CRITICAL THINKING ...Why we have it, and they don't

It has bothered me for a long while HOW we see all that is going on...and they don't
quote.......
CRITICAL THINKING encompasses the entire

process of obtaining, comprehending, analyzing,

evaluating, internalizing, and acting upon

knowledge and values.

Critical Thinking means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge and values about the world.
Critical Thinking is reasonable, reflective, responsible, and skillful thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.

A person who thinks critically can ask appropriate questions, gather relevant information, efficiently and creatively sort through this information, reason logically from this information, and come to reliable and trustworthy conclusions about the world that enable one to live and act successfully in it.

end quote...
A great read ( which is one of the BIG problems. We do...and they don't!)
http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-notes.html

"THE COMPONENTS OF CRITICAL THINKING:"

Going down the list, it occurred to me that DUH-bya has NONE of these traits.

Everyone who has republican friends needs to read this list!

True critical thinking is judicious, but many people simply produce mock critical thinking to SEEM like they are judicious, not unlike the way sociopaths mimic true sympathy or empathy. It is all more complex than that, of course, but I thought I'd throw the point out.

Of whom can you think ACTS like they can produce judiciousness on higher cognitive levels?
The perception of irony is a form of critical thinking. Whom do you know seems to be at a loss for perception of irony?

Turn on c-span in the morning. These morans will parrot the dumbest shit they've ever heard, and swear it's all true.

All it made me want to do was run to the Canadian border and never look back!

Seriously, though- we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the right doesn't have a monopoly on the inability to think critically. ;-)

Just look at how many DU'rs jump and and believe and fret about every cheap media poll that comes out.

Do they think critically about the methodology? Do they ask about- hmmm... how were the questions asked- who actually responded? Are these polls meant to reflect public opinion- OR INFLUENCE IT.

Doesn't matter how many times people try to tell them how these things work- they just go along with the results and muse about them as if they were God given truth.

So don't even think the right has anywhere close to a monopoly on non-critcal thinking.

even on the DU side, though we certainly have a huge percentage of members who are indeed critical thinkers, we still have a sampling of the normal masses of this country who don't know enough about math, stastistics, or probability to survive well through life; let alone have a sufficient grounding logic, hypothesis forming, and scientific method; nor even a good grasp of history, the arts, rhetoric, and english language use.

And even more sadly, it's not just America. The older I get, the more I realize that this is endemic of all peoples in all nations, and has been throughout all time. It's just that recently, the ignorant have finally managed to actually get a voice in the public sphere in ways that they never had before.

we still have a sampling of the normal masses of this country who don't know enough about math, stastistics, or probability to survive well through life; let alone have a sufficient grounding logic, hypothesis forming, and scientific method; nor even a good grasp of history, the arts, rhetoric, and english language use."

This is a joke, right?
I just wish people listened to both sides, thought, and voted!

I, too, wish that people would listen to both sides and form an informed and logical conclusion. But they don't, because they're ignorant - and the set of people in America who are ignorant is far larger than the set of people who apply critical thinking to their lives.

I don't see where you are seeing a problem.

"we still have a sampling of the normal masses of this country who don't know enough about math, stastistics, or probability to survive well through life; let alone have a sufficient grounding logic, hypothesis forming, and scientific method; nor even a good grasp of history, the arts, rhetoric, and english language use."
My point is: statistics, probability to survive, sufficient grounding logic, hypothesis forming, scientific method, etc.
Most people don't 'get' what you mean. Including myself at times.
I just think you're smart and assume too much, and wasn't trying to be problematic. :)

:D

...THEY think the same thing about US. I could go to a dozen Pubbie sites and find your same post--just with the political parties reversed. We can no more hope to change their minds and get them to see things our way than they can hope to change ours and make us see things their way.

Thus, we need to concentrate on building our own party--not changing theirs. If you look at these threads, nearly every post is a diatribe against Bush. Since he's not running for president again, I think much of this is counter-productive and an empty exercise.

We need to devote our energies to building up--not tearing down. Bush will be gone in 3 years--whether people love him or hate him--our eye should be on what happens AFTER that.

This has some of the same ones I keep seeing lately. It would be nice to have it all together.


:popcorn:

You must've misunderstood.....

:kick:

is utterly dangerous to the republican/rightwing fascist agenda.

And they slowly keep destroying it through cutting funding, and making ridiculous demands that *sound* like they are there to keep our kids smart, but are actually designed to keep them ignorant, like standardized testing and the "no child left behind" act.

The republicans/rightwing DO NOT want educated populace. They want people with job skills, but they don't want people who can think.