Posted by Reilly Atkinson on October 20, 2000 at 18:51:43:

In Reply to: Re: The Potential for Knowledge Management in Conflict Management posted by Vaughn P Fox on October 20, 2000 at 13:00:02:

Vaughn -- First, I agree with much of what you say. Knowledge, understanding and negotiating skills can often bring wonderful results. But not always, and that's my concern, and the basis for considerable fears, specifically for the future of my grandchildren.

Some of my cynicism and fear comes from being a Depression baby. One of my earliest memories is of Pearl Harbor. So I was a kid during WWII, scared over conflict over which we kids had no control, and in which we lost fathers and uncles and neighbors, and saw horrible things in the newsreels, and saw many who returned turn into drunks or crazy men. This is to me an example of conflict that is not solvable by civilized means, and in which knowledge is used to kill as many enemy civilians or military persons as possible. Then we had the insanity of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race( very scary stuff for kids), Korea and the horrible insanity of Vietnam.Nothing but conflict for forty years.

I knew quite a few college teachers and graduate students who encountered the conflict, in the late 50s, of whether or not to sign a California State Loyalty Oath. Those who declined to sign were largely loyal Americans, but suffered ruined careers and some ruined families. The truth cost them; those who dissembled were largely untouched.

I had relatively difficult choices while teaching -- a D might send, and an F definitely would send someone to push a rifle in Vietnam. Knowledge was of not much help for me in that situation, nor in counseling kids, some of whom thought about going to Canada.

My generation lived with serious conflicts for a good part of our lives.(There's also the horible, violent labor-management history to consider) The world during those times seemed quite irrational; survival depended ultimately on use of force; negotiations between adversaries were virtually irrelevant. It's my experience that makes me cynical -- including the apparent successes of the anti-Vietnam movement of the late 1960s. Many of us tried to do the right thing, mobilize the people, tell the truth...We ultimately got our buts kicked bigtime by power politics. Cynical, you bet. (My kids, in their late thirties, have quite a different persepctive. There have been no serious world conflicts during their lifetime.They were largely untouched by Vietnam)

Enough indeed. But I've seen the KM type approaches to conflict resolution fail badly, and the use of brute force succeed all too often. What a shame.

Regards,
Reilly

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Follow Ups:

• The ethics of knowledge management in a conflict situation Daan de Koning 04:28:17 10/23/00 (4)
  • Re: The ethics of knowledge management in a conflict situation Vaughn P Fox 13:36:09 10/23/00 (3)
    • Re: The ethics of knowledge management in a conflict situation Daan de Koning 06:05:04 10/24/00 (2)
      • Re: The ethics of knowledge management in a conflict situation Ron de Weijze 19:20:56 01/10/01 (0)
      • Re: The ethics of knowledge management in a conflict situation Vaughn P Fox 22:51:28 10/24/00 (0)
• Re: The Potential for Knowledge Management in Conflict Management Vaughn P Fox 22:20:53 10/21/00 (1)
  • Daan & Vaughn Reilly Atkinson 19:11:49 10/23/00 (0)

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