Log in

Opinion

Anthony: American voters should engage in critical thinking, reading

Posted

Dear citizen, voter, responsible adult American: Critical reading is a required course in colleges today. What is important to understand about this course is that the future voters of America are taking this course every day!

What is critical reading and thinking?

It is a very careful way of dealing with events, issues, problems, decisions or situations. Critical thinking requires flexibility, a clear purpose, organization, time and effort, asking questions and finding answers, researching and coming to logical conclusions. Now lets also consider some of the obstacles of critical reading.

Prejudice, or bias, for example, is information that supports a particular point of view.

Relativism, or subjectivism, which is when we are dealing with “myths.” One big problem is that most everything, even science, turns out to be a matter of opinion, simply because it is so hard to prove or know anything beyond doubt or question. To overcome the obstacles to critical thinking posed by relativism, whether limited or not, we must cultivate an attitude of patience and tenacity in pursuit of the truth.

Consider this statement by Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

Egocentrism is the tendency to cherish and defend those beliefs most closely associated with an individual’s identity. Ethnocentricity is believing mine is better, my ideas, my experience, my values, my agenda, is better than yours based on your association with your group, race, gender or culture. To overcome this we must cultivate an attitude of respectful intellectual tolerance and maintain and strengthen our intellectual humility.

Now, you might understand why you should not just believe everything you hear, read on TV and all other media. The media has an “agenda.” Continuing to follow your old beliefs is not critical thinking. The sooner more of our younger culture starts using critical thinking the more problems can be solved.

Education is the enemy of the “controllers” of the modern-day economic and political groups that want control. When you do your own critical thinking, it should be clear “who” is suppressing education and using fear, prejudice, ethnocentricity and misinformation tactics on the American people.

Critical thinking has changed our culture already and will continue to as our new college students take over the national and world affairs. It is not too late for you to start using critical thinking today! Do the research on issues that affect your own life … always determine who wrote or said that and why they wrote or said it!

If you can debate issues with real facts that can be documented, you live in a Democracy!

Don’t be fooled. Do the research yourself. What you don’t know usually costs you the most.