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MAG ACTIVISTS AND THE ‘GRINNING BABOON EFFECT’
I asked Archi Hipkins some time ago if he would allow me to write this article for Network and he agreed, it has been somewhat delayed by my NABD work but with the MAG AGC looming I think the subject matter is both topical and relevant.
Knowing how the bikers gossip grapevine works, let me just state a couple of pertinent facts about this article.
It is not aimed at criticising any single individual, rather highlighting an overall issue. It is also purely my own views on the matter so if you disagree or feel aggrieved about it you have to shout at me. Archi and I have disagreed on a number of things over the years and though I hope he will agree with my sentiment in this article he cannot be blamed for it in any way.
Lastly, the reason it is an article for Network rather than The Road Magazine? Simple really, it is an open letter from me to all MAG activists, rep’s committee members’ etc and is not aimed at the public forum. OK now how do I start it?
I have never been shy in telling people that I took a lot of inspiration from MAG when the NABD was in its infancy. Not so much in the way we are set-up or even in the way we do things. It was more to do with some of the people involved in MAG back in the late 80’s and early 90’s (some of whom are still here now) and the outstanding things they had achieved as a group over the years. It gave me personally a belief that a few dedicated people could change things for the better and helped the NABD to establish itself without having to first prove that bikers could to some extent take control of their own destinies.
Seventeen years have passed since those difficult early days when I would pick the brains of people like Ian Mutch and Neil Liversidge whenever I got the chance. Over the intervening years the wealth of knowledge in the heads of people like Trevor Baird and Pete Walker and a number of others have been plundered on a regular basis to help the NABD become the worlds foremost group for disabled bikers.
But now I would like to return the compliment by passing on some hard earned insight from our previous experiences within the NABD that I feel is very pertinent to the current situation within MAG.
I also write this as an individual MAG member who has attended the last dozen MAG AGC’s and witnessed the growth of a problem that needs to be addressed. It’s a very difficult subject to explain with my limited literary ability so bear with me and hopefully it will all make sense by the end.
I believe the greatest asset that MAG has is its activists. I would go so far as to say that together with MAG’s experience they make up the only asset of any real import.
Take away any other aspect of MAG and the group will survive, but take away MAG’s activists, its volunteers, rep’s, committee members etc and your left with a hollow ball of nothing.
Like any association the vast majority of members are ‘passive’ supporters, this is natural and I doubt it will ever change. Passive supporters are important and should never be dismissed as ‘apathetic’ or ‘useless’ the fact is that their membership subscriptions and ground level support at events give the group its basic building blocks.
You also have to remember that not everybody has the temperament to get more actively involved or the tenacity to stick with it when the going gets tough purely because they believe in a cause. Once you have the basic support it then falls to the activists to make it all work and produce the required results.
Obviously there is a place in all this for a few paid employees to cover certain administrative duties and such but we must never begin to think that MAG can replace active volunteers with paid employees. Believe me that way is destined to failure (I think it’s known as ‘The Gravy Train Phenomena’) but I am in danger of digressing from the point, which is simply ‘The Motorcycle Action Group’s activists are its heart and its soul!’
As activists you don’t have to be clones, you don’t have to share the same politics, you don’t have to come from a particular background, hell you don’t even need to like each other!
The fact is that one trait common to activists is that they are generally quite strong-minded and wilful people and there are few things more certain than when people of such calibre are brought together there are going to be fall-outs and friction.
It is a simple fact of life for any group of activists since the dawn of time that personalities will clash, when you have a tenacious nature and a robust personality you cannot help but aggravate other people (particularly if they share those traits).
Let’s call it the ‘Grinning Baboon Effect’ as dominant male baboons grin at each other to show how well stocked their armoury is and thus avoid a lot of unpleasant biting and bloodshed (I resisted the urge to call it ‘the bright red monkeys arse effect’).
The fact is that this type behaviour is as necessary to a group of riders rights activists as it is to a troop of Hamadryas Baboons in Somalia. For the baboons it cements bonds within the troop, helps establish and maintain a social hierarchy and avoids a lot of useless carnage when a few big cheesy grins will produce the desired result.
For the likes of us the metaphorical grinning resulting from personality clashes can be the catalyst for heated debate within the group, an essential part of progress and democracy. It can also show which particular issues fire up different individuals within the group thereby allowing the group to place the right individuals into the right projects or positions. On the whole, if kept in context, this clashing of personalities is cardinal to the prevention of entropy within the group.
The problem is that for some the clashing of personalities becomes more important than the shared belief if the cause. They allow their personal dislike of another activist to overshadow their own input into the group.
I have experienced this first hand within the NABD in the late 90’s and I have seen more and more evidence of it within MAG over the past half dozen years.
People who are literally worth their weight in gold to MAG are frittering away the energy of their unquenchable inner fire on sniping at others instead of pouring it into the riders rights issues that need addressing.
Vast amounts of knowledge and belief in the cause are being pissed away on personal vendettas or bloody silly power struggles chasing goals made of mist and unicorns dicks.
I have even witnessed people for whom I have had great admiration, throw their real convictions in the dust and boot them around for the sake of a temper tantrum or to score imaginary points over somebody they believe to be an ‘enemy’.
This does not have to be part of our behavioural character! This is baboons pulling out their own teeth and chucking them at each other, only baboons wouldn’t be so bloody silly as to damage themselves while throwing away their only means to protect the troop would they?
I think the saddest thing about it is that its cumulative effect is to decrease the effectiveness and viability of the very group in which they became active because of a belief in its aims.
I said at the beginning of this article that I believe it is an issue that needs addressing, but I don’t mean by proposals and rule changes. The individuals concerned are the only people who can address this issue; these are after all ‘personal issues’.
And I’m afraid there is no magic bullet either, the problem in the NABD in the late 90’s was less pronounced than I see within MAG now and the surgical route taken by the NABD very nearly finished us as an association. Only the unbelievable dedication of a handful of people enabled us to survive and rebuild.
I would not see MAG go through the same experience, which is why I am writing this article, call it a plea if you like. It’s time to put the hatchets away and hold out a hand of conciliation. I don’t expect old wounds to be forgotten and previous enemies to suddenly start swapping spit in the shower.
If you have a long-standing grudge or personal dislike of another member, what is it achieving? If you still believe in MAG’s aims, should they not be your only concern.
You don’t have to like your colleagues and you certainly don’t have to agree with all of their views. But while they and you are activists within MAG you have just enough in common to be able to work together for the common good if only you can get in all into perspective once again.
And those of you who haven’t succumbed to personal vendettas and fall-outs must take great care not to take sides with those who have. It’s not about whom is the injured party or even whom is right or wrong. It’s about giving your colleagues on both sides of these disputes the support to overcome their differences and the understanding that they are throwing away all that dedication, belief, knowledge and talent to no avail whatsoever. And when you see these problems in their infancy you have to make it clear they cannot be tolerated.
It is always worth remembering that where differences cannot be overcome, there is always the option of ignoring that difference or better still burying it under some common ground.
I hope this makes some sense or better still strikes a cord within some of you. MAG has very talented, experienced and dedicated people amongst its activists for assets like that to go to waste over petty disputes grown out of proportion is shameful and potentially downright disastrous. It’s time for a clean slate; time to start anew with differences put aside and get back to being MAG’s greatest assets.
Rick Hulse
MAG Member
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