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RLee's avatar

Daryl Davis and those before him, e.g., MLK, accomplish/ed great successes via their words of logic, reason, & undestanding. That can only occur when via rational and honest, no holds barred discussion. One cannot refute, persuade, or learn without engaging with others where they stand. Trying to drag others along without knowing why they think or believe what they do is futile.

As John Stuart Mill opined “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.”

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Frank Lee's avatar

This is a beautiful essay.

I helped fund a community blog started by a man who I had previously relentlessly attacked for his anti law enforcement agenda. I ended up spending time with him... going to coffee and to grab a beer... talking about our different life-experiences and perspectives.

At the time our family was recovering from the sudden suicide of my brother In Law and good friend. He had been a detective in the local PD. 2 years later his identical twin bother did the same as he never recovered from his depression over losing his brother and best friend. The cause of all this family destruction was the job stress experienced by my cop brother In Law.

I never did get this blog owner from his dislike and distrust of police, but he did start to develop a duel perspective that cops too could be victims of what is basically common human malevolence and darkness. I think he started to understand that cops were just people.

I helped him start his blog where the community could debate local, state and national issues that touched the community.

It grew.

Then the local liberals on his board of directors decided that no anonymous posting would be allowed, and that people could be blocked, canceled and banned for posting anything outside of a narrow "policy" that was basically a safe space for liberal-minded people.

I told him it was a mistake... his blog would fail because more people would bail... even the liberal readers and posters that said they welcomed the restrictive changes. I also explained that he was breaking the spirit and intent of a community blog as a place where people come together for a conversation. He told me that I was one of the primary reasons that they needed the new policy... that he would get a lot of complaints about my comments.

I cut off the annual donation I made to his non profit and wished him good luck.

Today the community is more divided than ever. Liberals only talk to liberals and conservatives only talk to other rational people.

And the guy's community blog no longer exists. I heard from someone that he is back to hating cops.

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