Mab of Dream

I promoted myself to chief dictator in the Pagan Headstone Campaign. I didn't mean to, but it was a personal choice between walking away or walking onto the front line. I'm me, there are no middle grounds in anything I do, only the extremities.

I haven't been involved for a while. I was armpit deep in it at the beginning, but then MA followed by that yampy time I had meant that I couldn't be nearly as involved. I stepped away during one of my major burn-out moments, with the instruction that I should be called upon for any web-site up-dating. No-one called.

In the week, I popped my head in to find that there was a blazing row going on in there over Bush v Kerry. I took the opportunity to invite everyone to Kindly Ones, both in a general e-mail and by inviting all the flamers personally via a KO invite. I then asked for a summary of where we are with the campaign so far. Several dudes joined KO, but nothing else happened. The row didn't stop and no-one gave me an update.

Today, I had every intention of clearing my inbox and my Kindly Ones folder, then chilling. Instead I noticed all of the people leaving the Pagan Headstone Campaign, so I went and read the digests since my e-mail. This is what happened next:

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Hi all,

As a moderator here, I'm sitting at my computer watching the constant
stream of people delisting. No big fanfare, no final gesture, just
leaving. Presumably, these are the people who want to see a military
headstone with a Pagan symbol on it, but will either campaign quietly
for it on their own or else have now got so disillusioned with the whole
campaign that they'll sit back and hope someone does it for you.

Divide and conquer is such a powerful tool in destroying any grass-roots
organization. It's a powerful tool for destroying anything, but at
least the bigger, more restrictive groups can survive such a thing.

I've just received another two digests not only still full of members
tearing each other apart over the politics of another country (I'm in
Britain), but still neither giving me an up-date as to where we're at
with the campaign nor letting me know of any links to add to the
web-site. Am I right in assuming then that no-one has added anything
to any web-site anywhere since Beltane 2004? The publicity machine has
completely broken down then. As there isn't an update, am I to assume
that fuck off has been done in the months since I took my sabbatical?
I wasn't the only person fighting back then, where did everyone else go?

Politics are important. The fate of the whole world more or less lies
in the American elections, as anyone with their eyes wide open can see.
But they aren't important here UNLESS they affect the Pagan Headstone
Campaign. Cry censorship all you want, but I worked too bloody hard to
see us divided and conquered now. The campaign is too important to be
pussy-footing around the tantrums of people too short-sighted to take
their whinging about Bush and Kerry to a group about politics. Getting
the message out about the good and bad of those in charge is important,
but not at the expense of this campaign. It's not about Republicanism
or Democratism or whatever else, it's about stopping the flood of people
delisting or washing their hands of the Pagan Headstone Campaign.

The Kindly Ones will welcome you with open arms:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KindlyOnes/ Just about every political
point of view is represented there and you can argue until the cows come
home. Or choose another group where these threads are welcomed:
http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=politics. But not here.

Call me an evil, censoring, tyrannical bitch if you want, because from
anyone who wants to destroy this campaign, I will take that as a
compliment. I am now going to go through the archives and remove all
of the political, non-campaign posts. Anyone who posts in such a manner
from this moment on, I will place on moderation and I WILL censor what
goes into here, until I'm sure that you actually do support the
Campaign.

yours
Herr Mab
xxxxx

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'The powerful play goes on
And you may contribute a verse.'
Walt Whitman

My homepage:
http://mysite.freeserve.com/mab_of_dream/index.html
Witchgrove:
http://mysite.freeserve.com/thewitchgrove/index.html
Pagan Headstone Campaign: http://www.paganveterans.org

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Did I have any right to do that? Disappear for months, then come back and play the heavy? I followed through and I did delete all of the political arguing. Since then, I've had a few people approach me off-list, either showing me what they've done for the campaign or else doing it and cc:ing me. Georgia gave me an up-date on-list; others gave me an up-date off-list, and the posts have been about the Campaign ever since. A couple of people left; Kindly Ones welcomed new members; and all seems well on the Western front.

I wasn't planning on getting involved to any deep level. Should I? I haven't a clue. We'll see where the Lady leds me on this one.

yours
Mab
xxxxx