excommunicated. Although, if we
are put together.....?!:-)
It is not so easy to answer the question. Especially if the question is
extended to two other questions:
-is boycotting hurting, and who is hurted
-what effects has boycotting in the long run
Maybe we must also distinguish several types of isolation:
1. Isolation from goods. This is a boycot. Examples: South Africa in the
past, and now Iraq, Servia;
2. Isolation from information, or intellectual isolation. This is
excommunication. Examples: Erasmus, Galilei
3. Physical isolation. Two types: a. by force; ex.: prisoner;
b. by free will; ex.: hermit, or until 200
years ago Japan;
4. physical destroyance: declaration of out-law, it is an invitation or
stimulation to definite death. Ex.: Salman Rushdie. But also in the past
century the American Buffalo, or wales, Pryzwalski horses, Rhino's (these
last ones are now put in prison, that is a zoo, to safe their lifes)
It is surprising that religion plays a major role, but politics are
important too.
I suppose, Rick, that the total subject drifts out of scope for this list.
I hope that some of you will think further on these subjects, because some
aspects play a role in organizations too. Although hopefully not at such a
serious rate.
Let me end with only these remarks. In rare cases isolation could
generate some positive effects. An isolated country like Japan was in the
past, has developed itself as a wealthy country (although at present?).
Since the iron curtain is removed, Eastern Europe strugles its way upward.
And another question: Could a prison be changed into a learning
organization? And is it worth to praise the prisoner who was so creative
to break out?
dr. Leo D. Minnigh
minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
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Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
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--Leo Minnigh <L.D.Minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>