Standing By Effect

When thinking of the Bystander Effect I immediately think back to various events that occur during Chapter Meetings.  Often times in Chapter people sit idle, listening, being persuaded, and voting along the lines of one person who may have spoke up first, or may be intimidating.  Just a few weeks ago, an incident occured and our chapter made a decision that will forever impact the life of a potential member. Few people knew the situation, few people knew the man, and few people spoke up after the first person destroyed his credibility.  Countless times in my chapter, and in our community, we sit idle and watch as members live the stereotypes we despise, destroy the reputation we have worked so hard to create, and generally don't uphold our values.  And we do nothing to hold them accountable.  In fact, there are examples of when we do the exact opposite.  We support them.  We alienate our members who try to hold them to a higher standard.  We work to impress the very people who are doing what we despise.  We offer the member that holds people accountable to the wolves, and say "look! he's not ours."  We want so desperately to be accepted by everyone, even the people who derail everything we work for, and with that we destroy our own credibility.