Re: [gnso-vi-feb10] Off Topic - Minority Reports

[Carlton Samuels <carlton.samuels@xxxxxxxxx>]

Avri's resonates and on GP, I support the right for any one in a WG to draft
a minority report.  Afterall, a well-reasoned minority report is often the
source of great decisions, eventually.  Somebody has to lead so that others
can catch up.

When I used the term 'bolshevik' a time back, it was intended to be
provocative but baseline, it was because of what I sensed...this push to
'orthodoxy' in thinking.

The propaganda has always been it was 'the other side' that required
lockstep.  But old Arvid [Pelshe] would have been proud to........

Carlton

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On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 10:19 AM, Avri Doria <avri@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>
> I have waited to write this until the report was released.
>
> From what little of the call I could be on yesterday, I heard a discussion
> that could have a chilling effect related to minority reports.
>
> One member of the group told us that he was sick of being threatened by
> minority reports.  I personally find this disturbing, and not only because I
> had considered submitting such a report at one point in time.
>
> The critical importance of minority reports has been recognized as the only
> prevention from tyranny of the majority.  While we know that that the
> majority is always right in a democratic process because that is the
> definition of a democratic process, it does not mean that the minority may
> not have a valid point to make.  While this overwhelming
> rightness-by-defnition is even more the case in situations of rough
> consensus, I believe that only makes recognition of the voice of a minority
> that can respond to the voice of overwhelming majority even more important.
>
> One might argue that they don't have a problem with minority reports, they
> just feel that pre-announcing it is a threat or an argument technique.  And
> it is true that it might be.  But if someone does it all the time, the value
> of that announcement will decrease in value.  It someone is either always
> announcing one and pulling back, or is always writing them, their value is
> decreased.    So while it is a tool that can be used whenever anyone wants,
> it is also a tool that decreases in value the more often it is used. And
> frankly, would people prefer for minority reports to show up unannounced
> after all was said and done?  It seems that only right thing to do is to
> declare the intention of creating such a report.
>
> Then the question comes down to discussing ones reason for a minority
> report before actually submitting.  Several people on this list spoke
> harshly of my plan to submit one as a sandbagging if I did not explain my
> issues so that there was the ability to discuss.  I think this was right
> even though it had not been my original intent to explain.  What makes a
> minority report valid is that it expresses an issue or concern that the
> writer feels was not adequately understood and reflected upon by the group.
>  As a minority of one, I had the responsibility to express my issue as
> clearly and completely as I could.  And I had the responsibility to work
> toward compromise if this was possible.
>
> I have been part of the GNSO 'Improvements' Working Group work team and
> feel that the use of minority reports is an important ingredient in ICANN
> processes.  Just as postpartum reflections on the process are.  As we are
> only at a temporary annealing point in this process, it is not yet time for
> this reflection hence I labeled it  "Off Topic."  But I feel this group has
> been exemplary i because of size, timing and the crucial importance of its
> issue, so I wanted to put this note into the record for use when it is time
> for WG self-analysis.  I also wanted to try and stem the type of behavior
> that attempts to bully* those who put in minority reports by subjecting them
> to abusive tones and attitudes.
>
> a.
>
> * Not that either Anthony or I can be easily bullied.  But the next person
> might be. And not that I want anyone in authority to prevent such abusive
>  behaviors, though I do hope people can decide to self modulate.
>