Department of Mayhem

When I created SOFX in 2014 the vision was (and remains) a Global Socio-Industrial Network consisting of Superheroes. I define “Superheroes” as high impact people, not just former SOF, committed to the belief that small teams of committed people are capable of fighting evil and averting suffering at scale. Nothing has changed since then except the volume of news reporting allegations of misconduct in the ranks. This requires me to make a processing decision in how and where to characterize this news.

I decided to create a new segment of The Newsletter called Department of Mayhem. When Superheroes fall from grace their stories don’t have any business near the stories of the countless committed humans who are risking everything to fight evil and avert suffering around the world every day. I view it as SOFX’s additional responsibility to aggregate the news that the public is seeing about our community because we can’t be ignorant to how the world perceives who we are and what we do in the information age. As the founder and editor though I can make a decision to not give those stories the same respect and editorial pole position as the ones that truly represent the people who live on the edge of the human commitment curve. 

Going forward, stories that involve allegations of Mayhem within the ranks will appear near the footer of the newsletter just below federal contract notifications and above the Unsubscribe button.  The stories are usually the most clicked through so it is not in our best interest to do this from a business standpoint. But it’s the best choice from an ethical standpoint and its the best choice from a truth telling standpoint because stories that truly reflect the relentless spirit of the superheroes I know, who could not do what they do absent high moral fiber, never get told.