<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">Paul,</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">This is an enlightening interview, especially since I read Coates’ Vanity Fair piece first. Call me sheltered—I had not heard of Charlie Kirk before I heard that he had been killed. I immediately began to try to find out more about him, and most of the stuff I learned was similar to what was in Coates’ article. I concluded what others have said, that it’s not how a person dies but how they live that determines who they are or were.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">While acknowledging that there’s good and evil in all of us, there are dominant traits that, at least in my mind, define who a person is. So the things I had heard, most of which Coates referenced, colored who I thought and think Charlie Kirk was. People can and do change, but not after they’re dead. So for me, while I am sorry for the loss of his life, and strongly concur that political violence has no place, Kirk is not someone I want to erect national memorials to, in honor of a life that I do not consider to have been honorable. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Coates referred to Kirk as a hate monger. I agree with that characterization. Based on my limited knowledge of his whole life, I believe he was a destructive influence. I could give the reasons why I think the same of Donald Trump. How one “bridges gaps” rather than “draws lines” in relating to such people, I confess I have no clue. I wish I did.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Randy</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Oct 12, 2025, at 2:36 AM, PAUL SCHRIJNEN via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>About overcoming polarisation:</div><div><br></div><div>One of my kids alerted me to this conversation between Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates on bridging gaps vs drawing lines. A fine conversation, dialogue. Two people inviting the other to explore rather than argue. </div><div style="display: block;"><div style="-webkit-user-select: all; -webkit-user-drag: element; display: inline-block;" class="apple-rich-link" draggable="true" role="link" data-url="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447?i=1000728872635"><a style="border-radius:10px;font-family:-apple-system, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;display:block;-webkit-user-select:none;width:300px;user-select:none;-webkit-user-modify:read-only;user-modify:read-only;overflow:hidden;text-decoration:none;" class="lp-rich-link" rel="nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447?i=1000728872635" dir="ltr" role="button" draggable="false" width="300"><table style="table-layout:fixed;border-collapse:collapse;width:300px;background-color:#75818A;font-family:-apple-system, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="lp-rich-link-emailBaseTable" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td vertical-align="center"><table bgcolor="#75818A" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="table-layout:fixed;font-family:-apple-system, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;background-color:rgba(117, 129, 138, 1);-apple-color-filter:initial;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:12px -4px 12px 12px;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-leftIconItem" width="50"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447?i=1000728872635" draggable="false"><img alt="preview.png" src="cid:B94A5DB1-546D-45DE-9EBD-39910A2E25F6"></a></td><td style="padding:8px 0px 8px 0px;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStackItem"><div style="max-width:100%;margin:0px 16px 0px 16px;overflow:hidden;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStack"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;font-weight:500;font-size:12px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;text-align:left;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStack-topCaption-leading"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447?i=1000728872635" style="text-decoration: none" draggable="false"><font color="#FFFFFF" style="color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.847059);">Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines</font></a></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word;font-weight:400;font-size:11px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;text-align:left;" class="lp-rich-link-captionBar-textStack-bottomCaption-leading"><a rel="nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447?i=1000728872635" style="text-decoration: none" draggable="false"><font color="#FFFFFF" style="color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.847059);">The Ezra Klein Show · 28 September 2025</font></a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div></div><div style="display: block;"><br></div><div style="display: block;">Paul</div><div style="display: block;"><br></div><div style="display: block;"><br></div><div style="display: block;">Paul Schrijnen</div><div style="display: block;">London</div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On 11 Oct 2025, at 18:15, Terry Bergdall via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Thanks, Jim. I found this video to be very interesting. It is one of the few pieces I’ve seen or read that motivates me to look more serious into the positive opportunities that AI might enable. I still have no idea how the “collective intelligence” described in this video actually works, nor how it might be practically applied in a small group like ours, but I am open to giving it a try. Given the animosity I’ve had in general to manipulative aspects of social media and the potential for abuse of AI, that's something. Maybe it’s the beginning of an “image change” for me!<div><br></div><div>Terry<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Oct 11, 2025, at 11:23, James Wiegel via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Judy and I were watching an interview with Audrey Tang(?) Taiwan's Minister of Digital Affairs last night. She got talking about what has been done in Taiwan to overcome polarization and the lowering of trust in government. I found this video of hers very stimulating of what democracy could mean moving into the future. She talks of generating "Collective Intelligence"</div><a href="https://youtu.be/2OGKzOWplyQ">https://youtu.be/2OGKzOWplyQ</a><div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Here is a link to the interview we watched on PBS</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/audrey-tang-rf1pro/">https://www.pbs.org/video/audrey-tang-rf1pro/</a></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">All this blows my mind a bit, and I wonder if our colleague dialogue and</span><span style="font-size: 17.333334px;">or</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> lists might evolve on this. Also wondering what efforts are happening in the US and other places</span></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Jim Wiegel</span><br><div><p class="p1"><span class="s1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make that future a place we want to visit. “ </span><span style="font-size: 13pt; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Stephen Hawking</span></p></div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>OE mailing list<br>OE@lists.wedgeblade.net<br>http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>OE mailing list<br>OE@lists.wedgeblade.net<br>http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<br></div></blockquote></div><br><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>OE mailing list</span><br><span>OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</span><br><span>http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>