Dissent

Over the years I have been involved in dissent from both sides, as a dissenter and as someone in a position of authority who some people disagreed with. In that process I've learned more and more about the importance of dissent. It really is a necessary part of what we know as the democratic process and it is also important for organizations and leaders. Everyone needs to learn from it and respect it no matter how tough the situation becomes. Authority never has an overriding desire to be challenged but those in authority really do have to learn the importance of listening and analyzing dissent.

As I indicated, I've been a dissenter over the years both politically as an employee and as a member of various boards, committees and organizations. I've experienced times when my dissent was welcomed but frankly not very often. In most cases my own dissent was not welcome and in a few situations I was personally attacked and made out to be a fool. In the worst cases I was spat on, beaten and incarcerated. Sadly, these are common tactics used by people in power as well as the people who work for them to silence all dissent.

I have also been on the other side. I've worked as an administrator in a non-profit and there have been times and instances where employees, subordinates, or people the organization was supporting, dissented against policies or ideas that I was promoting. These situations were never comfortable but I believe I always tried to use them to learn about a different point of view. Hopefully, I never made the dissenter feel foolish. All of this has convinced me that dissent is absolutely necessary in the decision making and governing process. The debate is the important part of the process.

Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement and things I've seen in reporting recently about services in the developmental disability field point out the importance of dissent. I'm also surprised at how people seem to be able to make judgements about good vs bad dissent. We all know that there is no comparison between the risks taken by participants in the Arab Spring uprisings and the risks taken by participants in the Occupy Movement. On the other hand there are risks associated with both and more importantly they are both examples of people speaking up against powerful people. Isn't it interesting that the participants in the Mid East by and large are viewed as heros and Occupy participants can be viewed as bums, hippies and good for nothings. This is certainly one of the things I'm finding confusing these days.

I continue to celebrate the dissenters. They may not always be right but the point is, they force us to think about what's right and how to get the right thing done. So at least respect it.