Critical thinking is not just eating the food placed in front of you. It is taking the time to analyze not only the ingredients, but also the intentions of the chef, bypassing his notoriety and plate arrangement, to get to the nutritional facts of the dish. Critical thinking has to be a way of life, when a person with a love of knowledge discovers they have been misinformed the skepticism never stops.
My critical thinking process usually starts with questioning a person’s motives. Are they trying to get me to buy something? Are they trying to convince me of something for their personal gain? I check for cracks in there argument. Do they contradict themselves? Do they have valid source? Last, but not least, I do my research. Some people will out-right lie to persuade you. I think the liar is absolutely disrespectful. Basically they are inferring that you are too stupid or lazy to expose them. With all the bias statistics out there they didn’t even take the time to use them.
Critical thinking not only gives you in site on the subject, but the person delivering the message. If a person misuses facts to there benefit you know they are cunning and cant be trusted. Certain professions carry these telling clues too. For example after one encounter with a police office you have somewhat of an impression of him. It may be he is truly a public servant, or he thinks the badge puts him above the law. Even officers play on this characteristic of there field, using “the good cop bad cop routine” on suspects. Professions involving law in general carry certain overtones. Attorneys are thought of as liar because they have to represent people that they know are guilty. If the child molester they go off moved in next to there family you better believe they wouldn’t be very happy about it. There motivation is not justice, its money and status.
A lot of the information you receive from the political arena is not to inform you, it is to trigger a certain response. This is why politicians sometimes devote an entire commercial to slandering there opponent. Then at they end they say, “This message was paid for by supporters of…” Gullible people's votes are swayed by these types of campaigns. A thinker analyzes it as, Instead of the candidate making himself the best choice, he made himself the only resort. A politician with the people’s best interest in mind will tell you what makes him suitable for the job and not worry about the opponent. My political science professor called this quality the difference between a statesman and a politician. In this situation critical thinking is freedom from manipulation.
I expect this class to open my scope even wider. Critical thinking is a life long quest; when you stop thinking critically you are better off dead. This class is what we are all here, in college, for in its simples form. We want to obtain knowledge.
