I think that most people in any society or any century, don't think very hard.

[raccoon]

I don't know why that is, unless it's just laziness or wanting a quick, simple, pat solution to complex problems.

Your thoughts?

[lunatica]

1. I haven't thought about it much

[raccoon]

3. Aha! You are one of that majority. nt

[lunatica]

2. dupe

[shadowknows69]

4. We must be on a similar wavelength today raccoon

I was considering a column about how people (the majority, not us political junkies), either don't have the time or simply don't want to face the truth of the deeper implications of our actions as a country and as society in general. No one seems to be able to think about, or legislate, anything farther than a foot in front of their own face.

[GTurck]

13. You are talking....

about having a philosophy. When is that presented in high school or college? In order to think about what your world view is going to be you have to know something deeper than what the latest movie, hit song, big celebrity is by reading history, the great books, great thinkers and learning to discriminate between the eternal and the ephemeral. You also have to have your assumptions challenged - nicely but thoroughly so as to think through the implications of your thoughts. This used to be called education and was done when the mind has not yet gelled into certitude and the business of having to earn a living. You have to do it young.

[shadowknows69]

16. I was fortunate to have some great teachers, mostly English teachers.

That gave you a thirst to explore the human condition from all sides. That made it feel important to always explore the deeper layers of existence and action/reaction. Much of it I think I was wired with too and I can't figure out people that don't ask such questions.

[GTurck]

27. Me either.

It has to be that our discipline of children starting in the cradle literally demands they not wonder about the world. Most don't persevere in their curiosity because the price seems to high. I didn't care: I had to know and still want to know - WHY?}(

[The2ndWheel]

5. I think you're clever

You should write for LOST.

[raccoon]

6. LOST? Elucidate, my dear Watson. nt

[The2ndWheel]

10. The TV show

With the way your thread subject and post mix together.

"I think that most people in any society or any century, don't think very hard."

"I don't know why that is, unless it's just laziness or wanting a quick, simple, pat solution to complex problems."

You don't know why it is that most people in any society or century don't think very hard, so you come up with a quick, simple answer by stating that most people in any society or century don't think very hard, except that you don't know why, and instead of going through all the complexity and trying to think hard about it, you've chosen a lazy answer, but you don't know why you did, because you didn't seem to think about it, since it was such a quick, simple answer and you don't even know the reason that you thought of it.

I meant you could write for the show in a nice way. I thought you were trying to work on 4 different levels with your post. Twisting the answer in onto the question, and back again, the same way LOST does.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. Apparently they'd rather have those who will destroy them, do their thinking.

I'm sitting here trying to understand why those without health care insurance or those who are under-insured, can't cut through the PR crap and see who is pulling the wool over their eyes and recognize the self-interests' goal in denying single payer health care for everyone. I don't get it. x(

[dysfunctional press]

8. except for you, right?

:eyes:

[raccoon]

9. I wrote "most people." nt

[dysfunctional press]

11. and in which group do you place yourself...?

[lunatica]

14. Is your group the I'm critical of everything everyone else says group?

Lighten up a bit. This thread is benign.

[dysfunctional press]

19. only the really ignorant stuff, actually.

[Towlie]

12. Brain hurt.

[ThomWV]

22. 'Double brain hurt' for particularly complex problems

[leftofthedial]

15. The ruling elite figured out long ago

how to keep the masses stupid, and how to make them drool on cue.

Three, or maybe four times in all of human history, enough real people woke up and stayed awake long enough to shake things up, but power quickly either evolves into a new controlling elite or reverts back to the old controlling elite.

[Cetacea]

17. ....

:)

[No.23]

18. We do not teach critical thinking skills in school.

The foundation for our thinking prowess (or lack thereof) is chiefly formed in our childhood.

Adults who are unable to critically think... are only extensions of children who never learned to critically think.

Which suggests, of course, that a more enlightened future for us... begins with childhood education that includes critical thinking skills.

[YoungAndOutraged]

20. Disagree completely

I think that most people in any society in any century are worked so damn hard and sucked dry by the rich parasites who leech the life out of them, that they have no energy or motivation left to do anything but not think very hard.

[ThomWV]

21. It is an odd thing, because thinking really isn't what you'd call hard, not like ditch digging.

[superduperfarleft]

23. I'm not sure what's more obnoxious:

(1) drooling zombies that talk of nothing but American Idol, Lost, celebrity pregnancies, and other banal shit 24/7 until it's time to be an "undecided voter" again every four years, or (2) people who sit around patting themselves on the back because they're one of the "smart ones" that get to look down on everyone else.

[lunatica]

24. more obnoxious = undecided voters

I always feel like we're all being held hostage by those idiots. It's like being stuck behind a very old and decrepit person going up a staircase that's too narrow to pass them. Or watching someone who can't for the life of them open one of those plastic bags you get on the rolls in the produce section!

:spank: :nuke: :banghead:

[BuelahWitch]

25. There are some really good answers in this thread

1. Most people are not taught critical thinking skills. Critical thinking begets going against what the Big Boss wants. Those who think critically and go against the flow are then deemed "negative." You don't want to be negative, do you?

2. People are worked so damned hard they're too tired to think.

one more:

3. Many people are over medicated (or over medicate)so they can go through live saying, "la la la la la."

It's a control issue no matter how you look at it.

[Igel]

26. I think they think as hard as they can, for the most part.

It's just that they think about things we in our brilliance don't consider important.

They have their interests and needs and they learn the facts and relations relevant to those interests. They don't learn the facts necessary for discussing other things that demonstrate to us that they're thinking.

In many cases they haven't been taught to think: They don't have a good grounding in logic and rhetoric. This means they too often confuse rhetoric for logic and don't see a need for strict logic. For many, abductive logic is as close to a deduction as they come. They haven't been taught to distinguish between an observation, whether first or second hand, and an inference; when it comes to inferences, they confuse possible inferences with entailments, and often can't judge whether an inference is valid or not.

As for critical thinking, you need facts before you can think critically (in the sense of "critique"). If you have a PhD in chemistry and are asked to think critically about econ, you do as well as any other high school graduate; if you have a PhD in econ and are asked to think critically about some claim in chemistry, you have the same result. No facts, no knowledge, no serious critical thinking. Schools these days like to teach critical thinking, not facts.

Having a stance that does nothing but criticize is simple enough, and is ersatz critical thinking (unfortunately, it's far too common and is often taught in public schools).

They're also taught to accept their own thinking too uncritically. If they think it, it must be right--they can't damage their self-esteem by contemplating their own ignorance. They place their trust in others and don't critically examine what others in their "tribe" say.

Thus it always was; thus it always will be.

[burythehatchet]

28. There is a thought provoking article on this very subject ...

The Intellectual Crash of 2009: Where Have All the Smart People Gone?

http://www.alternet.org/story/133661/the_intellectual_crash_of_2009%3A_where_have_all_the_smart_people_gone/?page=2

I think it is right on target. Everything is boiled down to an "issue" by distilling away all uncomfortable aspects of the debate.

[Cetacea]

29. Yet there are a gazillion "geniuses" in every category

Great article.