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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>From: L. Michael Hall<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>2026 Neurons #9<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>March 1, 2026</span></font></b><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=5 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-weight:bold'>WHY WON’T THEY STAND?<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>For the past few days I have struggled with a question that I began considering when I heard the President’s State of the Union speech. Namely, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>What kind of thinking </span></i>would cause someone who holds a different opinion to not even be able to acknowledge you when you make a good point?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In seeking an answer, I’m starting from several assumptions about people, knowledge, truth, communication, etc. Namely, I’m assuming that holding differences of opinion is a normal thing; that people inevitably view things from their own perspectives, and that their background, training, education, and experience creates these differences. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I’m also assuming three NLP presuppositions. One, there is a difference between <i><span style='font-style:italic'>person and behavior </span></i>and that a person is more than what one thinks, says, and does. Secondly, behind every behavior is some positive intention. People do not choose to do what they do just to be evil, but because at a higher level, they think it will produce something of value for them. Three, you never know what you have communicated until you check out what the other person has heard. That the meaning of your communication is the other’s person’s response, even if that was not your intention.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Starting from all of these assumptions, then I’m wondering about <i><span style='font-style:italic'>the kind of thinking</span></i> that would lead someone in an oppositional party to <i><span style='font-style:italic'>refuse to acknowledge</span></i> when you say something that most everyone would agree with and you would agree with it if your colleague said it. That people differ is to be expected; it is not a bad thing in itself. Differences make for creativity. It would be unnatural for everyone to think the same way. For science and for civilization we actually need a multiplicity of perspectives. That’s why when someone who disagrees with me makes a good point, I should simply say so and acknowledge that. Why not? That doesn’t mean I agree with everything or condone everything. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In answering my own question, my conclusion is that the opposition party (in this case, the democrats, well except for John Fetterman) were actually <i><span style='font-style:italic'>not thinking. </span></i>Instead, they were caught up in the ‘thinking’ substitutes (which all of us get caught up in from time to time). And why? Because as they think that a difference of opinion is a threat or danger, their stress level goes up and they revert to stress thinking (e.g., the cognitive distortions). They also begin to engage in <i><span style='font-style:italic'>reactionary thinking (by personalizing), polarization thinking, agenda thinking, superficial either-or thinking, and borrowed thinking </span></i>(see <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Thinking for Humans</span></i> (2024) and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Executive Thinking</span></i> (2018).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Because of these inadequate thinking patterns, they could not do <i><span style='font-style:italic'>real thinking.</span></i> They could not <i><span style='font-style:italic'>consider</span></i> a different opinion and in good faith <i><span style='font-style:italic'>consider </span></i>it<i><span style='font-style:italic'>.</span></i> They could not <i><span style='font-style:italic'>ask questions about it</span></i> in an attempt to understand it. They could not <i><span style='font-style:italic'>honestly doubt </span></i>its source or validity, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>detail specifics </span></i>in it, or make critical <i><span style='font-style:italic'>distinctions </span></i>(the first five of the critical thinking skills).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>What does it take to be <i><span style='font-style:italic'>a reasonable person </span></i>and to hear out what someone on the opposite side thinks? What does it take to <i><span style='font-style:italic'>try on or consider </span></i>that perspective and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>ask questions</span></i> to “seek first to understand” (Covey)? What does it take to stand up for someone you disagree with when they actually make a good point and speak a truth? Certainly, no one is wrong all the time. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>What does it take to start from the premise that what people are doing and saying comes from what they consider a positive value for themselves? Given that, what does it take for us to stop demonizing the one who disagrees and maintain a respect-for-the-humanity of the other person? Whatever ‘crazy’ idea you think the other is proposing, what will it take for us to separate person from behavior and start from the position of respect and at least listen to it?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Oh yes, I’m making another assumption. I’m assuming that in the marketplace of ideas, if we keep talking and dialoguing, if we keep seeking first to understand, truth will win out. It may be the truth that we’re operating from different perspectives and so in the end we agree to disagree. The problem is not <i><span style='font-style:italic'>vigorous debate, </span></i>it is confusing person with words and ideas and then demonizing someone for differing. That’s the problem. That’s when things get ugly. That’s when people become hateful, bitter, disrespectful, insulting, and when all of that gets exaggerated—things become violent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>What we want is non-violent yet vigorous conversations, and that requires a basic level of respect, a separation of person and behavior, good faith to validate persons, and a sweet reasonableness to admit mistakes and wrongs. Only then will we be able to stand up for each other when we say something that makes common sense. And that would be a huge beginning to put an end of the childish polarizing that’s so destructive to democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>738 Beaver Lodge<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'><a href="http://www.neurosemantics.com/"><font color=blue><span style='color:blue'>www.neurosemantics.com</span></font></a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><img border=0 width=215 height=67 id=BF308BB8-DA03-4DF4-BEFC-A0A0DF648B05 src="cid:image001.jpg@01DCA973.7FB20AA0" alt="cid:261CED33-4408-4124-862B-B9A4B37A367A"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
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