About

Welcome to WE Build Our Society (“WBOS“)! We are happy you want to spend some of your time with us.

We are on Facebook as a closed group.

Now, you should be asking yourself (if you haven’t already), what are you and we getting into here?

This is a discussion group for the many flavors of people who want a better society and consider themselves part of the Anti-Establishment Center. We are by no means exclusive, and we don’t all agree, but we are mutually dedicated to civil, considerate and, if possible, caring discussion about the current state of affairs and how we can best improve them.

Improving society is something each of us can contribute to in our daily lives and inter-personal interactions, but on a larger scale requires collective action. And collective action requires people willing to work together for shared goals. This group is a hands-on experiment by all of its members.

The point of this group is to provide an amicable place for people of different political opinions to come together to discuss the problems with society, get a better understanding why others feel differently and perhaps even to come up with some solutions to the problems our society faces. The group itself is an experiment in people trying to get along, with the recognition that how we interact with and cooperate with others is how we actually build society together. For the most part this group really works well together and has been flourishing for over a year now.

This is a DISCUSSION GROUP. It is about POLITICS. People will have STRONG OPINIONS. The group, by construction, is meant to have people of divergent beliefs, different priorities and interests, and to have disagreement. We realize that every member has at least one reason to be dissatisfied with the status quo; we hope that you will share your insights with us. But we recommend that you share your views and opinions in ways that will APPEAL to other members, not turn them off. That means the burden is on you to be the best salesman you can be for your own opinion, based up what you understand others to think, feel, perceive and believe.

We realize that discussions may get heated–we’re human beings, after all, not robots. If that happens, avoid over-heating! Sometimes its a good idea to TAKE A BREAK in discussions with others, like go for a walk or go chat on twitter for a bit, whatever… the group will still be here when you get back.

Some of you may not like arguing; you do not have to respond if you do not wish. If you find yourself disagreeing with someone who doesn’t argue back, we ask that you do not badger. They probably hear more of what you’re saying than you think. Badgering will shut people down because they may feel intimidated and disrespected. While browbeating may feel good, it is seldom effective in persuading others. You may find instead that kindness, tolerance and finding common ground are more effective ways to persuade and learn from others.

OUR ONLY RULE is to be polite to each other, based upon mutual respect due to members in a shared society and as members of this small corner of the universe. In addition, we hope that the members will actual like, enjoy and appreciate each other, but that is really up to each of you. If you can’t stand someone here, avoid them; if you loathe too many in the group and it really, really bothers you, then perhaps you should walk away.

The members should really police their own behavior and should act to check each other if someone is acting disrespectfully. The admins are senior members of very different backgrounds who care about the overall functioning of the group. They are volunteers and are not paid. If an admin has to step in HERE, where time is not a limited resource, it will only because someone is acting destructively due to insufficient self-control. Please, don’t make the admins be cops/judges/juries; use and develop the self-control you already have.

We welcome people to join our small community but we ask people be civil to each other. If you want to be here, then please make an effort to bite your own tongue to avoid invective and ad homs. We know that this can be difficult at times especially when discussing something as sensitive as politics. However, screaming expletives at people won’t change their minds. We also would have you ask people’s positions on subjects before jumping to conclusions about what they think.

New (and old) members are expected to stake a claim in this community and to help it and their fellow members grow.

A few final observations:

– this is a community initially founded largely by progressives with some libertarians, conservatives and Marxists, yet with the idea of cross-partisan discussion about the woeful state of political/economic affairs in the US;

– this is a voluntary society in which people are trying to get along and be amicable while still having meaningful discussion; those who want to be prickly should really just take it somewhere else, as they are disturbing the “wa”/peace of the group;

– further, not all are founders or administrators, and not all have devoted the same amount of time to get to know the others; newcomers may find this unfair, but if they are unwilling to acknowledge that “sweat equity” is required here (as in ANY voluntary society), then they should just pack it in instead of whining; and

– those who unhappy with the administrators (or have suggestions for improvement) are welcome to bring their complaints directly to the admins (who can be found by searching for “admin” in the member list).

To sum up, please show respect to your fellow members, and don’t discredit yourself or your arguments by personally attacking or acting derisively of others. Class and good humor, not tantrums or rage, is the recipe for productive discussion.

Now, to become a member in good standing in this small, self-policed community, we require you to post – on the pinned “Blood Oath” post at Facebook – a comment signalling your good-faith agreement to our simple One Rule, buried above in the middle of this way too-long post.