The Burden of Diversity

Dear Reader

We live in a diverse world today—one that’s often overwhelming and confusing. When shopping, for example, at a store for technical accessories, you might find twenty different power strips at wildly varying prices. I find this quite overwhelming.

If we take a somewhat critical look at our system of clubs and associations, the diversity seems nearly as vast—and not exactly clear-cut. On the one hand, this has to do with very open and fair communication; on the other hand, unfortunately, it also stems from widespread incompetence. The differences couldn’t be greater. Our technical committees serve as a prime “example.” Without naming names, we find huge discrepancies there. While some committees provide regular updates—whether in the MFS, online, or both—we find absolutely nothing from the others. Exceptions

at most when it comes to reporting on their own heroic deeds. The same applies to the regions. We’d be better off keeping an eye on the overall communication practices of a committee or region. For example, do they maintain a well-kept website, a newsletter, or regular informational emails? I know, writing is tedious—and even more so without WhatsApp, Facebook, and the like. We’re seeing that, the longer this goes on, the more our information habits are shifting toward social media. Scrolling a bit on your phone or giving a digital thumbs-up is quick and requires little thought. We communicate using random images and videos of varying cleverness. I doubt that friendship and cohesion can be built on this. Many people today will lose the ability to write and read. The DDPS’s online basic training likely failed in large part because of this trend.

In my view, proper communication is one of the responsibilities of elected bodies. Paying members have a right to be properly informed. Admittedly, the great diversity of our hobby doesn’t make this easy for us. However, if this communication doesn’t take place, we must question the very existence of such organizations. Even inactive bodies gobble up membership dues without producing the slightest output. The almost infinite variety of model flying and the great freedom we model flyers enjoy make it difficult to maintain a coherent information policy. A major challenge for the future of our associations! After all, the desire to get a handle on us, too, is presumably a “law of nature” in public administration. Whether this can be achieved through mandatory registration, I’ll gladly leave to your judgment.

Best regards—and stay tuned,
Emil Ch. Giezendanner

The opinions expressed on this page by the editor—as well as by other authors of this issue—do not necessarily reflect the official position of the SMV. Readers can find official association announcements in the “SMV” section.