Paul,

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.

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. 

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.

Randy

On Oct 12, 2025, at 2:36 AM, PAUL SCHRIJNEN via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:


About overcoming polarisation:

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. 
preview.png
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines
The Ezra Klein Show · 28 September 2025

Paul


Paul Schrijnen
London


On 11 Oct 2025, at 18:15, Terry Bergdall via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

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!

Terry

On Oct 11, 2025, at 11:23, James Wiegel via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:


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"
https://youtu.be/2OGKzOWplyQ

Here is a link to the interview we watched on PBS


All this blows my mind a bit, and I wonder if our colleague dialogue andor lists might evolve on this.  Also wondering what efforts are happening in the US and other places

Jim Wiegel

“We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make that future a place we want to visit. “       Stephen Hawking

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