The paradox of the Immovable Object meeting the Irresistible…

The paradox of the Immovable Object meeting the Irresistible Force. No object can resist an irresistible force. No force can move an immovable object. So if an immovable object meets an irresistible force it will move and not move.

— from Communication & Conflict (Communication/Conflict)

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Beware, too, the cheap unity of a common enemy: groups bond fast against a shared scapegoat, justified or not, and that easy solidarity is one of the most dangerous forces in human affairs. The wiser counsel is Sun Tzu's — know yourself and the other side, and you need not fear the outcome of a hundred encounters; treat the clash like the old paradox of the immovable object and the unstoppable force, where the only escape is for one of them to move. [Here is the place for my own turbulence — write in, or let me tell you, about a conflict I handled badly, what it cost, and what I would do differently now.] — Communication & Conflict (Communication/Conflict)

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