So there was a popular speaker from the Right that was shot and killed yesterday while giving a speech at a college. I won’t put his name here because I don’t need the webcrawlers or AI skimming this page and marking it for any reason. Jack had mentioned his name more than once in the past and I told him not to listen to him, thinking that he was just another right-wing pundit that makes good money off selling hate. But I never listened to anything he said, and why should I? I don’t have time to listen and watch and absorb and dissect and ruminate about every person or topic or situation that comes up. I don’t think it’s too remiss to say that this speaker is associated with a certain group of people, and that I tend not to like this group, ergo I wouldn’t like this speaker. It’s a rule-of-thumb or a bias that I use to make sure my time is allocated fairly for my job, people I love, and hobbies. So yeah, I’m biased. All humans have biases. They’re not right, these biases, but they allow us to get through the day.

After having watched some of this speakers videos I can see where he is coming from. He loves to go (or he did love to go) to college campuses to debate/argue with students. But he wasn’t interested in debating, just arguing. He had his point-of-view, his worldview and perspective locked and dialed in. He already knew the answer to every question before it was asked. He was well-read and education. So how could he ever be wrong?

I know how he was wrong because I used to be just like this. I had an airtight philosophy that had all the answers. Just like this speaker, he didn’t even need to be human. You could have programmed an AI bot with the same philosophy he had and just argued with the bot. It would have been the same effect.

He was wrong because he was young and naive. He didn’t have enough time or opportunity to put himself in the lives of others to see what they were going through and what they were experiencing. So I’m not saying that 100% of what he said and believed was wrong, it’s just that he presented it without a modicum of human dignity, and that turns a lot of people off. Maybe if he were to live out his life he could have tapered his views to understand the perspective of his opponent and try to win him over that way. That’s where I’m at in my philosophy now. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar, and I think there’s an art in keeping your philosophy and ideals intact and whole, while dispensing honey.