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White Militias:  As Usual, the White Left is Missing the Point

1/3/2016

39 Comments

 
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Most everyone has heard by now that European (white) militia folks have descended upon Eastern Oregon to express their lack of recognition and respect for how the U.S. government enforces its land management policies.  These militia people appear to have occupied a federal bird watching sanctuary about 30 minutes from the town of Burns, Oregon, which is about five hours east of Portland.  This so-called protest is heaped in the false ideal of "true American patriotism" with the American flag and proclamations of the "will of God" being prominently featured by the militia and their supporters.  Of course, all of these folks are the typical characters e.g. European, mostly older, right wing in ideology, and vastly confused about the difference between fiction and reality.  Many of you know these people well because they are your father, brother, son, sister, mother, husband, wife, etc.  So, there's no purpose in spending time breaking down the motives of these people.  Its not difficult to figure that out.  They are entitled Europeans who are experiencing/ interpreting their very first taste of forced oppression, something we have experienced consistently from the federal government for centuries.  So, the reaction of these folks is no surprise or disappointment.  What is tiresome and irritating is how our so-called European partners/allies consistently respond to the actions of their right wing relatives, neighbors, and community members.  

Since this latest militia action in Eastern Oregon, social media is ablaze with responses from so-called conscious white people. The best this fine element of white society can produce in response to this scenario is to compare the white militias to anti-police terrorism protests within the African community.  I suppose these "allies" believe they are sincere when they consistently make the point that we would be killed by federal authorities if we took the same stance as the white militias, as if we would have absolutely nothing to say about that.  And, that's the strongest element of this white left analysis.  The other focus is on doing everything they can to marginalize the white militias in an effort to make it clear that they have no connection and nothing to do with their white brothers/sisters who are carrying out this militia action.

None of this is new nor is it rocket science.  The lands the militias are occupying are the ancient lands of the Paiute Indigenous people who were removed by force from those lands decades ago.  These Indigenous people are still alive and functioning on reservations in the Burns area today.  The white militias are nothing more than the latest version of invaders and settlers onto Native lands.  And, their agenda to challenge the U.S. government is nothing more than European class struggle to decide which white people will occupy the position of ruler over Indigenous lands and the masses of exploited labor under the capitalist system.  The fact one of the identified leaders of this militia group is a man named Ammon Bundy - the son of that cave man white supremacist Cliven Bundy who hosted a similar white militia action in Nevada - and another participant is white anti-Islam activist Jon Ritzheimer, confirms the foundation of ideological white supremacy within this militia movement.  So, white people, we don't need you to flood social media with statements about how we would be slaughtered were we to take up arms against the government.  We understand those contradictions better on our worse day than you ever could.  What we wish you would do is recognize that these are your people joining and participating in these militias.  Instead of posting "f - - k the militias" on Face Book, it would be great if you could finally sit down and develop a comprehensive strategy to try and organize your kinfolk.  Someone needs to educate them to the fact their fight is actually against the capitalist system, the same system that oppresses the masses of African and Indigenous people.  Someone needs to explain to them that their grievances are no different than the protests we have against the government for its agents shooting us down in the streets.  Someone needs to help them understand that the day they can stand in solid support with our struggle is the day we can end this oppression (because we have always stood in solidarity with the suffering of poor European folks).  At the very least, if your intention is to use the comparison to us to educate other white people, you need to do a much better job at utilizing that information.

Creating this critically important link is the responsibility of the white left.  You can make this happen.  We can't because these people have been programmed to distrust us, but these are your relatives. Your neighbors.  Your co-workers and friends.  You can talk to them in the language they understand.  You can influence them.  You can organize them.  So, why don't you do it?  We are organizing our people against the capitalist system, but we recognize that we cannot do our work in isolation because history is full of examples of how the capitalist system uses the European working poor as foot soldiers against the African masses and other just struggles.  This is why the membership of the kkk and neo-nazi groups has always been working class.  This is why the majority of this militia movement is working class white people.  The problem is there is no active and ongoing political education to raise the consciousness of these people.  In other words, you so-called progressive white people are not doing your work.  So, just so you know, when we see these occurrences happen, the first thing we think about is how you are failing.  For every right wing militia member, its confirmation of how much you are continuing to skirt your responsibility.  We can't blame a dog for chasing a cat, so we can't expect these militia folks to do anything besides what they are doing.  We can blame you because you claim to know better.  In fact, we can't get a word in edgewise with you present because you are so clear about the contradictions.  So, get to work with your family members before it becomes too difficult for us to tell the difference between you all.
39 Comments
Mike Edera
1/3/2016 07:29:57 pm

I just finished a report of my little field trip to Burns to check out this scene for the ROP. I just sent it off and it hasn't been published yet, but I can send you a copy if you tell me where to send it.
Regards,
Mike Edera

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Brian Corwin
1/4/2016 05:21:43 pm

I would like a copy of your report

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Larry George
1/4/2016 05:37:12 pm

That is exactly what Bernie Sanders says. Explain to the White Folks that they are being exploited by a powerful elite clan.

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Greg Butterfield
1/4/2016 07:15:54 am

As a white activist who's been fighting for such an approach, I want to thank you for writing this piece. So excellent and to the point. Hopefully it will help open some eyes.

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Rebkeh
1/4/2016 08:49:04 am

Music to my eyes! Thank you for articulating these points.

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Gregory A Butler link
1/4/2016 01:24:29 pm

Faulty class analysis

This is a movement of White BUSINESSMEN

The Bundy brothers and their dad are millionaire ranchers - so are most of the 150 BUSINESSMEN in that compound

They are a fascist militia - working class Whites have nothing in common with them - they are class enemies of White workers

Anybody on the left that sees anything progressive here is a fool

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Babette Grunow
1/4/2016 03:06:01 pm

It is faulty analysis and no progressive is going to be able to reach these militias or change their minds. They hate progressives even if they are white just like they hate the government.

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Alan C
1/4/2016 03:36:53 pm

Progressives are part of the" Conspiracy" (big gubmint, Agenda 21, etc.). That makes the far right hard to talk to and actually find common ground.

Ryan
1/4/2016 09:43:39 pm

150 people? Only the idiots in the compound have said there are that many. They wish! All independent reports say there are a dozen, two dozen at the most.

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ninjascience
1/5/2016 07:15:58 pm

Yes and no. Gregory is right about the actual militants in the Oregon refuge--they're buisnessmen, they're landowners, they probably even have too much to be called petit bourgeoisie. They don't have false consciousness, they are on exactly the right side for their class.

But that's just a handful of people. The OP is correct--vitally correct--about the much larger collection of working class peoples outside the compound who love guns and resent the BLM. And many, if not most, of them, even those protesting the Hammonds' sentences, think this Oregon occupation is just as stupid as we think it is. And the OP is correct that the white left is unnecessarily alienating those people right now.

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Andrew
1/4/2016 02:01:45 pm

Wouldn't it be easier just to line them up against the wall and be done with it?

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Babette
1/4/2016 03:01:30 pm

This piece seems really hate filled and the hate seems directed at the wrong people. It's not directed at the militias but at the potential allies, progressives. You seem to think that because someone is white they could have influence on these far right militias. The militias would hate anyone progressive, yes even if they are white, and wouldn't listen to them any more than they would someone who is Black. Anyone who is related to or friends with the militiamen is probably too indoctrinated with a similar ideology than theirs. You are blaming people who have no power to reach these folks. The best progressives, white or otherwise can do is to try an effect the overall dialogue in the US. Maybe change the way the media perceives and reports on it. Stop trying to shame your potential allies into trying to take action that they have no hope in accomplishing.

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Sara Rudolph
1/4/2016 04:53:01 pm

These people are far more likely to listen to friends and family members who are white than they would be to any non whites.
Also, if you consider yourself a "potential ally" and you feel that you're incapable of talking to other white people about these issues your allyship is useless. This is our job.

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Ok Organizer
1/5/2016 04:47:42 pm

Hey Babette,

Have you made attempts to reach out to other working class white people?
I'm confused here, you're telling the author to "stop trying to shame your potential allies" claiming that there is no hope, by attempting to discourage him from making suggestions that might actually work?

Here is but one example of a radical left organizer reaching out to the far right, and having some success.
https://libcom.org/library/rednecks-guns-other-anti-racist-stories-strategies
Further, I don't see the article suggesting we go straight to the Bundys and try and organize them into standing down, but starting with people we know, and meeting them where they are at rather than simply writing them off and leaving the looney tunes tea party as the only organization speaking to their experience.

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Jason Smith
1/22/2016 02:36:58 pm

Thanks for the link, OK O. This is the type of work I can totally get behind as someone working to educate and organize white folks against our capitalist/racist system.

The Bundys are working class regardless of the amount of money they have amassed up to this point. Same goes for doctors, lawyers, etc. that are highly paid for their work.

Will link
1/6/2016 10:26:14 pm

History is full of statements from insiders and outsiders suggesting that communities police themselves. I remember a quote from a rabbi in 1900 or so saying that it was the Jewish community's responsibility to do something about the rampant Jew on Jew crime in poor Jewish neighborhoods. You can find similar arguments with every ethnic group, both by people inside and outside that group, including more recently Black people. But no one is able to have influence on someone else they don't know simply because they belong to the same "group," and may not even agree they are in the same group. I can't stop some kid from robbing an old lady or a delusional nut from grabbing a gun just because that person is supposedly the same ethnicity as me. It's absurd.

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Jon
1/4/2016 03:26:08 pm

I would say left white people ARE doing what you suggested. It takes time to process through generations. you expect it to happen over night? and why are you putting it all on us? why are you discrediting what white people say on social media? isn't that part of their attempt to do what you suggested? we can't control the actions of people we don't agree with. we're already taking our part in it by not joining them and speaking out against it.

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Mike
1/4/2016 03:26:36 pm

With all due respect, Babette - it is perfectly possible to engage with militia types and, more importantly, people in the communities where they are trying to build a base: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/calling_our_communities_rop

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Edward
1/4/2016 04:11:00 pm

I don't think you understand that not all white people think or are capable of thinking the same way. By posting a statues about how we hate the militia and disagree with what they are doing we show that the far left is not supportive of everyone taking a stand. This means that people can recognize that we are not just an anti-government movement but instead a collected and organized movement that has a platform and if other groups don't follow this platform we wont support them. This shows the common people that we are reasonable and might even encourage some of them to view our platform as a movement. This means that we could potential recruit more people into the progressive way of thinking due to a simple Facebook post saying that we don't agree with these right-wing nutjobs.

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alexis
1/4/2016 04:20:13 pm

liberal countries with no ideas http://waltherpragerandphilosophy1.blogspot.ro/2015/01/liberal-countries-with-no-ideas.html

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Javier arinas link
1/4/2016 04:55:38 pm

So your mad because Black Lives Matter is not the center of attention? Anyone? In a time where lazy, offended by everything, uneducated, scabs, trashy, and an embarrasment to USA where you think your owed something because something you think happened to someone you might have been kin to 100 years ago you actually think someone cares what you think in a world of billions of people your the one that stands out. Shut up people and stupidity will follow

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DC Redz
1/4/2016 05:16:25 pm

WTF are you yammering on about? Seems like things easily go over your head. Have fun with life.

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Damian
1/4/2016 05:58:19 pm

Some of us have been trying. Check out Craig Hulet. He's all about it.
Problem is, this is a tiny minority and we aren't all related. As soon as I start trying to defend the rights of my native and black brothers and sisters the conversation starts rapidly deteriorating. Most of us are only human and only have so much patience for such hatred

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Patrik Fridén
1/4/2016 06:25:32 pm

The White left cannot organize "their own people" based on Whiteness because the White left does not recognize such a collective as valid in identity politics, it is not worth organizing or rallying around, which is why rightwingers own it as a positive identity and voting bloc.
And economic class struggle left the picture for the New Left a long time ago as all people who moved beyond stalinism, leninism or any classical school of leftist economic thought knows.
The New Left is all about promoting everything else than Whiteness, every other group other than normal White people are called victims in the mythology of the New Left (a.k.a. Gramscianism, Frankfurtianism or cultural marxism, whatever you want to call it), everything else than what these rightwingers symbolize.
The Whites of the New Left have culturally appropriated blacks for decades because White leftists simply wish they were not White.

If you teach a people to despise themselves, tell them all their ancestors are "slavers" etc (based on an erroneous interpretations of history), they don't even want to recognize this identity anymore. They certainly won't organize around Whiteness as a concept.

Besides, the most pressing issue, if we are to talk about Whiteness as a positive collective of identity politics, is that Whiteness is threatened.
The New Left won't organize Whites because they love the fact that Whiteness will cease to exist in a century if current demographic trends keep on going the way they have been going for decaded.
If someone would organize Whites as a political collective they would also be dependent on the continued existence and survival of that collective. The agenda of the New Left is the total opposite.

If you want white working class people actually organizing against capitalism then I assume you actually mean the jews since the free market is not the problem but rather certain interests behind the scenes manipulating the markets and employing usury.
If you are not in it to fight jewish power, but instead think middle class business owners or honest industrialists are at fault you are a fool and a tool for the real power.

The real power is in the hands of the bankers, they manipulate the markets and most of those banks are either owned directly by jews or their bulvanes. Any large bank or corporation can at least not be openly anti-Zionist as any business would be short-lived if it was.
They run the business world, most things need to be cleared somehow by jewish business people in order to fly in business or politics.

Also, promoting pure communism or likewise means promoting things that just won't fly with the West or any White people.
That is why Gramsci postulated his theories on Hegemony as you probably know.

If fighting against capitalism to you means fighting against the existence of income differences based on character and abilities, against private property, against the existence of a state (which is just ANY TYPE of organization that has monopoly of use of violence over ANY area in order to legislate laws in it), against the existence of money (which is just ludicrous and the Zeitgeist movement attempted this revival of communism as well), against the existence of different nations, against the existence of religions, etc, etc.

If these things are what constitutes "fighting against capitalism" then you don't know what you are talking about and we are actually in a fight about semantics, and I as an NS or more specifically white racialist and national syndicalist won't endorse your lunacy.

If you just want to fight usury and the bankers, then there can be a white racialist working class movement co-operating with similar movements of other races.

Just exlain your aims more clearly than just saying you are against capitalism, because this word carries many different connotations to many different people.

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Gülvin
1/4/2016 06:52:35 pm

May I translate it in to Turkish, perhaps you know there is a Kurdish question in Turkey. And i think something are similar, the capitalists used this question to separate the working class movement.

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colbeatnik
1/4/2016 09:17:27 pm

I think you people should do some actual research on subjects before spewing ignorance. The lands these people have occupied for almost a century (that's one hundred years) are being reallocated and sold to a chinese solar power company, all while being called public lands. These "rich millionaire ranchers" were granted grazing rights, thats where the government allows private cattle to eat public grass because it was part of the land deal, and were being pushed, even flooded out so that the senator and his son at the time could make millions from private deals with semi private companies from other countries. pushing American homesteaders out so foreign companies can buy the land from corrupt government men. These men are standing against an atrocity that is happening across the country, against the abuse of the american people by our appointed officials. research, the basis of intelligence. OR we could spew ignorant comments because we like to fit in.

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no
1/5/2016 01:48:55 pm

bullshit. this land has been federally owned since 1872 and has been a wildlife refuge since 1908.

the ranchers in question moved to the area in 1964.

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no
1/5/2016 01:53:54 pm

What it really is about is the transfer of Federal land to state and local ownership, because then it's easier for logging, mining, and oil/gas extraction companies to come in and deplete the natural resources.

The Bundy klan is just following the script set forth by the likes of the Kochs and ALEC.

Gavin
1/4/2016 09:26:11 pm

If an article written by a white person tried to address an audience by starting off as "so black people..." I mean c'mon this article is so silly. Essentially the author thinks it would be great if white liberals could finally sit down and come up with a comprehensive strategy to organize their kinfolk, I mean huh? Like all it needs is a few more color coded seminars and some chalkboard time and white democrats got this shit under control. Seriously? Also why is capitalism always a main target in the uber social justice warrior crowd? I kind of want to know this and I have a feeling I might get some feedback on it. I suspect it is mostly semantics but that in itself also leads to misunderstanding on a topical level. By my definitions, corporatism (which I think is the main one confused for capitalism), sure we got it; bureaucracy, enough to drown in; cronyism, check. But capitalism (at least the classical definition of unencumbered enterprise), where the fuck is that? So why do people cling to calling it that? Is it maybe because it might be impossible to unknot big government from corporatism and this can't really be admitted by fans of big gov? If we had true to the t capitalism, we would have prostitution, we would have unencumbered gambling and all drugs legal and little to no armed forces and no laws defining marriage and profanity on the airwaves, not that I expect young liberals to want all these scary things but people should admit it wouldn't be anywhere near what we have.

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Gavin
1/4/2016 09:35:13 pm

Edited- Sorry I mistakenly thought the article lead with "So, white people..." when that was just the leading quote pulled from the link I followed.

If an article written by a white person tried to address an audience with "So, black people..." I mean c'mon this article is so silly. Essentially the author thinks it would be great if white liberals could finally sit down and come up with a comprehensive strategy to organize their kinfolk, I mean huh? Like all it needs is a few more color coded seminars and some chalkboard time and white democrats got this shit under control. Seriously? Also why is capitalism always a main target in the uber social justice warrior crowd? I kind of want to know this and I have a feeling I might get some feedback on it. I suspect it is mostly semantics but that in itself also leads to misunderstanding on a topical level. By my definitions, corporatism (which I think is the main one confused for capitalism), sure we got it; bureaucracy, enough to drown in; cronyism, check. But capitalism (at least the classical definition of unencumbered enterprise), where the fuck is that? So why do people cling to calling it that? Is it maybe because it might be impossible to unknot big government from corporatism and this can't really be admitted by fans of big gov? If we had true to the t capitalism, we would have prostitution, we would have unencumbered gambling and all drugs legal and little to no armed forces and no laws defining marriage and profanity on the airwaves, not that I expect young liberals to want all these scary things but people should admit it wouldn't be anywhere near what we have.

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Lucian
1/5/2016 01:37:46 am

Capitalism doesn't mean the same thing as unemcumbered free enterprise.

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steve brown
1/5/2016 08:58:57 am

The best analysis I've read of this sorry situation.

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Suzie
1/5/2016 10:11:51 am

I grew up in a good liberal atheist household, but my family was never cohesive. It didn't take much to splinter. I am baffled as to how most of my family members have become right wingers and there is no reasoning with them. They seem to feel victimized and disenfranchised and lied to by the world. Their mistrust even causes them to not get along with one another. We cannot have a family holiday or gathering. I curse these political hate mongers who are ruining my country and family. The difference that I see between us is trust. As a progressive, I trust that others will hold up thei end of the bargain and I'm hopeful of things community can solve when we work together. The right wing side of my family is unable to trust others and they have a fear of the world. It's very sad way to live. Of the dozens of right wingers I know, not one is a whole person who can function in society.

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Dianne
1/5/2016 09:57:51 pm

Suzie! Nice job! Breaking it down and keepin' it 100! As Ahjamu says, this is not rocket science. Its not even really about defining capitalism... But I think we do owe it to ourselves to seek greater understanding about why this DISTRUST (a core issue) emerges with enough frequency to form and influence masses of (often white, but not exclusively white) people and subcultures like the working class(es). Personally, I think (distrustful white) people are afraid and feel (perhaps unconsciously) guilty about the racist society they see all around them, and find themselves immersed in. The lack of trust is about not trusting themselves and the foundation upon which they stand.

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sandy sanders link
1/5/2016 12:08:02 pm

I have been trying to reason with and inform my ignorant white relatives, friends and acquaintances since i was 16. Believe me, it will take generations of these idiots surrounded by a rainbow of colors to deprogram them from the privilege, arrogance and brainwashing of white technological mythmaking fronted by 600 years of triumphal conquering northern European empire. Those of us who work daily to educate our clan are marginalized and blocked by these people who are powerful because they cling to their obsolete but dominating ideology that the 99% continue to allow to exist. We ... the 99% ... need organize OURSELVES and stop dividing and conquering allies to assume ideological empires of false superiority. Let's stop condemning others and start seeing the bigger picture of pyramid scheme empire that can be disarmed by refusing them our money, our authority and our complicity. Racism is evil. Classism is evil. They come from the same 1% club that operates via greed and power and allows any color to be an equal opportunity tyrant so as long as they go along with the game plan. Don't be fooled by attacking the spectacle they cast that spawn false conflicts to confuse and cover intent. We gotta be smarter than this.

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no spam
1/5/2016 01:37:22 pm

I'm sorry, these idiots are no more "my" people or my "kin" just because we're both white. This is no better than saying all blacks are responsible for the blacks who rob and kill. Try harder.

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no
1/5/2016 01:51:52 pm

Would you tell a Muslim family living in Cleavland "hey all you Muslims need to check your friends in ISIS, come on make them stop already!"

Of course not.

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Eric B
1/6/2016 11:14:02 am

yeah, why doesn't some white guy drive on up there in a Prius and sit down with these guys over a latte and explain to them the way the world really works? I'm sure they'd be really receptive to that. Kind of like how smart liberals always win arguments on the Internet with logic and facts. Problem solved.

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John Bruce
1/7/2016 06:39:22 am

I'm an old white guy, and generally liberal/progressive all my life. I have as much influence withth the Bundy types as you do with the Clarence Thomas- Allen West types. You are thinking in racial unit stereotypes. You need to get over it too.

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    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

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