In my over 20 years in organized real estate, I have never thought about the SoP's in this way. I must say I am gobsmacked! I have to wonder, however, since the SoPs have been in place and referenced in so many cases, could there be some sort of suggestion that they have been established long enough to be a valid extension of the Code of Ethics? Granted, the strict interpretation of the member contract and NAR's bylaws would suggest otherwise. For the record, my position has always been that this speech code should not exist.
I'm in the same boat. It never occurred to me that the SoP is not part of the Code of Ethics, but the plain language of NAR's documents (CEAM for example) says that it is not.
Related and worth a read from Paul Graham most recent post, The Origins of Wokeness.
"Let's start with the easier problem. Is there a simple, principled way to deal with wokeness? I think there is: to use the customs we already have for dealing with religion. Wokeness is effectively a religion, just with God replaced by protected classes. It's not even the first religion of this kind; Marxism had a similar form, with God replaced by the masses. [15] And we already have well-established customs for dealing with religion within organizations. You can express your own religious identity and explain your beliefs, but you can't call your coworkers infidels if they disagree, or try to ban them from saying things that contradict its doctrines, or insist that the organization adopt yours as its official religion."
In my over 20 years in organized real estate, I have never thought about the SoP's in this way. I must say I am gobsmacked! I have to wonder, however, since the SoPs have been in place and referenced in so many cases, could there be some sort of suggestion that they have been established long enough to be a valid extension of the Code of Ethics? Granted, the strict interpretation of the member contract and NAR's bylaws would suggest otherwise. For the record, my position has always been that this speech code should not exist.
I'm in the same boat. It never occurred to me that the SoP is not part of the Code of Ethics, but the plain language of NAR's documents (CEAM for example) says that it is not.
The only thing I can say to NAR regarding this, is in the words of Astro the dog..."Ruh Ro!"
Related and worth a read from Paul Graham most recent post, The Origins of Wokeness.
"Let's start with the easier problem. Is there a simple, principled way to deal with wokeness? I think there is: to use the customs we already have for dealing with religion. Wokeness is effectively a religion, just with God replaced by protected classes. It's not even the first religion of this kind; Marxism had a similar form, with God replaced by the masses. [15] And we already have well-established customs for dealing with religion within organizations. You can express your own religious identity and explain your beliefs, but you can't call your coworkers infidels if they disagree, or try to ban them from saying things that contradict its doctrines, or insist that the organization adopt yours as its official religion."
https://www.paulgraham.com/woke.html