A Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day
AN ESSAY BY CHUCK ZLATKIN

When I finally realized that I have something to learn from everyone, I began to listen more carefully. The most effective thing a community organizer can do is to listen to the people. This has not always been easy. Sometimes, it has been the people I admired most who were the ones who threw me off the track:

"Don't listen to him, he's a fascist"

"That guy is a known anti-Semite"

"He's a self-hating Jew"

"They're communists, you know"

"She's fundamentally a racist"

"He's a right winger"

I have heard it all, and there were times when it delayed me from recognizing truths.

Can anyone logically argue that certain people have a monopoly on truth?
Whoever they may be, whatever people may call them, they have discovered some truths. It is more than arrogant to dismiss a person because you disagree on certain issues.

Yup, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

With that in mind I approach my search for information a little differently these days. I try to judge each item on its own merit. I read them all, listen to them all, and do not let preconceived notions deny my access to truth. I am more careful not to allow people to throw me off track.

When someone speaks the truth it pays to listen

Here is a list of some of the people who in the past year have taught me something that is true:

Stew Albert, Lenny Bruce, Mae Brussell, Major General Smedley Butler, Alexander Cockburn, Bruce Cockburn, Alan Colmes, Noam Chomsky, Alex Constantine, Maureen Dowd, Bob Dylan, Barbara Ehrenreich, Dave Emory, Bob Fass, Donald Freed, Amy Goodman, Dick Gregory, Edward T. Haslem, Ben Hecht, Charles Higham, Jim Hightower, Abbie Hoffman, David Icke, Penn Jones, Alex Jones, John Judge, John Loftus, Felipe Luciano, Virginia Lee McCullough, Cynthia McKinney, Aaron Magruder, Jim Marrs, Milton Mayer, Sean David Morton, Michael Moore, John F. Newman, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, Linda Pease, Mike Ruppert, Edward Said, George Seldes, Harvey Wasserman, Tim Wise, and Howard Zinn.

I'm sure that I'll be able to add more names later today and tomorrow and I hope for many days to come.

I have this idea that the vast majority of people on this planet want the same things. Most people want to be able to work to support their families. Most people want to educate their children, have a decent place to live, enough to eat, health care and the freedom to express themselves.

There is only an infinitesimal minority of people who want to dominate and rule. These people are the very worst in all of us. We must learn the truth about them in order to reclaim this planet. They use everything at their command to cloud our minds and keep us from unifying.

Right is Wrong, up is down, black is white, so on and so forth.

We have to fight our way to the truth. It is hoped that this web site we'll make a small contribution to that quest.

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