But I retain a strong affection for this scene. So, as I leave, I offer this perspective:
Waves of woke social violence happen more and more often lately. But it is not the angry social-media-driven mob that ruins someone’s life. That’s just high-school, mean-girl behavior.
What ruins someone’s life, and exacerbates conflict, is being formally banned by an organizing committee that does not have the ability to stand up to the mob and say, “No, this is wrong.“ You, as an organizer, will be in this situation. You too may find it difficult to stand up and say No.
You might instead say, as your policy:
“We only do three things here:
- We book the hall.
- We hire the talent.
- We count the money.
That’s it. If there’s conflict on the floor, we don’t care. We’re not your mommy. It is your job to be kind to each other. It’s not our job to enforce that. We’re not your mommy. “
So that’s my idea. Who knows if that would work. But a volunteer board that takes on the responsibility of managing the behavior of 300 people will probably do more harm than good.
I will add that you will be the next target of this. You, the good hearted, enthusiastic, believer in dance community, whose years of work have given you high status. There’s no fun in cancelling a nobody. You will be targeted. You will watch with stunned amazement as your community evaporates around you.
I know you’re all doing your best, and I wish you good luck in these increasingly difficult times.
Feel free to reconnect with me off-list if you wish.
Goodbye.