So here I am, wondering why the general population just “goes with the flow”. It astonishes me that so many people take information at face value and don”t dig any deeper to uncover the facts on both sides of a debate.
A student recently submitted a paper to me, his opinions were amazingly biased and considered a narrow band of studies to support his position. So much for liberal thinkers in a fourth year University course. His paper was heavily biased by the media and made statements such as “clearly all the evidence shows that…XYZ is true”. and then he proceeded to cite one reference? Where is “all” that data? Being very familiar with the field I know there are hundreds, if not thousands, of papers on the subject he was speaking to, yet he let the single paper which has been highly publicized, colour his entire opinion. It was rather shocking to be honest. So how can we sort out all the information and mis-information that is shoved into our collective faces?
There is no easy answer, but we need to start with a basic, fundamental understanding that the primary purpose of any media venue is to get your attention and keep it. That means selling the most sensational stories. And that knowledge ought to be enough to get us to dig a little deeper in anything that leaves us with a strong impression.
If we fail to learn the facts on both sides of an argument we are little better than reactive organisms.
It’s time for some Critical Thinking.
Tags: Critical Thinking