An example of seemingly annoying question … yet cannot and should be avoided when

carrying out certain root-cause analysis…. Highlighted below…

The difference (length of time) between dates 2013/12/13 at minute 14 and 2013/12/13 at minute 17
is: 0 day(s), 3 hours.0 minutes. Or total(M) of 180 minutes

Do the Silent Majority Really Care?

Or is ours“Enlightened Despotism”-
for sure? Or Astroturf policing
---------- Original message ----------
From: Caesar <cogole@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 5:53 PM
Subject: Re: The Right to Change Constitution of the Lango Association of North America
To: Florence Ocen <ocen_florence@yahoo.com>
Cc: Thomas Omara-Alwala <omara44@mchsi.com>, Patrick Okullo <peboo@me.com>, Betty
Odero <crcf1@yahoo.com>, Sarah Alobo <alobo_sarah@yahoo.com>, Kenneth Otim
<k.otim01@gmail.com>, Edisa Engola Kema <edisa1@gmail.com>, Hudson Ayo
<ecapitalfunds@yahoo.com>, Odyek Agona <oagona@hotmail.com>, Charles Owot
<owotc@yahoo.com>, Alex Atim <atimalex@hotmail.com>, Ben Magomu Wacha
<bmwacha@outlook.com>, Tom Opito <opito.tom@gmail.com>, Morris Otim
<morrisotim005@gmail.com>, “Owiny Otim” <otimowin@yahoo.com>, "\"“Robert M.
Okello”\"" <okello_robert@yahoo.com>, “Mary Ajuga” <ajugamary@yahoo.com>, “Betty Pulle”
<adiyo1@verizon.net>, Daniel Oming <dkikonde@gmail.com>, Margaret Jato
<mlagulu@hotmail.com>, Charles Emer <charlesemer@gmail.com>, Mildred Amony Omara
<mildred.omara@yahoo.com>, Engola Omodi <mamaelder9@gmail.com>, Helen Apio
<rosehelly@yahoo.com>, Hon Sam Bhoi Omara Olwata <bhoisam2002@yahoo.co.uk>, Jack
Oyugi <jackoyugi@verizon.net>, Maureen Akello <mmtimzzak@gmail.com>, “Milly Akide”
<millyakide301@gmail.com>, Sam Ogwali Opiyo <samopiyo19@yahoo.com>, “Catherine
Ocen” <catherineocen@yahoo.com>

Hon. Secretary,

I would like to thank you for your input (thoughts and wise counsel) with respect to this
particular subject of Constitutional Review, and for your strongly worded call for (observance of)
etiquette, all of which come from you in your capacity as an individual member of LAONA. It is
a very much welcome voice - one that sounds quite familiar.

I, for one, cannot think of the advocacy for refinement of the Constitution as anyone's personal
interest. Everyone, including the principal author, knew from day one - and acknowledged
publicly (on record) during the very first peer review of the draft that refinements of the
Constitution (after adoption) would be on "when and as needed" reasonable basis - in accordance
with the procedures laid out in the version of the governing document (at the time the change
proposal is made). Every new change is expected to be made "with reason and for convenience",
as summarized by Thomas Jefferson himself - just in case anyone is concerned about the
credibility of the process. That automatically leaves almost no room for personal interests, if any,
to affect the process (negatively).

I will confess that I am one "vocal" person on this forum, and I act that way for reasons that I
think are important. I am saying this because your last paragraph does not spare me for I know I
have come across as (highly) opinionated sometimes. But I know I am not alone. For one, I have
tried to maintain silence sometimes, but whenever I see something that begs a question, remark,
suggestion, clarification, comment, correction, etc - which seems to be the norm of the day given
the nature of past Board-to-member communications,- I am (naturally) inclined to chip in - and I
will continue doing it whenever necessary.

That said, you made a very bold claim which I cannot understand. You made a claim that "the
silent majority might care as much, or even more". Kindly help us understand the following,
accordingly:

1. How do you know that the "silent majority" cares (or might care) as much or more than the
vocal people yet they are silent? While answering this question, bear in mind that "most" of the
few vocal people are individuals who prefer sharing their input (ideas, etc) openly for the benefit
of everyone ( including the silent majority) AS OPPOSED TO resorting to so-called back-room
(subgroup or clique) communications which would exclude some members. Also, bear in mind
that without the "reply all" kind of communication, the few vocal people have no effective way
of having their usually important voices heard across, which means not everyone would be on
the same page with issues. Subgroup communications (as opposed to speaking "vocally" to the
majority) most likely explain why in the recent past, we have seen instances where some people
(either deliberately or inadvertently) would use "coded language" in this forum as if everyone
was privy with the (prior) discussions they had had in their subgroups. We have also seen such
occurrences in the very recent emails.

2. What makes you claim the silent majority might care as much or more UNLESS you can
prove to us that they are actually contributing in other ways (other than through the common
donations/subscription; for, so far we know not of any extraordinary donation by any element of
the silent majority that we could use to justify "silent but caring as much or more"). Other ways
that the silent majority could show that they care as much or more is by volunteering to
undertake any of the committee activities, but going by what we know, the silent majority is not
(yet) doing such, and we do not know whether they are intending to do anything to that effect
since they are silent. Unless you can tell us how you read their intentions...

3. At this stage, ideas are very critically important just as are the little monetary contributions.
Ideas must be communicated, and that communication cannot be done in silence. The treatment
/cure of the disorganizations in our (dis)organization is not silence. The inconsistent reports ,
ambiguous wordings and incomplete information that characterize our communications and the
ineffective strategies that have led to the current impasse all cannot be met with silence.

4. This association was founded through exchange of ideas, aka brainstorming, and not silence -
and if you look critically, it is the "very few" people who started since then that are the very ones
carrying forward and encouraging the culture of free exchange of ideas. Tell us why we should
now change our culture that made us be in the first place. =>Note that they are not claiming any
special status: they are simply carrying forward the culture of brainstorming that brought the
association to life in the very first place because, to them, it was nothing than critical thinking
(communicated) that was not only going to get us off the ground, but that would sustain us in the
current and future generations.

In brief, silence is not going to help anyone here. We cannot know whether or not a silent person
cares even little, if at all, unless he/she is contributing (on a continued basis) in some way(s)-
which would also be common knowledge to everyone, ideally.

A request for an example for clarity:

In fact, I will challenge you in a friendly manner, to give a specific example of one person
among the silent majority who strikes you as caring as much or more than the "vocal people".
That person should not be any of the very few people who have so far volunteered to serve on
the committee. But even if the person is already one of the volunteers, tell us how that person,
THROUGH SILENCE, has helped with the many issues at hand (that are threatening to swallow
the association). That person must not be a fan of back room communication, for that does not
help the majority (learn) either. But even then, Kindly provide a solid example how the person is
caring as much through silence. And that person must not be a board member, for hon Board
members have their generally known ways of communicating (never mind the inconsistencies).

Go ahead and deduce that it is in fact not only that one person who is caring as much "silently",
but the "silent majority" as well.

Of course, the bottom line is that the discussions must all be healthy. "Civil" seems to be the
catchword.

With thanks!

Caesar Ogole
P.S. I am hereby volunteering to serve on the Constitutional review committee ; of course - I am
a big fan of concerted efforts.

The difference (length of time) between dates 2013/12/13 at minute 17 and 2013/12/13 at minute 23
is: 0 day(s), 5 hours.26 minutes. Or total(M) of 326 minutes