[24347] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Toast Song: Majority versus Minority
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Rich Quodomine)
Sat Jun 5 22:38:35 2004
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 22:38:29 -0400
Reply-To: Rich Quodomine <aposatan@hotmail.com>
From: Rich Quodomine <aposatan@hotmail.com>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
>My final comment on the Toast Song is the following analogical example
>below:
>
>In the year 1984, H. Ross Perot, a member of General Motors Corporation's
>Board of Directors once said "Until you nuke the old GM system, you'll
>never tap
>the full potential of your people."
>
>Well, guess what? For once, Ross Perot was accurate, because by 1992, the
>Japanese "Big Five" automakers (i.e. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, etc.) had
>almost
>decimated the U.S. "Big Three" (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) automarket with
>their
>total quality management and just-in-time manufacturing processes.
First and foremost, Japan has a Big 3, not a Big 5. Toyota, Honda and
Nissan. Mazda has always been a 4th player (like the NHL in American
sports). Mazda is now 60% owned by Ford shareholders directly, with the
other 40% controlled by American and Japanese interest, as it is. However,
the primary reason they "decimated" the Big 3 is correct. ANd byt the way,
at their worst, GM and Ford stil held 51.4% of the American market.
To borrow from one AP source:
GM, suffered the steepest individual decline - from 39.2% of the overall
market in 1986 to 34.2% in 1992 to 27.5% last year, according to Hoffer's
count. Ford and Chrysler, which is now a division of DaimlerChrysler, had
slight increases over the 15-year period, though both have remained
essentially flat. Ford's market share ranged from 21.8% in 1986 to 23.9%
last year. (2001 figures)
>
>Consequently, General Motors fired their Chief Executive Officer and other
>senior management, while eventually filing for Chapter 11 bankrupcty
>protection.
GM has never filed, as a corporation, Chapter 11. This is utterly and
completely inaccurate. I checked allo f my info sources, and the closest
they were was in 1991, and while they had some stockholdings (Hughes
Electronics and DIRECTV comes to mind) that at one point were in Chpater 11,
they have never been, as a corporate entity, in such a state.
>
>Do any of you think the Toast Song remaining at "men of" will ever tap the
>full potential of the great and diverse brotherhood membership in Alpha Phi
>Omega?
This is not a corporate entity, its a fraternity. Corporations are, at whim,
able to utilize stockholder votes and boards of directors to enact massive
scope-and-scale changes. Such is not the case with APO. We are a somewhat
slow-moving democracy, and wisely so.
Irwin, we are in no need of "blowing up" the old structure. If you can find
a strong majority of people who desire the changes you feel are needed, then
you are welcome to them. In my course as 5 years of membership program
between Regions I and II, I have found that a good service program,
fellowship program, and a strong commitment to membership and its brothers.
A diverse membership is not as important as one with principles. A principle
of one brother, or a few, must not subordinate the will of the brotherhood,
no matter how well-intentioned or passionately believed. It is one thing to
find racism/homophobia or similar in the black and white sense of the Ku
Klux Klan, or even more closely, Major League Baseball before Jackie
Robinson and Larry Doby shattered teh color line. There was clearly
separation and inequality. However, Irwin, you ahve failed to demonstrate,
that the majority of even the female brothers opinion favor yours. If it
were so bad, as you portray, then there would be a decline in female
membership. However, I have noticed only increases in my time )I do no thave
national numbers). You are painintg with a broad Brush, and yoru strokes are
upon the wrong canvas. Perhaps, it is best that you take your strong energy
and will, and utilize in service, rather than in remaking APO with a vision
I sense that the majority of brothers, male and female, do not share.
-- Rich Quodomine
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