I consider myself a highly liberty minded individual and anyone that has read any of my more political leaning philosophy posts will know that. I tend to view myself as an anarchist, but today I've found reason to reconsider that term and I'll share my thoughts on voluntaryism and how it works for myself and many others already on the STEEM blockchain. Some of you may know that I am part of the Minnow Support Project and I've taken on a 'leadership' role, but I want to also give some examples of how I view the 'decentralized leadership' style of the group and how it could potentially benefit you.
The term 'loose leadership' comes to mind when I think of how we are organized and operate and part of my application was a promise to promote transparency and accountability. We have since implemented publicly releasing an overview of the weekly meeting details on the blockchain as well as individual 'departments' publishing their details on fighting abusive behaviors and I feel that transparency fits well with the type of group that we're building and taking part in. So this leads me to a logical line of thought in regards to how or why this all works.
Simply put, it works because the people involved believe in the core principals and while we don't agree on everything at all times, we respect each other. There are heated debates on occasion and while particular members may not always feel things go the way they would like, we are generally willing to consider the perspective of the others and not take disagreements as a personal attack. One of the fundamental aspects of a liberty based group is that it's voluntary and there is no need to conform or constrain, if people fundamentally disagree and we can't come to a resolution, they simply get off the ship and chart a course in their own direction. It's one of the reasons that I feel so many successful groups have branched off of the core M.S.P. group and for the most part we all still get along.
Today had some great examples of how we actually get things done, and I rather enjoyed watching them play out. There was no need for bureaucracy to accomplish these goals as all actions were strictly voluntary and being present, I will attest that there was never pressure on any members to contribute financially. The only time leadership actually has to make a decision on something like this is when it involves the community funds that we earn or raise in the name of the actual organization, as we all feel that we have a responsibility to use those funds responsibly to benefit the community. Here are two examples of a voluntaryist community coming together to help people in need, with no debate, no pressure to contribute, and working to make the world a better place by helping people:
Tonight while the Super Bowl was going on, it came to the attention of @r0nd0n and @globocop, both of whom voluntarily work to run the @msp-waves radio station, that a steemit user had become homeless and was fighting with Child Protective Services and at risk of losing her children to a government system that many of us disagree with. The two of them decided to do a spontaneous pirate radio broadcast allowing anyone that wanted to donate funds and request songs and all contributions would go to this user. The two decided to take things a step further and actually agreed to match all donations 100% from the funds earned and gathered by the radio station. No bureaucracy needed. No waiting. Just help for someone in need when they need it.
I also have another example, this time from @kubbyelizabeth. She is currently working to help another user, her co-host for her Sunday radio show, gather the funds to purchase a laptop so that she can broadcast to the community more reliably. She doesn't need any of our permission to do this and there is no need to wait for approval to help another user. We simply do what we can, when we can, and work together to make things happen.
In a voluntaryist group, we can simply put these ideas and initiatives out into the wild and more often than not, the community rallies together to support each other. Big accounts, small accounts, and even those that simply opt out all still co-exist peacefully together. It's extremely humbling to watch these events unfold and if you think voluntaryism may be right for you, I encourage you to come check us out on Discord and get involved or just see how things go. If you like it, stick around, if you don't, no pressure and anyone is always free to leave whenever they want. We work together to train and retain new users on the platform and we accomplish more together working with like-minded people. Hopefully this will give you all some insight on how the informal side of our group operates and gets things done. Namaste.
Because together we make it happen and separately we just talk about it happening. :)
I can't think of a better way of explaining the highest ideals that the group has shown as the overall standard to aspire to. Ill admit my skepticism when i first heard about PALnet, and nearly wrote it off as idealistic, almost "hippyish", and doomed to fail. However, knowing that my pessimism about the baseness of human nature is one of my weaknesses, i decided to see for myself.
After having been around on the chat rooms for about a month, i was (happily) proven wrong. For the most part, i observe exactly what the group touted itself to be; exactly as you described. Im glad you are taking a leadership role there. You have been one of the more helpful and interesting people that i have run across on my time on the Waves. Best of luck to you!
I'm glad you see it the same way, I normally don't worry too much about trying to describe it to people, but I thought after tonight that I needed to share some examples of how I see it work all the time and potentially gain some new members. Glad to hear from you!
You are very much right. Anarchy makes sense when foundation of something or a society is corrupt. But a voluntary society as this, conforming atleast to the norms if not several coexisting ideologies is the best policy. Infact, this is what has kept steemit enviornment better than other social media platforms. Keep sharing. Kudos to you
WOW - I'm really impressed about the help this person received.
Most people can't imagine how easily one can get into a position in life where you lose everything, you think the world collapses and you have nothing left from one to the other day.
A hand reaching out to offer help often is the only way out of the situation which you yesterday would not believe to get into and today already are.
The "loose-leadership you describe at MSP triggered a memory from when I was younger. I used to have this thing called "want-to-have-to." The many obligations that we feel forced into fall under "have-to-have-to," but to have to do something because you are inspired, moved, and willing- Then you have to do it because you want to.
I'm grateful to know that there are no heavy expectations of me when I'm online. Sometimes I'm freaking over something, but I still chill around because I am not being told that I have to do this, or that. I can be myself!
Everyone contributing to MSP on discord is there because they want to be to help grow the community and other Steemians, but everyone is still respected as an individual- tbh, I'm mostly there just to hang out and procrastinate my homework xD
^ This is the most important thing, and I feel that it provides a level of respect where any one person doesn't have to feel that their idea is dumb, and will receive some level of consideration.
By boxing people into being a certain way, you limit the capabilities, creativity, and potential of all initiatives and projects. Now that you mentioned it, Minnow Support is an expansive and voluntaryist network of people from every background and skill level.
Good shit~
Agreed, it's pretty amazing how much we accomplish with so little structure.
Glad to read your post, great share
Thanks @clayboyn