In evaluating all of this, it is important to free your mind and try to be objective. That means having your thinking start from scratch rather than from a need to attack or defend something you currently believe.
A number of years ago I was diving with some friends in Mexico, and one of the people with whom I was diving was planning to take some cave instruction locally over the next few days. As we were exiting a cave, we could not help but notice that the wall to our right had been intentionally defaced, with the very large letters "GUE" carved into the wall. When the dive was over, the friend who was about to take a GUE class was angry, because someone who hated GUE had obviously carved those letters to make GUE look bad. It was absolutely impossible for anyone who had actually taken GUE training to have done such a thing.
The next day we were finishing a dive and getting near the exit of the cave. I was in the front of our group, following the line, when I saw a group entering the cave. I continued along the line, assuming they would move aside to let us pass. Nope. They came straight on, with the lead diver having a very intent stare forward. He was on a mission. At the last minute I pulled away from the line to let them pass. The last person in the line was our friend. This was the GUE class being taken, and the lead diver was the instructor. We talked about it later, and the diver insisted that what happened was simply not possible. It could not have happened. They must have moved aside to let us pass, because no GUE instructor would have done otherwise.
If you enter any discussion with a belief that everything everyone else does is wrong, or that everything everyone on your side does is right, there can be no progress. Accept that we are all human, and it is possible for even people who are 99.9% godlike are capable of error. Accept that we are all human, and even the most disgusting person of the crap agencies might have something reasonable to say.
A number of years ago I was diving with some friends in Mexico, and one of the people with whom I was diving was planning to take some cave instruction locally over the next few days. As we were exiting a cave, we could not help but notice that the wall to our right had been intentionally defaced, with the very large letters "GUE" carved into the wall. When the dive was over, the friend who was about to take a GUE class was angry, because someone who hated GUE had obviously carved those letters to make GUE look bad. It was absolutely impossible for anyone who had actually taken GUE training to have done such a thing.
The next day we were finishing a dive and getting near the exit of the cave. I was in the front of our group, following the line, when I saw a group entering the cave. I continued along the line, assuming they would move aside to let us pass. Nope. They came straight on, with the lead diver having a very intent stare forward. He was on a mission. At the last minute I pulled away from the line to let them pass. The last person in the line was our friend. This was the GUE class being taken, and the lead diver was the instructor. We talked about it later, and the diver insisted that what happened was simply not possible. It could not have happened. They must have moved aside to let us pass, because no GUE instructor would have done otherwise.
If you enter any discussion with a belief that everything everyone else does is wrong, or that everything everyone on your side does is right, there can be no progress. Accept that we are all human, and it is possible for even people who are 99.9% godlike are capable of error. Accept that we are all human, and even the most disgusting person of the crap agencies might have something reasonable to say.
