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