This is Jocko Podcast number 471 with Echo Charles and me, Jocco Willink. Good evening, Echko.

I love this country. I love the principles that it was founded upon. I love the people who live here, the diverse, mixed bag of hardworking, freedom-loving, independent individuals who make up our society. I love this land. from the mountains in Colorado to the wide open cattle

fields in Texas to the sun and waves of Southern California. I was born here, raised here.

I offered my life to serve this nation and protect its peace people. But as I look ahead,

I fear for our trajectory. I fear for the future we're creating for the next generation.

And that's why we need to talk.

Because true change will only happen when honest, healthy, and thoughtful conversations take place.

We live in a world inundated with noise.

The sound of people shouting their opinions and sharing information from every imaginable

outlet screaming to have their voices heard surround us but though we may be

talking shouting cramming information into our minds like a football team

with a stack of pizza boxes

in front of them. No one is actually communicating. No one is sitting down and having real

conversations. No one is really talking. And we sure is hell on listening to each other.

We've become a polarized and divided society that refuses to emerge from our echo chambers to listen to anyone

with a differing opinion. We've grown so accustomed to the incessant noise created by biased

news outlets, angry people convinced of their own assumptions, and an onslaught of information that

we've lost the ability to have any type of substantial positive conversations with our fellow

man. As a result, we miss out on the power that comes from innovative, open minds, tackling

our world's problems from differing viewpoints and unique perspectives.

And that right there is an excerpt from a book called UnFuck America, written by Mike Rittland.

And Mike Rittland is a former seal, dog handler, dog trainer, author of several other books,

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