Do You Believe In Life After ... Ning?

I don't know who leaked it, but there are seven members of my group's ning facebook cause. Normally, I would say: the more the merrier. However, in this case: I am not so sure.

Friends of friends of friends' friends, the world is a rather large place. I don't know who else is going to decide Help Rhode Island Read is a worthy and true cause too. While, given my last post, I'm inclined to think most of these individuals will join the group for an infatuation's brief wink, and move on to other things—this entry isn't about that. This entry is about some small discomfiture on my side at the idea of someone outside my group deciding to take this cause seriously.

Was it serious to begin with...?

I can say that the cause page is entirely for this projects purpose. If others desire to take it places, bless them. However, I can say—unabashed—that my tenure on that members list is limited. Literacy in Rhode Island is a concern of mine, but I'm not willing to get involved through an online cause concerning the issue. Nor am I willing to be dead-weight, and like so many others be a member of a cause in which I am not participating. After all, I've already renounced them with mounting thunder in my previous blog posts.

Then, in what regard to I hold the entire endeavor?

I regard this project with a spirit of intellectual honesty.

It was what I had to do to explore this electronic environment, how to participate in this class. Inevitably, when that's done, the honest thing to do is to quit the cause.

Certainly I care about this cause, what stops me from participating online and in real life?

I suppose it's simply my attitude. I prefer to do things on my own. I tackle big issues on my own. If I do anything involving the trouble of illiteracy in Rhode Island it will be in my own life and by my individual conscious effort. I want to make sure my brother grows up enjoying reading. I want to make sure my friend's baby learns how to read so he can be on his way to great future successes. In my own small way, helping to reach these results and others like them, I can benefit the cause.

The mob mentality that concerns facebook groups and causes can be just as bad as if members were free-loaders who only joined to impress the opposite sex. All it takes is one catchy bad idea and an entire group can go about doing something the wrong way, no matter what other alternatives may be made available. This is what sours me to most group experiences. There is no question, however, that I'd flattered if an entire group followed my ideas...