If you’ve ever served on an LSA or other Baha’i institution, these guidelines may be familiar to you:
(1) Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
(2) Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.
(3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.
(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
(5) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
(6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
(7) Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.
(8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.
Even though you may not have seen them spelled out exactly as above, you probably have seen most of these guidelines implemented if you’ve ever served on an assembly, council or other institution. Heck, you may have even done exactly one or two or more of them yourself.
Guess what?
They come from a 1944 CIA manual on how to sabotage an organization from within.
You can view and download the whole declassified document: Simple Sabotage Field Manual (see page 28 for the excerpt above).
The administrative meetings I have been in, at feast too, set time limits and have agendas that make things run smoothly and timely. But who know, maybe the CIA has infiltrated us!!!
Holy shit, is that for real! Brilliant! It is exactly how things worked on the LSA I was on. The efficiency of the meeting was inversely proportional to the number of pretty pictures/scribbles/doodles on LSA members pages.
Great. Now I’ll have flashbacks to my LSA experiences!
Unless any human organization is closely monitored at all times by top executive management who often hire outside thinking to insure EVERY person at EVERY level is held 100% accountable for their performance and the organizational wealth entrusted to them, all human organizations will slowly go dysfunctionally insane. It is a law of nature. Everyone who has lived long enough and been in business organizations has observed this. Witness the phenomenon of the Dilbert comic books across many different cultures! Amazing stuff. I love that completely dysfunctional cat!
I believe it has to do with brain chemistry and is genetic and in our DNA for some people. Some human beings absolutely love the insanity and dysfunctionality of entrenched organizations and bureaucracies. Every one on this site I am sure has been on a committee in a company at one time or another in their life where the FIRST TASK of EVERY meeting was to SET THE DATE for the NEXT meeting! This is not unique to the Baha’i Faith AT ALL, but it happens there too in many cases. Like I say, I feel it is subconscious brain chemistry in some people.
When I worked at DDI they made huge psychological studies of these kinds of things mentioned in the CIA (must have been OSS in 1944) manual. They made money hand over fist by doing these pioneering studies.
http://www.ddiworld.com/
Everyone knows about Hugh Charles Troy, Jr.’s famous “flypaper report” in World War II!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Troy
My father told me about it probably around 1957 when i was still a boy. It was a famous story in the South Pacific where my father served as a Captain in WWII. In the classic report you had to have a map of the mess hall and show where the flypaper was and how many flies were counted on each roll. You had to do daily, weekly, and monthly averages. It all started as Hugh Troy’s hoax feeding reports in to HQ to start it, but then became an actual report! If you did not send it in to CINPAC or whatever HQ it was would send you a letter “Where is your flypaper report?”
I wonder if any Baha’i anywhere at any level these days has ever heard of the famous dysfunctional “flypaper report” hoax of WWII?
Only now it would be in a Powerpoint Presentation with nice meaningless graphics in the impressive pie and bar charts. The high definition ketchup overlay would be impressive.
After all, the U.S. has just had the “first MBA President” ever.
THAT education has worked out really well. Yep.
But I guess the “flypaper report” is, well, as the Baha’i organization itself often says these days of many things, just all part of “God’s work”.
So it goes.
I think it really depends on who is on the assembly. Some people are experienced with board rooms and know how to move things along. Lets face it, some communities have more to worry about than others…New York City for example has 900-1200 people for one LSA. Other little communities are only LSAs…I can see how that would get tedious…A meeting once every few months would be enough.
The good thing is that LSAs are given quite a range of freedom to manage their own affairs as they need to.
I think this post is too generalizing. It must be noted that if non-Baha’is read this non-sense they may think the whole system is like this, which it is clearly not.
No, it’s not always that bad, but having been shoved onto an LSA pretty much against my will (well, I was willing at first) because I was in one of those areas where the Assembly WAS the community, I saw some pretty petty, ridiculous stuff, such as the two hours we once spent (well, I didn’t say anything much) arguing over when to have the next useless meeting!
Outside of meetings they were an okay group of people, but getting them together and playing Important Meeting was painful.
This is nothing like any Baha’i Assembly or Committee I’ve ever served on.
I agree…Just today I needed a letter for immigration from my assembly and I sent the email at around 10am and its ready for pick up tonight.
Efficient.
Brilliant Bacquia.
Yes it reminded me of some LSA meetings!, not all, thank goodness.
One particularly bad experience I had was when no member of the LSA was allowed to add anything to the agenda unless a majority agreed that it could be added first. I wanted to discuss changing the day of the week we met, because being a new member on this LSA, a Friday night was very difficult for me. I tried repeatedly to get this up for discussion and each time, there was no majority that would allow this to be discussed.
I solved the problem in the end!
I worked out that correspondence to the LSA was read and discussed without there needing to be a majority vote. So I wrote a letter to the L.S.A. asking if they would consider meeting on an evening that was not a Friday night. And lo, yes, then it was discussed.
I don’t even remember now if the evening was changed or not now, only the stress in trying to get something put on the agenda and other inflexibilities of this period of this LSA. In the year or so that I was on this LSA, they never changed this rule b.t.w. and for all I know still continue in this fashion.
The experiences were so horrible that when voted onto another LSA a few years ago. New people, new location, but I really had been burned by the experiences of that other LSA.
I declined, adding that there were others in our community and if none would serve, I said would then accept but on the understanding that I would never or be very unlikely to go to meetings. At first 3 or 4 individuals were shocked and horrified that I said such a thing, and told me -nicely- that I HAD to serve.
In the end it might have been a very good thing I did this because it transpired that the LSA had a good talk about my actions and then accepted my decision, so hopefully those 3 or 4 individuals will be more flexible in the future. The LSA voted for another person and as far as I know there were no ill feelings, at least not for me.
I realise of course, if everyone did this, then there would be no LSAs, but… in all honesty I would have been extremely unhappy serving on the LSA, knowing that I’d have to give up on all volunteer stuff (see: http://www.bahai-library.com/bafa/), knowing that if I did, BAFA would die, and I think that would be a much greater shame being such an art addict as I am
So my declining to serve was not just because of the awful experiences (I’ve also had wonderful experiences on an LSA in New Zealand btw) but because I placed a greater priority on the stuff I do in the arts in a Bahai context. I’ve heard individual Bahais claim that if voted for, we have to accept this. I see it differently. If voted for and if thie is going to be detrimentrial, then I should take the responsibility and do something about it.
The best LSAs I was on were ones that delegated, had open books and informed its community about what it was doing.
Obviously not all Baha’i institutions have been infiltrated by CIA operatives. But keep your eyes open for they are out there.
“…New York City for example has 900-1200 people for one LSA”
NYC has only about 1,000 members? But, the population of NYC is over 8M. Wow, the Bahai community is shrinking worse than I thought. I used to live in NYC and I could have sworn it had more than 1K bahais in it in the 70s/80s.
No that is the NYC proper community, consider all the boroughs and neighborhoods and it is much more with many assemblies…all big communities in the NYC area…
Did you guys see the new video?
So are you talking just about Manhattan? Is that NYC proper? That’s still 1.5 M. 1,000 out of 1.5M is better, but it’s still a fraction of the population. So what is the number of Bahais for all of NYC? Anywhere we can find accurate data on this?
p, you can try the census bureau but keep in mind that proper and accurate measurement of Baha’i community membership numbers has been a contentious issue for a long time.
Second point…I may have miss-quoted from memory an article I think I read in the American Baha’i which quoted a secretary of an LSA in the New York area…so don’t take my word. It is probably something completely different.
I never served on any institution. Went to 14 votes and each time the same people were elected with an exceptional year once in awhile where a new of age, 21 was put in or new resident transfer in to give an old timer a year off. I’d been in the counting room, there were a few close calls for me a few times and I would have had the experience but alas I always fell short by that one vote - my own.
But I really enjoyed this blog, must be CIA (Critical Interruption Agents) everywhere…
and Baquia— where do you find this stuff? amazing…
Sonja, that’s a great story, didn’t Kafka write something similar?
Bird, I have friends in high and low places (as well as shadowy and dank places)
Yes. Interesting story Sonja.
As I posted before, there are world class management consulting companies out there making money hand over fist on (1) the principles of human interaction in the New World Age that Baha’u'llah brought (2) getting hefty consulting fees for helping companies solve the huge mess of unprofitability business organizations can get into when they don’t practice them.
Companies that can consult at every level and ferret out the real “ground truth” of any situation eventually make money hand over fist. Such practices of real and vibrant “straight talk” consultation liberate creativity among the workers who have the actual power to solve “the problem” in their proper sphere of daily action. As everyone here knows from experience in their business life where you have to solve problems, you must empower the “talent” - real problem solvers in any situation. You must determine who they really are not who you think they are. These are ALWAYS the people directly effected by the situation on the “shop floor” at the “tip of the spear” where the “rubber meets the road”. You must liberate and empower creativity in the proper sphere otherwise there will be failure to thrive in a business and eventually death by bankruptcy.
The Baha’i Faith itself is one of the greatest learning laboratories on Earth for almost mathematically NOT practicing what they preach! What a gold mine of pure management consulting insight has been lost and gone to other people.
I spent 36 years in the Baha’i Faith in many different capacities. Anyone here who has served long years in the AO knows the stories are amazing. Nothing EVER improves in the Baha’i Faith itself no matter how hard everyone tries but other people effortlessly take the ideas and make money like rain. I have always wondered why?
I am not familiar with their current organizational analysis concepts, but when I worked at DDI in the late 1990’s as a software engineer/programmer (myself and a colleague wrote the ENTIRE hiring evaluation process system that hired 1,000 Viagra salesmen for Pfizer NATIONWIDE!) I used to talk with some of the organizational psychologists on their current seminars and management training courses. One of the big principles in their seminars back then was the concept of “organizational disconnects”. They had some kind of analysis on progressive levels of measuring “fatal disconnects” in an organization that once you reached critical mass in disconnects your organization was toast.
One of the key metrics on disconnects reaching a fatal level was turnover in an organization in critical positions that require seasoned keen and steady insight. Especially turnover of core resilient problem solving talent. There were the “mine canaries”. You have to keep monitoring them if you want your organization to thrive.
Anyone here who ever served in the military, knows that there are all kinds of psychological ques about the level of realistic unit cohesion present at any given time. When a unit is about to break there are signs. One is a large amount of people serving in positions for which they were never trained. Read the secret history of some American units in the Korean War. Note the current stop loss situation in Iraq. It is eye opening as to the current situation.
In a business that is failing you always look at the travel budget of the top and near top operations executives if you are going to buy their product, service, or stock. In truly struggling companies it will always be very high as “executives” travel about trying to “fact find” and hold “meetings” to avoid the real issues that should have been addressed long ago that brought things to a slowly developing but eventual full fledged crisis in the first place. It is all just a form of psychotherapy at that point for a tiny clique of psyches “running-on-empty” functioning in a hall of mirrors of their own making. If their “findings” necessitate “re-organization” the company is in trouble but might have a chance if new blood and new thinking is liberated on the first re-structure. But when it becomes a litany of “continuous reorganization” with NO CHANGES among the people at the top whatsoever you know the end is near. It is at that point only the rearrangement of desk chairs on the Titanic. When the travel budget is at zero is no more psychotherapy. Pink slips will be coming for the workers very soon as layoffs start. But not, of course, for the people at the top. They just start quietly exercising and dumping stock options and lining up their next job. Enron was a prime example. There are many.
http://www.ddiworld.com/
Organizational psychology is a science of this New World Age and new cycle of human empowerment. These insights are helping every organization on Earth where people have to be held accountable for their performance in performing their duties. But these systems of insight will not help the Baha’i Faith. Because in the Administrative Order of the Baha’i Faith no one is ever held accountable for anything. Ever.
The stories are legend.
For some real tragic lessons this past week that are not being covered by the MSM at all, type DESC and MCEL into Google Financials and read the latest. The people currently at the top of the AO would do well to study what happened to these companies of some very talented people during the last eight years of oil men at the top playing a loaded deck in the lack of economic development for a future that is coming like a Tsunami at the gas pump for every citizen.
What now?
In the BAO you had at one time many people knowledgeable about “alternative” sources of spiritual energy “off” the grid. But the conventional “oil men” at the top were interested in top down hydrocarbon based fuels only.
So it goes.
Here we go again Craig. “Generalizing” should be your middle name.
I refuse to believe anything you say anymore because it is so encompassing and categorical that a little digging would prove you wrong in each statement. Why can’t you acknowledge that this is a process and albeit people stumble, our aim and goal has not changed. It seems you have given up and thrown in the towel based on your experiences you had. We’ll bud, i’m sorry to see you quit. May I remind you that you must be the change you wish to see.
AnonZZZ,
Again, you sound like a giant dufus who can’t learn anything from people that have “been there, done that”.
READ ABOUT LORD ACTONS’ LIFE, AND WHY HE SAID “POWER CORRUPTS, AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY”.
Acton was a very deep thinker, unlike most Baha’is.
ALSO: READ CRAIG’S PREVIOUS POSTS for the ugly details of what happens in the “real world” of bahai administration. Or look up a couple of my past posts that are full of details about repeated history of HORRIFIC ABUSES OF POWER by bahai bureaucrats going back to at least the 1920s in both North America and Iran.
The current form of the bahai system is CLEARLY elitist and racist in its origins, contrary to the propaganda that stupid people blindly follow and regurgitate.
fwiw: I became a bahai in the early 70s in the D.C. area. Senior “grass roots” bahais at that time were seriously discussing how much infiltration the FBI was doing within the bahai community.
All social change movements were probably infiltrated in the 50s/60s by the FBI, as a result of anti-communist efforts, e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, etc. The 60s were very tense. The US Army almost had to take over the government at the high point of the Nixon “Watergate’ scandle (my father was a senior officer in the Pentagon). Our phone was bugged when he was flying combat missions in Vietnam in 1968, probably because my mother was a civil rights activist. You have NO IDEA what could have happened back then.
There were many groups dedicated to violent overthrow of the “americam system”, and the FBI was dedicated to stopping them by any means necessary. If a few “harmless” organizations were f*cked up by overzealous intelligence operatives (infiltrators), that was just “collateral damage”.
If you take even a brief look at all of the infiltrations and meddling that the CIA did in a huge number of countries during the “cold war”, you will come to an understanding of how little respect for laws or civil rights the US intelligence agencies have.
The people (e.g., Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld) that started the Iraq war were “junior executives” during the Watergate scandle and FBI/CIA infiltrations of social change groups in the 50s/60s.
Unfortunately once the tactics that Baquia has exposed take root in an organization, they become very self-perpetuating for the reasons that Craig has explained, and almost impossible to get rid of.
Regards,
Eric P.
(ex-bahai, after 30+ years)
Sacramento
Sorry, forgot one additional item of importance:
Even if the FBI or other intelligence agancies didn’t actually infiltrate the bahais community in the usa in the 50s/60s, the possibility that the community was being surveiled by such agencies was undoubtedly known by some elements of the bahai leadership elites, and could have led to a tendency to become more “conservative” in order to avoid suspicion. Certainly the Iranian bahais were adept at trying to avoid scrutiny by various paranoid officials.
Regards,
Eric P.
(ex-bahai, after 30+ years)
Sacramento
These experiences being discussed are sorry situations, and show the difficult realities of being Baha’i, serving, and accepting the challenges of living a Baha’i life. I, too, could rant about some things in my experience through the years, but instead I look back and marvel at the blessings that came from our efforts….virtues like patience and humility that were tested and developed…and the great service of those who serve. It is not written that being a Baha’i is easy or natural. It is a most challenging pathway…and the best decision I ever made in my fourth decade of life. We Americans would rather sit back and critique our governmental and religious structures - all others. Being a Baha’i means taking responsibility onto one’s shoulders…striving our best to do our part. Keep praying, bringing your own self to account, and trying, dear ones. You’ll be glad you did.
Hugs, Julie
Julie,
Glenford Mitchell, former member of the UHJ, said that when U.S. troops are sent into battle everyone must “be quiet and let God do His work.”
(1) What are you doing as a Baha’i to help with the war effort?
(2) What are you doing as a Baha’i to help with the 40,000 recent young veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stree Disorder from having to kill or be killed?
(3) Why aren’t you in Iraq or Afghanistan right now? Age is no excuse. My oldest sister has been in Afghanistan on the ground for the last six years and she is 63 yers old. A car bomb blew up in Kabul last night killing 40 people. Why aren’t you there yourself?
I’m sick of hearling platitudes from Baha’is who have failed all mankind as they sit in their endless meetings. Deeds not words.
If Baha’is are supposed to support sending U.S. troops into battle to “do God’s work” then you should be there.
I’ll be glad to do what I can to get you a job in Kabul where you can put your life on the line every single day like my sister. You can face being blown to pieces in the wonderful forth decade of your wonderful life. I think alot of people are facing alot harder lives than Baha’is and are taking much more responsibility for how things turn out in the world.
I’ll be glad to get you on the next plane in.
Craig, You must be terribly worried about your sister. The world continues in a terrible state, it’s equilibrium verily upset.
Unfortunately Afghanistan is not the only flashpoint in the world.
And do we even know the enemies are anymore? If the world’s people and nations are truly one…. then…..
I do not think Glenford Mitchell meant for us to run over to every hotspot in the world and to give our support this way you suggest. He called for calm and detachment - so God can do His work. Huge lessons are being learned from the steps and missteps taken by every nation, group and individual involved in global warfare.
Need I remind you that there are Baha’is all over the world, struggling to make peace in a chaotic world? I’m sure some are in Afghanistan. But how they conduct themselves is not the role of our steotypical crusader…riding the white charger and all. We build communities - slowly. If this feels like arrogant pascivism to anyone, I am so sorry. Your panic is palpable. This kind of panic and revenge is what fuels fights all over the world. Perhaps you are tryig to stir panic in me, Craig.
My job is to bring peace where I feel called to be.
I’m outta here, dear ones. It feels a bit like a cesspool on this site.
Julie
Yep, that’s what such ‘loyal’ Bahais do when confronted with information that breaks their little bubble- run, run, RUN…Ignorance must be bliss.
Julie, if you should still happen to be around and decide to unplug thine ears for just a sec, here is the full quote from Glenford. I agree with Craig- he has reason to be pissed after so many years in the Faith being duped into believing that this man was somehow producing ‘infallible’ guidance from above. Here is the full quote from Glenford- decide for yourself:
“You’ll recall that the U.S. was “dragged” into WWII with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Our boys were sleeping off Saturday night while the enemy schemed — but America soon woke up. So when you see the U.S. in Cambodia or in Vietnam — or when you see America’s young men in Lebanon, or knocking around in the Balkans — “please, will you be quiet and let God do His work!”
P,
running and hiding in your eyes is not wasting time and idle chatter to ours.
I think I have come full circle here.
Today I helped my org file for 501c3. We are doing some amazing things in the Middle East.
My time is better spent elsewhere too…C ya.
Ok so we’ve discovered who anonymous is- it’s Julie! :o)
But seriously glad you are doing good work in the Mid East. As Bahais, we should pout our money where our mouth is.
But back to Julie. I don’t like spinning of any sort. She excuses Glenn’s horrible quote and then runs off to get away from this “cespool”, before I’m guessing she’s spiritually contaminated? Wel that kind of self righteousness really disgusts me and it’s one of the reasons why so many of us get tired of being in the Bahai community (to name only ONE of the reasons…)
Glenford Mitchell is a human being who happened to be elected by the Baha’is of the world and served on the UHJ for many years. I did not hear his talk, but will look for the whole context. Anyhow, he has never been infallible. I’ve heard other UHJ members speak about this - that as individuals they are not infallible…just human beings like us. It’s the Institution (all nine members consulting together)that is the Center of the Covenant now. No individual has that kind of authority in the Baha’i Faith. To put individuals on pedestals like that is a distortion of good judgment.
To judge a religion based on a few words or behavior of some members is likewise ludicrous. I love being a Baha’i. Best wishes to you all.
Julie
Julie,
Be aware that this site is a sticky one. Im trying to ween myself from bickering here…I guess I have too much time online and an itchy history button.
Mostly bitterness honed to debating controversy. I wouldn’t try explaining anything here. I have spent the last few months going back and forth…for what I do not know…
Ok here you are Julie: http://bahai-library.com/talks/mitchell.watson.html
but why bother reading it? It really doesn’t matter if the 9 member body is made up of people that think like Glenford, now does it? Because according to your philosophy when these guys get together suddenly- wham- they have this haol come down upon them from God. Well, not all of us who are Bahai believe that infallibility means that. I love being a Bahai too. I just don’t love the stagnation and literalism that has choked the community. Sorry to burst your bubbles.
OK p - you are anonymous, not me. I am Julie. I just read this from the address you sent - delivered in 2001 by Glenford Mitchell:
“Loving greetings from the Universal House of Justice. You should feel embraced by the Universal House of Justice. That is the only “official” thing you will hear from me-take all the rest with “a block of salt.”
My bubbles are just fine, dear one. Your anger is encrusting yours.
These bubbles are just attitudes and perceptions that shift over time. Mine have not been moved today by these posts. I hope your non-profit is doing good things, but be very careful. You think me a pussy-footer. Hahahahaha. I admire your determination, but not your arrogance, dear one. Julie
Why do you think I’m angry? Because I disagree with you? Oh and btw, I think you’ve got anon and me mixed up in our posts. Read carefully next time.
And again, the issue is not if Glen was speaking on behalf of the UHJ, but that such people are enjoy such lofty stations in the community. you can’t even bring yourself to admit that what he said was just plain wrong- that it would truly offend someone like Craig, now can you? Of course not- what a good loyal loving follower you are… yeah, arrogance. Ok if that’s what you want to believe- I’m just holding up a mirror…
Dear Anonymouz,
Your assessment is wise. Thank you. Julie
Where do you get lofty station from? Glendford Mitchell is just a Baha’i. The highest rank a Baha’i can achieve is servant. Hes a man from the islands…thats it.
right, a man from the islands who gets the podium to speak to thousands of loyal listeners telling them to step aside and not say anything when the blessed US government interves in world affairs. These ARE lofty positions in the Faith. You are 1/2 persian anon, surely you’ve heard how Iranians extol the members of the baytol-ahd. I wish for once a loyal Bahai on here would just agree with Craig that yeah, Glenford said something really stupid and so contrary against the spirit of the Faith. Craig’s not as crazy as you try to make him out be. I”m not angry, but he is; and he has every right to be.
Julie,
I apologize if I offended you. But if you are not a “pussyfooter” as you say then I guess you can take. I do not tolerate platitudes from Baha’is any more after 36 years in this completely dysfunctional organization. Deeds not words.
So answer this:
Why is it that members of the Universal House of Justice can make personal political statements to audiences and individual rank and file Baha’is cannot?
If you don’t think what he said is a political statement (especially just after 9/11 which every person on Earth knew meant war was coming) I have a nice bridge to sell you in Brooklyn, New York. His completely thoughtless political statement could even now put the lives of Baha’is at risk in Muslim countries. His statement says the Baha’is should support the use of Armed Force by the United States anytime, anywhere, anyplace because it is “God’s work”. This completely offended me after, at that point, almost 30 years of dedicated service in the Faith.
I’m tired of aswering for these completely idiotic and utterly hapless people who got them selves elected to lifetime incumbency by an electorate of dunces and passive-aggressive cowards.
Would it ever occur to this man (or you either in your personal American comfort zone) that there are people who actually joined the Baha’i Faith BECAUSE of their horrible experiences as soldiers, sailors, airman, and marines in the Armed Forces of the United States? Would this reality even enter the head of this man who has lived his entire adult life in a sheltered bubble?
I once absolutely loved being a Baha’i too! But not anymore. I am completely ashamed of these people and I am completely ashamed of the ridiculous and embarassing organization the Baha’i Faith has become.
Craig,
Individual Baha’is can say whatever they wan’t and no one can stop them. No one. However, if what they say becomes a position or point of contention, something they refuse to give up, something they cling to and keep beating like a dead horse, (ahem…like you are doing) then they would politely be remind that thier statements and positions are going against the grain of unity.
I admit I say somethings and I also admit I may be wrong. I don’t cling to anything i say because most of the time its fluff anyway…you would surely agree on that. There is a big disclaimer that you continuously ignore at the beginning of his speech. Must I quote it?
Its so blatantly obvious and your argument so weak any fair minded person familiar with the concept of unity would recognize that you are wrong. Glenford Mitchell has no authority and im sure if you asked him to interpret his statement he may even re-think it, maybe not. You are still too hung up on nothing but words.
You know what’s really scary is that neither you nor Julie nor any other “loyal” bahai active in the community has ever just said- “yeah this quote form Glenford Mitchell is wrong and blatantly against the spirit of the Faith”. To use his position (even if not representing the House) in front of a Bahai crowd to make such a statement is wrong. Why? Don’t any of you see how evil and political his words were? I just can’t believe it.
P, I think it is simply attachment to what these people hold dear. When someone you love or someone you idealize says or does something that is so contrary to human dignity and decency, most peoples’ first reaction is to try to defend them, and say they were were misunderstood, or the sources of information are ’shaky’, etc. Sometimes this is true. I’m not implying that suspicion automatically equals ‘truth’. But the fact that this man was a member of the Universal House of Justice gives him extreme credibility in the conscience of many Baha’is, even if they deny it. It’s simply the truth. If I or anyone else said something at Feast to the degree of a political statement, it would be all but two seconds before someone quoted me Shoghi Effendi saying to ’shun politics like the plague’. But if a member of the UHJ said something, most people more than likely would internalize it and think to themselves “I wonder what he MEANT by that”, before they would quote him Shoghi Effendi. I sincerely doubt that any Baha’i, except maybe 1 or 2 on the Planet would call him out on saying something like that. I, too, wish that some of these Baha’is were more honest with themselves. But humans are humans, and we like to defend what we believe until the death, even if it is wrong.
I also wanted to say that Mr. Mitchell said something extremely unintelligent and wrong, but at the same time people should be pardoned for some of the things they say, even if they are wrong.