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I couldn't agree more. "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. " - Thomas

I couldn't agree more. "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. " - Thomas Jefferson Unfortunately, the Us vs. THEM mentality seems to be propagating more and more these days. "Divide and Conquer" isn't just a military strategy. It's a highly successful way for keeping a population from moving forward in many ways. I live in the DC metro area and have seen a "Democrats need not apply" sign up in a store front. I think it was meant to be humorous, but it's still fairly screwed up. "Disliking or hating something conditions you to (1) ignore virtues in the disliked, (2) dislike people, products, and actions associated with the disliked, and (3) distort other facts to facilitate hatred. Startups should focus on their customers, not their competition—whom they may dislike." -This is #3 on VentureHacks cheat sheet of point from "The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Misjudgment"

hga 17y ago
Unless Jefferson wrote that after the denouncement of the French Revolution and the appreciation of how it changed the game, I can't consider it to be useful advice today. E.g. to update a bit (to Marxism or Marxist/Leninism), Jefferson's potential and actual friends didn't include ones who considered him to be a class enemy with all that that implies. Things like a sign that says "Democrats need not apply" are merely an indication of the continuation of this eliminationist civil war in Western society (well, more likely who it has been heating up in the last year and a quarter; I never saw such in the 1991-2004 period when I lived there). Anyway, I "dislike" people who want to put me and mine into concentration camps, plus or minus (i.e. less and more severe examples of the same thing). There are no virtues in such people that can cause me to "like" them.

hga 17y ago

Unless Jefferson wrote that after the denouncement of the French Revolution and the appreciation of how it changed the game, I can't consider it to be useful advice today. E.g. to update a bit (to Marxism or Marxist/Leninism), Jefferson's potential and actual friends didn't include ones who considered him to be a class enemy with all that that implies. Things like a sign that says "Democrats need not apply" are merely an indication of the continuation of this eliminationist civil war in Western society (well, more likely who it has been heating up in the last year and a quarter; I never saw such in the 1991-2004 period when I lived there). Anyway, I "dislike" people who want to put me and mine into concentration camps, plus or minus (i.e. less and more severe examples of the same thing). There are no virtues in such people that can cause me to "like" them.