All We Need To Do Is Make Sure We Keep Talking

This week, Charlie Kirk was murdered—the worst day for his family (wife and two children).

Charlie was a conservative and a Christian. He supported guns and the Second Amendment. Charlie was not a fan of trans people. Charlie supported Donald Trump. Charlie was not afraid to talk to people and have arguments.

I did not agree with Charlie on 95% of things (based on what I saw on the internet). I am also not religious. I do not understand, however, how you cannot feel sorrow and empathy for his widow and two kids. "He supported the Second Amendment; he got what he deserved". What is this?

David Bowie called the internet an "alien life form". It elevated us, yet it separated and radicalised us in unimaginable ways. What is clear is that we have forgotten how to talk and, most importantly, how to listen to learn.

Argument With My Father

My father and I had a long conversation about capitalism, billionaires, taxation and voting; his take was that people who pay more taxes should have "more say" in the election since they seem to be contributing to the society more (in capitalism speak). I disagreed because the incentives were off, and the rich would only follow their own interests, not the interests of society as a whole. I struggled to find supporting "evidence" in the moment and left the conversation upset and a little angry.

That conversation forced me to do some reading and try to understand what exactly would happen if such a system existed.

The gist is: similar approaches were tried and failed in Prussia, Belgium, Hong Kong and the USA—entrenched interests of the wealthy, strikes and civil unrest, wealthy minority over-representation.

There is a recent study called Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness: Who Gets What They Want from Government? that shows that the government policy aligns much more closely with the wealthy already.

I am not trying to pat myself on the back and say "good job"; I think any respectful citizen must do the work (educate themselves) to have an opinion, not be afraid to state it (I should say feel safe to state it freely), and engage in an argument in good faith - not to win it, but to learn.

"Engaging in the argument to learn" feels so far removed from reality and how things are done these days. Let's agree to disagree?

The phrase "All we need to do is make sure we keep talking" is a famous quote by Stephen Hawking, emphasising the importance of communication for human progress. He says that before speech, humans lived "just like the animals," but the ability to talk unleashed our imagination and allowed for collaboration.

It originated from his 1992 British Telecom advertisement, and Pink Floyd was inspired by this ad and incorporated Hawking's voice into their 1994 song "Keep Talking".