Break Free

Hello people. I often post about 'think', as in think for yourself, be aware, be rational, be logical. I was kinda happy to see some people trying to do just that. Then I found that some of these people start 'thinking' with no basis in fact. From 'fake moon landing' to anti-vaxxers to Q-Anon, we must all start from known reality before we 'think-up' these wild conspiracies. If you mistake the salt canister for the sugar canister, your recipe is not going to turn out as you expect, and you adjust for next time. You've ruined one food dish. If you mistake the bible or the quran for a science book, your grasp of the real world will be badly skewed, but here you refuse to adjust. You may be ruining your life. 

You, believer, tend to go from 'god created everything including humans and the entire universe is under 10,000 years old' to 'the moon landing was a hoax' or 'the [American] election was stolen'. You become more susceptible to conspiracies because you never learned to differentiate between fact and fiction. You refuse to wear a face mask to protect yourself and others during a worldwide viral pandemic. You misunderstand or deliberately obfuscate what someone said or published about constitutional law. You kinda jump to conclusions (aliens! UFOs!) when misreading a piece on a usually reliable news site (that's not what it said). You may decide a summary of scientific findings is 'good enough' without any validation of the underlying facts or circumstances (that's how we end up with the 'demon semen' doctor and hydroxychloroquine rumors).  

Some basic education may be necessary for everyone? Gravity works, the earth orbits the sun, human-caused climate change is real, equality for everyone does not mean less equality for you (it does mean no more special privilege for you or anyone else). Logic and rational thinking will help you see when someone is trying to gaslight (deceive) you. The phenomena of nationalism and religion understood as social structures would be unifying rather than divisive. By recognition, we could overcome the toxic masculinity pervading society. By relieving the undue pressure on our boys to be "manly", the gendered stereotypes throughout all of society would dissolve. If we must have 'religion', it could become a force for public well-being by eliminating the supernatural dogma and provide a basis for a shared belief system. Or, other types of knowledge and expert systems like science can assume greater authority to describe the nature of the world and our role within it. We can only intelligently decide our future if we're not fanatically driven to rote repetition of church authorities' teachings.  

Civics education couldn't hurt either, right? Then everyone would realize the Vice-President can't prevent the certification of election results, and the Secretaries of State cannot (should not) adjust their residents' votes, or try to disenfranchise entire groups of voters with gerrymandering or other voter suppression tactics. 

Critical thinking matters. Anyone who doesn't want you to think is not your friend. What are they trying to hide from you? 

A brief introduction to the concept of critical thinking. Some people don't even know what it means. They may mistake argumentative for skepticism. We must be informed, not just opinionated.