Essay by Marcia Darnell
Public meetings – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Last month, I attended three forums in four days. Three forums in four days. Try saying that five times fast.
Forums (forae?) are a unique aspect of democracy. People — government entities, concerned citizens, coalitions, contingents, and groups — come together to discuss problems and try to find solutions. The discussions can be boring, fascinating, mundane, brilliant, or argumentative, but they provide a glimpse into what’s going on in the minds of those with the dedication to make it to the meetings.
But, as someone once pointed out, there are single-issue agendas, and there are single-issue people. And there’s one of them at every forum. They come with the intention of ranting, and they fulfill their mission every time.
I have listened to rants on how farmers should get every drop of water they want, and then everyone else can ration what’s left; on how someone should be able to build whatever the hell he wants on his land, but should be able to prevent building on adjacent land; and on how government should be able to provide services without taxing income or property.
Several years ago I listened to a man warn us that the U.N. and the World Bank had plans to take over the planet on Jan. 1, 2000, and that each man, woman, and child would be limited to four liters of water per day for all uses.
Last month I heard a man pose a rhetorical question on taxes and then get pissed because no one answered it.
So far, ranters have disrupted every forum I’ve been to and they’ve absolutely refused to listen to those — the few, the brave, the heroic — who try to talk them down.
And so far, the ranters have all been men. Usually in the 60- to 80-year-old range, usually wearing boots, and almost always irate. Most of them are living in the past, longing for the days of their youth, or their fathers’ youth, when roles were more defined, white men ruled the world, and (in their minds) everything was perfect. They whine, they demand, and they want what they want.
Hell, we all want what we want. But whereas the rest of us are at the forums (forae?) to discuss a common problem and find a solution we can all live with, the ranters want what they want regardless of what anyone else wants.
They waste valuable time with their rants. When 30 minutes of a two-hour discussion on irrigation is taken up by someone insisting that the government is controlling the weather, it’s an insult to those who are there for serious reasons.
Whoever said that all points of view are equally valid was full of it. When I attend a forum to discuss a local problem, I don’t want to hear about alien invasions, international conspiracies, and whacko theories about water, weather, or wildfires. (And to those who do: check the Internet.)
So stick to the subject, check your paranoia at the door, and try to be considerate. The rest of us are there to work on an agenda — not to hear your single-minded, never-ending rant.
Marcia Darnell is a San Luis Valley writer who believes her cats are controlling the media.
