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Aug. 24, 2016 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
31:47
The Young Turks vs #JusticeForHarambe
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Time Text
I don't know about you, but everything seems to have been a bit serious of late.
So I think I'll look for something a bit more light-hearted for us to enjoy.
Last May, the Cincinnati Zoo had to shoot and kill a gorilla by the name of Harambe after a child fell into his enclosure and many thought that the gorilla posed a threat to the child.
Now, fast forward to months later, and many on the internet are still creating memes that the Cincinnati Zoo is not too happy about, and we now understand why.
perfect now i'm gonna get to those memes in just a second Don't hold out on me, Anna.
I need those memes.
But if the memes are dreams are something that you've come across and you did not find them offensive.
I don't really want to talk about the kind of porn I watch in public, Anna, but no, I didn't find them offensive.
I actually found it really funny because of what they were in response to.
Also, consider the fact that now there are events on Facebook encouraging people to jump off bridges in honor of Harambe.
Yes, and it's all a part of Harambe's messianic cult.
What's the problem here?
Now, these events are posted and created and meant to be a joke.
Okay.
So, what are you going to do?
Take it seriously?
But some are not too happy about it.
Are they the same people who complained about heavy metal Dungeons and Dragons in video games?
So, I'm going to give you a few examples.
There's one that says, jump off the harbor bridge for Harambe.
And reflexively, you, of course, clicked going before you were like, hang on.
Jump off Telstra Tower for Harambe.
We don't encourage suicide, so that's kind of letting people know this is just a joke.
It might not be a joke.
It could be the Harambe Base Jumping Society.
Well, they had to add that later because they were starting to worry that people were taking it seriously.
Well, as you've demonstrated, there are indeed people taking these jokes seriously.
I'm glad at least they were worried about it.
Oh, yeah, because God forbid they don't take a joke seriously.
Yeah, and so people were also tweeting about it.
Lucas Zelasko says, we just invited, we were just invited to mass suicide bridge jump for Harambe on Facebook.
Should I RSVP for anyone else?
Why are you doing a segment on this?
Why?
So later on, the creators of these pages posted messages indicating, hey, you know what?
This is just a joke.
Please don't take this seriously.
Clearly, they were talking to you and Cenk.
This is crazy.
We don't want anyone to take their own lives as a result of what happened to Harambe.
Clearly.
Clearly, they don't.
I mean, God forbid.
God forbid that Harambe cultists go and mess suicide off bridges to honour their lord and saviour Harambe.
Just...
Why do you even have to say this?
But what's equally disturbing to me is just the number of racist memes that emerged from Black Lives Matter?
From this tragic story of a gorilla getting shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Oh, right, okay.
Well, let's see some of these racist memes.
So I want to show you a few of those examples.
These are the memes that eventually convinced the Cincinnati Zoo to delete their Twitter and Facebook pages.
Are you saying that these memes were weaponized?
Is this like some sort of cyber warfare?
So let's fast forward to graphics 40.
I want to show you some of these examples.
Okay.
Is this really actually racist?
I mean, is that not actually a factually accurate statement?
Now, I also want to note that there were some light-hearted memes as well.
As opposed to all the really serious memes that we should take really seriously.
But there were plenty of these memes.
Another unarmed African-American shot dead.
Let's show you another example.
They shot my husband.
Okay, yeah, that probably is racist.
But I do think it's worth pointing out that this wouldn't be entirely without precedent.
I mean, according to the ladies at BuzzFeed, this gorilla is pretty hot.
That's a real person.
Okay, that's so nice of them to do that.
I think that's Gabare Sadiba, but I could be wrong.
I'm not sure.
Yeah, Cheng doesn't know.
I mean, he doesn't know.
That's not his kind of porn.
He likes his fat women to come from the subcontinent.
Here's another example.
What y'all think would have happened to this gorilla?
Rest in peace, Harambe.
Anna, you and I both know that came from Black Lives Matter.
That wasn't white nationalists on the internet bragging that their white gorilla wouldn't have been murdered.
That's Black Lives Matter complaining that they think that this gorilla would have white privilege over Harambe because he was a black gorilla.
And then let's show you another example.
Remember that kid that jumped into the gorilla tank?
This is him.
Feel old yet.
How is this racist?
It's referencing a specific meme you see all over the internet where you see a child star from the 90s and they're like in their 40s now.
And you're like, wow, I feel old now because it does make you feel fucking old.
This isn't a commentary on black people.
It's really funny.
And then let's give you guys one more.
All gorilla lives matter.
How is that racist?
How?
How is that racist?
Is mocking Black Lives Matter racist now?
Okay.
So BuzzFeed explains that 4chan started at least the bridge jumping stuff.
Which is why you should just be ignoring it.
Carry on.
And so at that point, I hadn't read into the racist Harambe memes yet.
The trouble is determining who made them.
Was it a white supremacist or was it a black supremacist?
BUT AS ANNA CAN ATTEST TO, I PREDICTED IT, I WAS LIKE, LET'S LOOK INTO THIS, BECAUSE I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF PEOPLE DIDN'T TAKE THIS IN A RACIST DIRECTION.
I would be surprised if people didn't take this in a racist direction.
Chink, that's your fucking boilerplate opinion for every fucking thing you read.
That's what you think about everything.
And then you think, how can I blame white people for this?
And of course they did.
Oh yeah, unbelievably, the guy who sees racism everywhere discovers that this meme is racist.
And so, okay guys, look.
Look, I know that some people think racism is really funny.
Hands up, don't shoot, my man.
I find racism hilarious.
Racism is the most ridiculous thing I can possibly imagine.
Actually, being a genuine racist as a serious position is possibly one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.
Comedy comes from absurdity, Cenk.
From surprise, from unexpectedness.
The more absurd a thing is, the funnier it is.
And I know you're going to be like, yeah, but you're laughing at black people.
And the answer is, no, I'm not, Cenk.
I'm laughing at the person who is being a racist.
It's like with rape jokes.
You're like, oh my God, you're laughing at rape victims.
No, you're laughing at the person who is telling the joke.
The point is that they don't know.
They are not self-aware enough to know that what they are saying is hilarious.
Probably because they never suffered it.
Well, I mean, I suppose if you think that people can't be racist to white people, you would think that, wouldn't you?
So they never got denied a house.
What?
Black people are allowed to buy houses, even in the United States, Jenk.
People don't get denied a house because the mortgage brokers, like, I'm not selling a house to a monkey.
They never got charged so much more money for financing.
You know what?
I have no idea what financing is like in America.
I mean, I don't know that when you walk into a bank, the teller's like, yes, how can I help you?
And the black person's like, look, I'd like to apply for a mortgage, please.
And they just point to the sign that says, whites only, no coloureds allowed.
So whether it was financing a car or a house, and even though they're poor.
Oh my god, you are such a fucking racist.
You just think all black people are poor.
You think Barack Obama is sitting on the porch of the White House?
Just spoken weed, isn't he, Jenk?
They have to pay an extra penalty?
What?
The black tax.
They never dealt with that, so they think it's hilarious.
They probably just aren't aware how openly racist the credit system in America is.
I mean, hell, I wasn't until you enlightened me.
And family members never got shot.
Yeah, it's a well-known fact that white people are in fact impervious to bullets, which is how the Neanderthal Cave Beast Toms managed to take the super advanced technology from Africa from the Africans.
So, haha, it's really funny.
Yeah, that's really not what people are laughing at, though.
I mean, I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about, but that's really not what people are laughing at with the Harambe memes.
I'll tell you, I'm just going to let you make complete fools of yourselves first.
I mean, I can go on and on, right?
Right.
And you do, at length, constantly.
In fact, it's your job.
Okay.
And I know why they did the bridge jumping thing.
It's not like the joke is lost on us.
I get it.
What you're saying is people are overly emotional about Harambe.
And, hey, why don't you calm down over it?
And I get it.
We'll tease you that we should all commit mass suicide because this issue is so important.
Kind of.
People are mocking the sort of messianic way people decide to virtue signal on social media over it.
Rip Harambe.
Rip Cecil the Lion.
You know the sort of thing.
And now they're both in animal heaven.
And look what's happening.
Okay.
Look, we covered a Harambe story and a lot of people were really upset about it.
And I said, I wish they hadn't shot the gorilla, but if it was my kid, I probably would have asked them to take the shot.
Which, in my opinion, is actually a totally respectable position, Cank.
This is the one thing that I won't mock you on.
Yeah, I'd do the same.
If it were my son in there, I'd be like, fuck you, shoot that fucking gorilla.
You know, I don't care if he was trying to protect him or whatever.
I wouldn't want to take the chance to.
Totally agree.
Go on, carry on.
I think most people with their children would have asked for the same thing.
Right.
And at the same time, people got on me for that, etc.
But what we're asking you on this show, sometimes with some success, but oftentimes not much success, is for everybody to calm down and try to respect each other a little bit.
Go on.
Tell me about respect.
Also, tell me what Rush Limbaugh's been doing this week.
What about Bill Reilly or Sean Hannity?
What have they been doing?
I know sometimes we feel like we're fighting against the windmills here.
You actually don't know what that phrase means, do you, Chank?
It's actually tilting at windmills.
And it comes from a book I read, or at least I read the first third of it.
It's fucking enormous.
Called Don Quixote, which is like a 17th century Spanish novel.
And it's actually really, really good, which is why people remember it.
And I've been planning to do a video on it to highlight the parallels between the fictional Don Quixote and his madness and the regressive left.
So thanks for reminding me of that, Cenk.
And I agree, you are absolutely tilting at windmills.
And people online, they get a big kick out of making fun of other people and demeaning them.
oh yeah you'd never do that chink and think like it's such a they're so clever It's like, I'm the first one to think of a racist meme.
I'm so, so clever.
actually they think they're funny and you know look i don't mean to even though some of these guys are clearly racist or maybe they're not they just think racism is freaking hilarious That describes the overwhelming number of people who have ever used Harambe as a meme.
The number of people who are actual racists is actually really tiny, Cenk.
But the number of people who think racism is funny, especially when people are crying racism, where it doesn't actually exist, that's even funnier.
And I'm not kidding, Chenk, there are hundreds of thousands of these people, probably millions if they knew what you were saying.
Which, by the way, is another form of racism.
That's exactly what I mean.
That's exactly what I mean.
Laughing at racist jokes is just another form of racism.
That's, I mean, that's what you actually believe, isn't it, Chank?
That's what you actually think.
So when a black person is laughing at a racist meme, they are also being racist.
But the problem, of course, is that only white people can be racist, Chank.
So how exactly do you square this circle?
Right?
Like, hey, I'll make fun of all the stuff that's really causing giant problems in your life or might have even caused someone in your family's life, but I don't care about you at all.
Oh yeah?
Where are the Tamir Rice memes?
Where are they?
Where are the people mocking Tamir Rice?
You know, the 12-year-old who was shot because he had a toy gun and the cop just comes screaming in, doesn't say anything, just shoots his kid dead.
Where are the memes of that?
So I'll make fun of you for that.
No, as with all things, people will make fun of you for either being stupid or being a bigot.
Well, okay, I don't know what you call that.
I don't know if that's racism or if it's just you're just being a dick.
Jesus Christ, I think we're witnessing some kind of existential crisis.
Chenk isn't sure if something's racism or not.
Right.
And I know that some of the younger guys, they think being a dick is so funny.
I was so mean to that person.
I think what they're finding funny, Chenk, is that people like you will take the bait.
But yeah, I totally agree with you, Chenk.
Let's not have any fun at anyone's expense.
It doesn't matter how much of a bad person publicly they are being, let's not be a dick to them because, God, that might hurt someone's feelings.
Now shut up and let me tell you how racist you are because you're white.
I'm the funniest person because I'm such an asshole.
Yeah.
Well, you make me laugh.
I know that's out of context, but it could apply to you, couldn't it, Cenk?
Let's be honest.
And maybe it is for that split second, but to you.
But it isn't to other people.
Yeah, okay.
And it's the same when you get accused of being a racist or a sexist or a homophobe or an Islamophobe or any of these other stupid labels you have.
Because what you mean, what the social justice purpose of that word is, is to identify the oppressor as if the people you are talking to are doing something wrong by merely being what they are.
We're asking you to think about that?
Which is fair enough, but what if these people are literally acting in an absurd manner?
How do we not mock it?
But I- and then, I guess we're social justice warriors.
Yeah, I'd say so.
You've demonstrated all of the quality so far.
No sense of humor, bossy, arrogant, racist.
Because we actually care about other human beings.
Some other people.
Not just other people as a blanket statement.
Some other people.
And that's entirely the problem.
Because then you take these some people, declare them to be some kind of greater good, and then take a different group of people and say they are the problem.
You then take this collection of individuals, slap a label on them, and tell them that they are all pieces of shit.
That's what makes you a social justice warrior.
You know, it's disgusting.
It's disgusting and unacceptable.
I agree, so could you please cut it out and just care about the people you know, and then they will care about the people they know, and then they will care about the people they know.
And it'll just be increasing degrees of separation until eventually, the combined effect of these voluntary individual actions will produce a better society.
One where people actually meaningfully give a fuck about each other.
They actually know the person who they care about.
They can actually tell you something about the person they care about.
That's how you make a better world.
You don't do it through this blanket statement bigotry.
What you should do is just push other people around and demean them and try to hurt them.
Honestly, I couldn't describe social justice warriors more accurately.
I just, I mean, that is just incredible.
Honestly, Chank, that is incredible.
That is the most perfect description and so concise.
And that is what this is about.
It's about power and control and who is hurting who.
Yeah.
Because that's the decent thing to do.
Yeah, I proudly will wear that label.
Really?
Would you go any further than that, Anna?
I love being a social justice warrior.
And that's the point, isn't it?
This is what you get emotional gratification from.
You feel like a good person when you say something like, oh, you're a racist.
I'd rather be a social justice warrior than a piece of fucking shit.
Believe this or not, Anna, they aren't the only two options.
You could choose to be a good person.
Okay.
How about that?
I'm guessing you've been called an SJW a few times recently, to be honest.
So now they'll say, oh no, you guys don't understand.
Social justice warrior isn't people who actually care about justice.
They're the ones who are overly emotional and stuff.
Yes, Cheng, that is an exact description of what people think.
I mean, and that's literally the way they think is.
It's not like you're trying to minimize people's concerns here by misrepresenting them or anything like that, is it?
I mean, you wouldn't call this a straw man, would you, Cheng?
Like, pushing people and pushing them, pushing them, and then going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you getting so emotional for?
I got you because I was such a dickhead to you and then you reacted in an emotional way.
Because that is literally what SJWs do to normal people, Cheng.
For fuck's sake, have you not seen the hashtag white tears or men's tears hashtags?
These people literally say things they know are going to offend people and then they mock them when they get offended.
What about masculinity so fragile, whiteness so fragile?
These people came out on the attack, and now you're pissed off that people are fighting back.
I think that you're, you think it's proving something that it's not proving.
And I think you're deliberately not paying attention to what's going on because if you do, you will have to put your hands up and say, hey, you know what?
I'm a total prick.
Right?
You think, again, you're being so smart by being such dicks to people, but you're not.
That's not a smart thing to do.
It's not a particularly clever thing to do.
It's just a dick thing to do.
I hope you grow up one day, and I don't mean, like, like...
Was that a message to your fellow regressive leftists?
Like, I'm not trying to be better than people by saying, oh, well, you guys are immature and I'm so mature.
I make stupid jokes all the time.
I make immature jokes all the time.
But I try not to hurt other people while doing it.
I don't think that's too much to ask for.
You see, and this is why I think Chenk is just an idiot who's stuck inside this echo chamber.
And he's just being fed the same fucking opinions over and over and over.
And he never actually has a meaningful debate with someone who doesn't share his opinions on these particular topics.
And so this, he's not so bad.
You know, this is what I mean.
He's really not so bad.
He's just misled, I think.
Probably.
But then listen to Anna.
I don't think that's too much to ask for.
And look, I've come to the realization that the people who get that rise out of, you know, attacking others, you know.
Smashing the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
Putting other people down.
Those are miserable people.
Okay, Anna.
We're going to remember you said that.
And we're going to reference that in about 30 seconds.
Right?
They're not happy people.
And so this is how they get joy in their life.
And I feel like if you see memes like that, or if you see people getting attacked, or if you will sit back and have no emotion when you see unarmed individuals getting shot and killed.
Literally, this is no one that you're talking about at this point.
I mean, the number of people that you are including in this umbrella is so microscopic.
And yet the way you've painted this is that there are thousands of people doing this, which there are.
They're the people that Chenk has already identified as people who just find racism funny because it's absurd.
The people you're talking about, Anna, are tiny, but you make it sound like it's not tiny.
You make it sound like this is a huge fucking problem.
Well then, I mean, look, you're a sociopath, right?
Actually, yeah, that would make you a sociopath.
I mean, if you were literally standing there, someone got gunned down in front of you, and it literally didn't have any impact on you.
Yeah, that probably is one kind of characteristic of that disorder.
But that's not happening, Anna.
People aren't pointing and laughing at something that's actually happening in front of them.
And we're talking about Harambe.
Or you should be talking about Harambe.
This is what this whole fucking thing was about.
We're talking about a gorilla that was shot.
Yeah.
And the thing is, the joke isn't even that the gorilla was shot.
I'll explain the joke at the end because you guys sound just insane.
And so I feel bad for you more than anything, right?
And so if you want to attack me for being overly emotional or for passionately, you know, defending those who are defenseless.
Oh, you're such a fucking hero, Anna.
You're such a fucking- Who are you defending?
Name a person you are defending.
Name them.
I mean, what do you do?
Do you go to the house?
Do you act as a bodyguard?
Or do you just bitch people out on the internet?
And you've decided to interpret everything as fucking racism.
And now you're totally morally justified.
You have your greater good.
So it's okay to do whatever you fucking want.
It's okay to say whatever you fucking want to these people because, I mean, what are they, Anna?
What are these people?
Then go ahead.
You can attack me all you want.
But am I saying that I'm better than you?
I guess I'm going a little further than you are.
Yeah, I'm fucking better than you, okay?
Much better than you.
You are garbage.
Look, Anna, I'm telling you now, you're going to have to walk back from this.
I've fallen into this trap too.
A few months ago, I'd done a video and I can't remember what the situation in the video was, but for some reason, I had to establish whether I thought I was morally superior to social justice warriors.
And at the time, I said, well, yes, I don't go around acting like a racist.
Whereas, like Chenk in this video saying, just assuming that black people means poor, social justice warriors do.
And not just against black people, but also against white people and sexists against men and probably against women as well.
And, you know, so.
But the thing is, you've got to remember it's about intentions.
You know, if people are doing something unwittingly, which I think Chenk is doing, I don't think he is, you know, knowingly being a racist, but he is unwittingly being one, as often you are as well, Anna, to be honest.
And so if it's not that they don't intend to do this, then they're not a piece of shit.
You don't know why these people are doing this.
I know why they're doing it.
It's the same fucking reason I'm doing this right now.
I'm tired of you attacking people, which is what an accusation of white privilege actually is when you boil down to it.
Because what you say is, it's okay to be racist to white people.
It's okay to be sexist to men.
And this ends up having damaging consequences.
It's actually got sort of like quantifiable fucking effects.
Look at the suicide rates, Anna.
Okay, if you get a rise out of attacking the powerless, you're garbage.
You are the one being attacked by people calling you social justice warriors.
You are the co-anchor on one of the most watched liberal, quote-unquote, network station networks.
You are not powerless.
You are absolutely not powerless.
These people on the internet making memes are powerless.
And you can't deal with it because you literally have nothing to attack them with.
They are, I mean, it is kind of like meme ideological terrorism.
And yeah, there's nothing you can do.
You've just got to deal with it.
And this is what you're getting so fucking worked up about.
This is why you're doubling down.
No, they are all pieces of shit.
Even if, technically, I mean, I did find the first fucking shot.
And you can call me a social justice warrior.
You can call me whatever the fuck you want.
Just look how pissed off about this shit.
This has been building.
At this point, I don't give a shit.
Okay?
That's it.
That's who I am.
And it is what it is.
You clearly give a massive shit.
I don't think you would have produced a rant like this if you literally didn't care.
I mean, you would like, whatever.
The fact is you do care.
And you know that there's something wrong.
And you know that what this means is that people are trying to tell you, look, you're coming off really badly.
This is why they're doing this.
You're taking yourselves way too seriously.
You're doubling down on it.
You're ignoring the fact that you're talking about a bunch of fucking jokes.
And now you're telling the people making jokes that they are just total pieces of shit.
I mean, Chenk has been so much more measured in this than you.
I can hardly believe it.
So it's not a matter of being better that somebody's richer, more famous, whatever.
No, it's a matter of who's more decent to other human beings.
And if you think that's a funny standard, like, who would want to be decent to other human beings?
Well, then you should probably wear your label as sociopath.
Yes, I'm sure those people would.
I'm sure the tiny number, the handful of people you have just described, probably would describe themselves as sociopaths.
But that isn't the majority of people you're talking about.
You should say, yeah, I'm a sociopath.
I get a real kick out of not caring about anybody else in humanity.
And so.
Congratulations.
I'm making a YouTube poop of this segment.
I'm going to make a YouTube poop of just Chenk and Anna just describing social justice warriors from how they think other people are.
OKAY, AND SO FOR THE PEOPLE, LET ME END ON THIS NOTE.
Who are upset by all this?
Anna's right, right?
Right?
Right, right?
Right.
That's right, right?
Maybe.
So they're trying to get a rise out of you and they're making fun of you for actually caring about whether it's Harambe or other living creatures or other human beings, other races.
Don't let them get under your skin too much because remember their main joy is to cause grief to other people.
Boy, how much does their life suck?
So are you telling me that you're currently taking a massive shit on what you consider to be an oppressed group of people?
Is I mean are you telling me that all the people you're talking about here that Anna has just gone I am just fucking better than you is actually Just someone who is is actually a cry for help.
That's why they're doing this.
They're doing all of this because they want you to listen to them because you're fucking having an effect on them So no matter how low you get with whatever their situation is think about that guy sitting somewhere whose only joy in life is to try to make other people miserable So maybe Anna shouldn't call that person garbage Maybe she shouldn't be using her platform of 3 million subscribers to say that that person is just garbage.
Maybe she should be like look I genuinely feel bad for you.
I'm going to display some empathy if such a thing is even possible towards a white person from a member of the young Turks.
It doesn't really get much worse than that.
So when you're down, think about that poor some bitch whose only joy in life is a meanness in causing pain to others.
Right.
At least you're not in that situation.
God, who'd want to be that idiot?
Yeah, God forbid.
But okay, look, you really didn't seem to understand what this whole Harambe thing's been about.
It's not actually racism from the people making the Harambe memes, at least mostly.
They are actually making these memes to laugh at racists.
Look, as soon as the Harambe thing started, you got stuff on Twitter like this.
Of course it was a white kid that somehow got into a gorilla exhibit.
Y'all really don't care about your kids.
And then when Harambe had been shot, people would tweet stuff like this.
Killing an endangered gorilla of the zoo for a white boy's safety is white privilege.
If the boy was black, they'd have found a tranquilizer.
And then they started equating the gorilla's life to like the lives of black people.
That gorilla was taken from its homeland and put in captivity and then killed to preserve white life.
That sounds familiar.
I mean, seriously, if a white person said that to a black person about Harambe, you'd be like, dude, that is the most racist fucking thing I can imagine.
Then it came out that the boy who had fallen in with Harambe was black.
So then the narrative changed to, how oppressed is Harambe?
That gorilla was black, unarmed, and 17.
Again, just insanely racist statement that they decide Harambe is one of them.
And it was the white man killing Harambe because he was fucking black.
Literally, there were people saying this.
The popularity of Harambe in Black Lives Matter caused a kind of like deification of him as if he was symbolic of the black man's struggle against the white man.
So naturally, people started mocking these white hating racists for simply being total bigots.
Oh, gorilla gets shot.
It's a white kid that fell in.
Yeah, yeah, and they shot the gorilla because the gorilla was black.
Oh, the kid was black.
Yeah, well, this is just being racist against the gorilla then.
You know, it was just the white zookeepers who shot the gorilla because they hate fucking niggas.
This is what they're saying.
This is what people are mocking.
It's fucking absurd.
It's just not grounded in reality at all.
And you are on the side that defends them.
You are defending this bigotry.
This is what people are so pissed off about, Cenk.
And Anna, Jesus Christ, love.
Seriously, just maybe, just maybe, they're not criticizing the oppressed.
Maybe they're criticizing the people with the power.
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