The Politics of FIRST

[Billfred]

It's gonna happen. And while the WFA stuff might be a bit much (the candidates probably should sit back and let the students handle it), I'm not too worried about politics in FIRST as long as people play nice.

Now, if the politics start getting ugly, we're gonna have a nice sit-down chat.

[shyra1353]

There are politics in everything you do, so of course there are politics in FIRST (such as within teams).

And for the WFA thing .. I can see it happening. But I can also see that FIRST is smart enough to figure out whether a person is sincere about the work involved or is only doing it for the award.

edit: there are going to be politics and "behind the back" talking with any group of people .. whether it be a class .. a group of friends .. a FIRST team .. or a multitude of FIRST teams ... you cannot change it, you accept that it is going to be there and move on with your life ...

[Aignam]

Politics are far more prevalent, I think, on an intra-team basis, than they are on an inter-team basis.

[Camerzn]

Originally Posted by Aignam

Politics are far more prevalent, I think, on an intra-team basis, than they are on an inter-team basis.

I have seen this phenomenon. Not to badmouth anyone in particular on 1139, but there is a lot of behind-the-back talk, a little bit of backstabbing, and just a smidge of turning everyone against one or two people. It's sad, but it's true, and it's just human nature. We all want to be top dog, we want to keep our friends close, and we want to drive our enemies into the mud.
Our team keeps it to a minimum, I think due to our all-inclusive listserv: if we don't have anything nice to email, we don't email anything at all. But it's still bound to happen.