What we are up against: Lack of Critical Thinking

[Edu]

I read this and realized that all these people I have problems with trying to get them to understand real liberty and freedom seem to have this problem. The article explains it all.

Lack of Critical Thinking is Key to the Corrupt Status Quo Maintaining Their Power
http://www.theundergroundinvestor.com/2012/01/think-and-thinking-shall-set-you-free/

"Have you ever noticed how vehemently people react when you question something they believe in instead of ever being able to have an intelligent discussion with him or her? In the below video, Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist, author, and war correspondent, nails the reason that explains why it is so difficult to change a person’s mind when they are committed to believing something even when they are confronted with a mountain of evidence that points to the contrary. Chris states that universities have stripped away humanities and other courses that develop critical thinking skills and instead, due to the historical influences of men like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, focus on teaching young men and women “what to think” instead of “how to think.”

 

[alucard13mmfmj]

lol im a recent graduate... they keep telling us that they are teaching us how to think, not what to think *<-- ironic eh* and thats why USA univesrities is the best in the world.

i do believe that people simply just choose not to believe, even if theres undeniable proof and collaborating evidence to disprove their claim or idea.

 

[goldpants]

Definitely a huge issue facing the liberty movement. Now ideally we would teach people how to think freely and critically. However I wonder with some sets if it would serve our goals better to just re-program them to our side on a single issue or two. Clearly some groups are just so susceptible to brainwashing.

 

[Czolgosz]

It's unpossible. You won't ever have a majority of societ being rational independent thinkers.

 

[dfalken]

lol im a recent graduate... they keep telling us that they are teaching us how to think, not what to think *<-- ironic eh* and thats why USA univesrities is the best in the world.

i do believe that people simply just choose not to believe, even if theres undeniable proof and collaborating evidence to disprove their claim or idea.

Yeah and they also keep telling you that you live in the "land of the free". When someone keeps telling you something you really have to question what they are telling you because usually it is just pure propaganda to mask the fact that reality is exactly the opposite of what they are telling you. Another meme that applies is "they hate us because of our freedoms."

 

[febo]

Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist, author, and war correspondent, nails the reason that explains why it is so difficult to change a person’s mind when they are committed to believing something even when they are confronted with a mountain of evidence that points to the contrary.

Funny you say this. Hedges was recently asked about Ron Paul - he called him a "funny" guy whose ideas are pre-industrial and basically dismissed him. This is despite the fact that he agrees totally with Ron Paul on Corporatism, statism, empire, whislteblowers, war, peace, the constitution, racism, the drug war .. need I go on?

 

[EaSy]

Q: "Why do you support Ron Paul?"
A: "Because he makes me think."

 

[coffeewithchess]

Ummm, it's easily explained. People repeat what they hear on tv/radio, and are lazy and won't do research. It's not even critical thinking they are lacking now, it's just a simple thought process in general. If they believe the sky is green, and I show them a variety of blue colors and experts saying, "These are all blue." Then I show them the sky being blue, they immediately resort to, "This man is dangerous. He will destroy this country faster than Obama. To the left of Obama. Dangerous foreign policy."
When you say, "Have you read the 9/11 Commission Report as a starting point?"
They say, "He wants to legalize drugs."
You say, "I didn't mention drugs, have you read the 9/11 Commission Report?"
They say, "He is a wacko."
You say, "Did you watch/read any of the links I sent you?"
They say, "He has deceived a lot of people."

You can't even have a legitimate point about policy differences, because they don't even know what policies they like, just talking points.
Don't state facts, when people have opinions. They will get you nowhere.

 

[Romulus]

It's true, the formula has been changed to indoctrinate.

http://www.triviumeducation.com/

 

[jolynna]

Interesting that Chris Hedges got brought up. I'm reading Chris Hedges' The World As It is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress. I'm enjoying it.

I could see Chris Hedges saying what he said about Ron Paul, he calls himself a Ralph Nader kind of socialist, I gotta say, on many, many issues he and Ron Paul are like identical twins. But, even though Hedges says he despises "progressives", his liberal roots come through in his writings.

His reporting the facts though, I appreciate how he digs for detail and am learning a lot. He trashes BOTH the progressives AND GOP because of how BOTH parties have become handmaidens to corporate interests.

Here's a good article by Hedges which makes a good case for getting of of the couch and doing something to bring about change:

Chris Hedges: Endgame Strategy http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/96/chris-hedges-revolution-in-america.html

 

[Todd]

I like what Chris Hedges says about many things such as his book on the influence of entertainment and the influence of our media.

but it's his conclusion that socialism is the cure that I part ways

 

[Todd]

You know it was in the book "The closing of the American Mind" in the early 80's that predicted the destruction of Humanities.

 

[Todd]

Funny you say this. Hedges was recently asked about Ron Paul - he called him a "funny" guy whose ideas are pre-industrial and basically dismissed him. This is despite the fact that he agrees totally with Ron Paul on Corporatism, statism, empire, whislteblowers, war, peace, the constitution, racism, the drug war .. need I go on?

See my posts above. He's a socialist. He's coming along, but he's still getting the "critical thinking" part.

 

[RonPaulFever]

The U.S., like the kid that eats too many marbles and doesn't grow up to have kids of his own (George Carlin), is too dumb to survive.

 

[Lethalmiko]

Edu certainly has a point. Some of you point out how easily brainwashed voters are and therefore by implication reject RP. But Paul's 3 main problems are perceived unelectability, misunderstood foreign policy and misinformation to seniors which has less to do with brainwashing and more to do with a failure to address the problems. Why can't these problems be corrected? It is like blaming a bad hand of cards for losing a poker game. While bad cards can possibly lead you to lose, you can still win by bluffing. People have overcome great odds to win elections including RP himself in the 90s.

For example, I have seen no ads from the campaign using the head-to-head matchup polls to prove electability. This argument was rarely used by Paul (at least in the early more critical stages) in many interviews I watched (he used the I-have-been-elected-to-congress-twelve-times argument which is useless). Why can't Paul emphasize how he would decisively deal with a potential military threat with great force upon congressional authorization, rather than sounding weak? he can still talk about the cost of war but where the emphasis is placed is important in driving perception. Why doesn't the campaign assure seniors they are better off under a Paul presidency? You can also wage your own "propaganda" war to counter the media bias and clarify things.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

It's not the absence of critical thinking, it's the presence of emotional feeling. Politics thrives on feelings or belief patterns, especially those that makes one feel comfortable. It's easy to feel "entitled" to all kinds of government programs and benefits once you keep getting them, and their receipt become an expected part of your life routine. The fact that it's robbing Peter and Paul, to pay Mary may be the kind of critical thinking the receiver already has, but it doesn't change the feeling Mary has of entitlement due to the settled routine. You may be a sailor who heard all about the syrens, but your rationality may still be overcome once you hear them seductively call you to your doom. What happens is one usually wraps their logical thinking to fit their emotions and beliefs, not the other way around.

Emotion and belief systems override rationality in modern politics. Paul may talk about non-interventionism and blowback, but for the average person operating from the "they attacked us, they threaten us" post 9-11 fear and belief framework, it just comes across as isolationist and irrelevant. If you already accept the "they threaten us" framework, it's feels isolationist to talk about non-intervention because, after all, "they" already intervened, and have to be put down. Refusing to do so thus comes off as refusing to properly engage the enemy, or isolationist. Talking about blowback likewise feels irrelevant in this "they threaten us" context, because when under seige, you don't have the time, and don't have to care about the enemy's motivation. It's much more comfortable to just go "get 'em" and be done with it.

To get the pro-peace view over to the mass public you have to attack the "they" framework directly. That's why Paul's avoidance of questioning 9-11 has cost him much more in votes, across two entire primary races, than he has gained from the few converts who have listened to rational arguments. Others who pooh pooh attacking the official story, saying it would get him assigned to "kook" status, are mainly acting out of their emotional aversion against being marginalized as a "kook," instead of rationally looking at how much avoiding the elephant in the room has cost his candidacy. Paul can't get his foreign policy message through because it runs contrary to the post 9-11 emotional framework of most Republicans, a framework he doesn't challenge. So long as emotions drive thinking and go un-countered, they will continue to be unreceptive.

"Pleasure and revenge/ Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice/ Of any true decision." --Hector, in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida