KNOTT, T wrote:
Mr natural health has refused mediation with the
community. He appears to feel that he has done nothing wrong and wants his
"harassers" punished.
I'm just writing this email to keep the pressure on really. How far down the line are
we on finalizing the arbitration process? When will the arbitration committee be able to
something about the Mr NH situation?
Sometimes this process of "keeping the pressure on" is as irritating as
MNH's alleged wrongdoing. What we see on the mailing list is a stream
of accusations intended to highlight every little fault that he commits.
We see little or nothing about the other side of the story.
Mediation and arbitration are very good concepts, but I too would be
hesitant about accepting a process in which the apparent mediators don't
have their own system properly in place. The optics in those
circumstances suggest that a person is offering himself as a mediator in
order to further the POV of the majority opinion in that context. If by
our actions we only succeed in convincing the accused that the process
is unfair, then we have undermined the mediation system, and his refusal
to co-operate with it begins to seem more logical.
The mediation committee needs to figure out its own procedures before
that option can be offered to anybody. Those procedures must include
provisions to insure that the rights of the accused are protected so
that he can have the confidence that he is participating in a fair system.
Ec