How cliquey are we?

Blue Flag #64 reports some concern about whether the DBA is cliquey or not. Personally I gather it's a wrong question. I simply do not know any human organization that is not cliquey, to some extent. So maybe a more efficient way to pose the question is limited in defining our cliqueyness rate, if you will excuse a funny neologism.

I will confront the problem from a certain distance. I myself have Turinese blood in my veins, but I was born several miles to the north, in an ethnically German-like area (Turinese are more French-like). Both regions are so darn cliquey that I cannot call myself a "proper turinese" for the simple reason that you must be able to claim 16 generations of uninterrupted residence to be recognized as such by the local authority, the Famija Turinèisa (the Turinese Family). At the same time, I was born an immigrant, although the distance is in all some funny 90 km. So I guess I know from childhood what dealing with cliqueyness means. My choice has always been not to become a fully integrated local anywhere, and this is also the reason why I like so much the idea of having an apartment that can sail away at any time. A barge, that is.

In time I have become an expat (now I live in Kiev, Ukraine) and have a lot of contacts in many organizations and countries. All of them are cliquey to some extent and the expat communities aren't any better. So I guess us water gypsies shouldn't worry too much about our being humans, with all the related pros and cons. Yet, if this issue came out as a possible problem it means that it can be perceived as such... now, aren't we supposed to be skippers? So what does a skipper do? He looks at the wind and the current and thinks of how they can be used as is, because there's no way to alter them. Human nature is not anymore subject to artificial alterations than the Rhine stream, so maybe we can think of how we can use our own cliqueyness, instead of being worried about it.

One of the undoubted advantages of cliqueyness is that it brings newbies together as a reaction, if they only get a chance to socialize. This is why the new group "Newbies" has just been opened. It's but an experiment, yet, if 47 years spent being an eternal outsider have not been spent in vain... maybe it will help. And no, I will not say what it can be used for. In instead, I'll welcome anyone wishing to volunteer as a social animator for the group. Just think about it and send me an email if you feel like starting the Newbie Pub, will you? Or you can simply leave a comment here, obviously ;)