I know I haven't posted in a while, but I just got to thinking, following a lecture that was given by a distinguished professor in my indigenous (international human rights) course yesterday: the lack of critical thinking that is taught here in the United States, as compared to other countries.
Critical thinking is a huge task in terms of brain power and effort. It not only requires memorization. It not only requires reading material over and over again. It not only requires choosing a news network (Fox, CNN, or MSNBC) according to your political affiliation. No ladies and gentlemen, critical thinking requires a concerted effort on the part of an individual to HONESTLY analyze and evaluate the EVIDENCE available in a given scenario.
The evidence that must be evaluated must come from both sides of the equation. For example, if a conservative is to come to an INFORMED political judgment he or she must not only watch FOX news (which will cater to such person's tastes), but ALSO watch CNN, MSNBC, or a more "liberal" network in order to obtain information from both sides. In other words, by watching CNN, the conservative will know what the other viewpoints out there are, and be able to refute those viewpoints. Sure, doubts may arise, but faith in ones beliefs are best refined by fire, as the Bible says somewhere (don't quote me on that, but I remember a pastor explaining this to me at some point).
MY POINT: in our country, WE DON'T REALLY USE OUR HEADS WHEN COMING TO JUDGMENTS. Now, most of you reading this have graduated from undergraduate, and most likely, from a graduate program, so you are more ready, willing, and able to see two sides of a coin, and reach an informed conclusion. But at large, people either blindly accept what the Bush adminstration says as true (although this is starting to change) OR people respond to the Bush adminstration with such gutteral hate that they fail to see even the few good moves that have been made. For instance, I'm a Democrat, but I support Bush's endorsement of comprehensive immigration reform, providing for earned legalization of those individuals who have been working so hard here in the United States.
People who fail to think critically will jump the gun and say one of two things: either (1) I'm not a true Christian because I don't support the Bush administration in all of its endeavors and respect Bush as a "godly man" or (2) how dare a Democrat such as me support even something as big as immigration reform... why don't I support AMNESTY???!
Let's face it everyone: we are on hair trigger alert in this country. We can't even discuss the war in Iraq with those who agree with our viewpoint because some individual "agrees with you but is just too angry to talk about it." It boils down to the fact that we are AFRAID of each other. Fear is prevalent throughout American politics. And, as Yoda once said, "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." Our country is suffering as a result of this fear-driven, hair-trigger alert, failure to analyze, evaluate, and discuss the issues of our day.
It's high time that we Americans, in the freeest country in the world, exercise one Constitutional privilege that we seem to have forgotten about in the past six years: the freedom of speech. Once we start openly talking and communicating with others about the issues of the day, our country will once again blossom and flourish. How I look forward to that day!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
You're correct that many people in this country fail to see all sides of an issue. In fact, most issues are so nuanced that it's nearly impossible to see all sides - you just have to get as many as you can. But far too many fail to get beyond one.
However, I have to take issue with the following statement: "Most of you reading this have graduated from undergraduate, and most likely, from a graduate program, so you are more ready, willing, and able to see two sides of a coin." This is grossly inaccurate. To assume that a person is able to analyze societal, political, etc. issues merely because he or she is educated is balderdash. Some of the most closed-minded people I know have undergraduate degrees, while some of the most open-minded I know only have high school educations, or in some cases, not even that. While education can certainly enhance a person's ability to think critically, its presence or absence is by no means a deciding factor.
Oh, and there's a word for people who actually believe they have to support Bush because "God put him into office" or "he's a Christian like me" or "he's a godly man". We call them morons.
Mike has an excellent point. Education gives you a bigger arsenal with which to argue, but open-mindedness doesn't necessarily come from the classroom. Anyone who has dealt with academics knows that some of them are the most narrow-minded people out there (and others, of course, are among the most open-minded).
This sort of "gut reaction" culture is part of America, though. Any public figure who thinks too much about an issue, weighs facts, and makes a critically informed decision is likely to be pilloried for it (see Kerry, John). We value emotional knowledge (some call this "faith") over intellectual knowledge, and there are good and bad aspects to this. While this over-reliance on emotion may make our country ripe for demagoguery (see Tancredo, Tom), it also drives some of the sweeping changes that have made our country great (see King, Martin Luther). So if we go to a reliance on purely critical thinking, we lose some of the willingness to make bold moves, be they right or wrong... the question then becomes whether or not the good bold moves are worth the price of the bad ones.
You want an issue that causes everybody to turn their brains off? Abortion. Boy do the emotions take over when that one shows up. It got me in a shouting match with Danielle once, as Jeff sat by uncomfortably.
The only thing I disagree with in Dan's post, aside from what Mike has already pointed out, is his optimism that we will ever reach the point - as a country - where everybody logically reasons things through. It's just not human nature. From the beginning, our country has been swayed far more by naked emotional appeals (and demagoguery) than logic. Example? See the famed pamphlet Common Sense by Thomas Paine. See the brutal politics of the 1800 election.
The best we can hope for in this world is that (a) logical people will at least hold some sway and (b) passion will be used for good...and both will be used to encourage the better angels of our nature. (Note the "in this world"...which would move the discussion from politics and rhetoric to theology.)
Post a Comment