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When Congress brought government spending to a standstill in October over Obamacare and the debt ceiling, ordinary Americans looked on in disgust. Those on the right vehemently supported the Republican position that Obamacare would be the end of America as we know it, and many on the left lauded the law as a miracle cure for the ailments of our healthcare system.

But as the nation seems to get more polarized the question arises, what is at stake when well meaning people cannot come to agreement over basic issues? At stake is of course, national and individual well-being, the health of our children and the health of our planet, and more.

University of Texas Journalism Professor Robert Jensen has written a book called Arguing for Our Lives: A User’s Guide to Constructive Dialog. In it he challenges us to use our human faculties of critical thinking on such important issues as politics, religion, the media, and more.

GUEST: Robert Jensen is the author of a number of books including Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity, The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege, Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, and We Are All Apocalyptic Now: On the Responsibilities of Teaching, Preaching, Reporting, Writing, and Speaking Out.

Robert Jensen will be speaking on Thursday November 7, 2013 at 7 pm at Occidental College, Fowler 302 on the topic of Pornography, Ecological Crisis, and the End of the World.

Read Jensen’s latest article on TruthOut called The Future Must Be Green, Red, Black and Female.