Now that I've been throughly chastised by everybody (no need to
continue ;-), I thought I'd give my comments and simply let it drop.
I hope ;-)
 
The long and the short of it is that I have no patience for organizations
that are being run on ego rather than the issues.  An organization that
makes loud nasty noises like Roger reported on such trivial stuff
is a case in point.  While many will claim that such organizations do
a lot of good, they also do a lot of damage as well.  A case in point
being:
 
We joined an environmental group several years ago.  A very large and
successful one (but not a national one - only the people in Ontario are
likely to have heard of it).  One with a large budget, and several
enemies waiting in the wings ripe for "evidence" of mismanagement.  The
organization was in the midst of deteriorating into a large, fractious,
mess with accounting so bad that it could land people in jail, and a
hell of a lot of pissed off people on the outside (politicians, other
environmental groups) who'd have been a great help to the cause.
 
The reason?  Ego on the part of the Chairman, and his girlfriend
the Executive Director.  Everything had to be done their way, and god
help you if you ever wrote anything down that had his name in it without
the magic letters "BScF", ignoring for the moment, that almost everybody
else on the board had higher level academic credentials than he, but
none felt the need to flaunt them.  Plus lots of other similar nonsense.
Like the Executive Director's two years of college (lower level than
US colleges) that we were continually beaten over the head with to ensure
that us stupids wouldn't have ideas.  And claims that so-and-so is
just power hungry, dishonest dealings with supporters, directors,
suppliers and politicians and so-on.  It got so bad that the only people
staying past the first volunteer meetings (another of the Executive
Director's pet projects) were the people on community service orders
from the courts who had no choice.
 
It was affecting what the group did.  Very badly.  Things were not being
done, the bookkeeping was a joke, and the infighting was continuous and
very nasty.  Up to and including threats of lawsuits being made by the
Chairman aimed at all and sundry (including both of us later) - especially,
poor soul, the guy who had made the mistake of being the girlfriend's ex.
 
There were a core of people who had survived this mess that could
work together, and make a much more effective leadership.
 
Almost by accident, Patricia and I fell into the rathole of doing
this and that.  Just so that it would get done - the Executive Director
never having the time to do what she was paid to do...  If we had
known then, what we knew later, we'd have run, not walked, far away.
 
Over time, Patricia and I fixed the books, fixed the constitution in
line with modern business practise, fixed the membership list so that
you could actually print a list of members (what an idea! (on this machine
BTW), editted and published the quarterly newsletter (also on this
machine), took hold of the hiring process to ensure competant people
were being hired, and Pat ended up being Membership director and me
2nd Vice Chairman.  Things were getting done.  The books fixed (ie:
taxes and other statutory obligations being up to date), a core
of people who were operating together well inspite of the Chairman,
good external relations, and we had professionals offering their
services again.
 
It ended up with the Chairman doing an under-the-table deal, that
we never knew the details of, with the provincial premier, and
getting a juicy appointment as payment.  Surprisingly, the group
sprang back with the people we had been working with, and managed
to overcome the "deal" - much to the now Ex-Chairman's chagrin, the
provincial government fell very shortly afterwards, and all of
his contacts evaporated.  And Patricia and I left, with a great
sigh of relief, soon after he did.
 
It was two years of hell.  Never again.  Life is much too short.
 
There is a particular "disease" of activists.  I call it "activist's
syndrome".  It's people becoming so bound up, so thoroughly dedicated
to a cause that should be "so obvious to everybody else", that can
lead perfectly ordinary and nice people into becoming paranoid and ruining
the rest of their lives.  I've seen it happen several times in various
places.  Some people end up with typical overload, and others turn
into full blown crazies.  In the environmental group mentioned above,
I credit Patricia with holding one very good person back from the brink
of a ruined marriage and physical collapse.  I have sympathy for
both types.  I understand how it comes about.  But no tolerance for the
anti-social behaviour.  Organizations run by them do more harm than good.
And I refuse to be blackmailed into keeping silent because "they do
good works".
 
Now you know why I have no patience for this sort of crap.  I will
never recommend dealing with organizations that behave this way.  It
just encourages them to get even worse.
 
And remember, I didn't know who it was at the beginning when I made
my comments about "which groups to avoid".  It wasn't politics, it
was pure crap avoidance.
 
[Incidentally, the new government seems to have come through and
finally instituted what we were lobbying for for so many years.]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0426]