Think about this. Really!
My brother, Phil, The Bad Astronomer, has posted on his blog an article entitled "Uncritical Thinking Kills". It's worth reading. It gives a very pertinent example of why we need to teach critical thinking and why we need to use it in everything we do.
I have posted here some about critical thinking, the idea that you don't have to believe something you heard or read, just because someone (with or without credentials) told it to you as fact. As human beings, we have brains that we can reason with, so we have the ability to say, "Wait a minute. Did what I just read jibe with other information I have been given? Does it make sense? If it does, does that mean it has to be fact?" We can question what we hear, see, even touch, and we can research to determine if it is truth.
Why don't we use that ability ALL the time?
Just because someone tells you that vaccinations cause autism, doesn't make it true. I posted on someone else's blog last week that the incidence of children's deaths and ailments (including autism and actually getting the disease from the vaccine) for kids that have been vaccinated is at least an order of magnitude lower than those not vaccinated. Do you believe me? Look it up! My research shows it to be true. So the question I ask is, with this evidence available to everyone, why are so many people NOT vaccinating their kids? Does this make sense? Are they using critical thinking techniques?
The answer is "NO". They are making decisions based on misinformation, emotion, and laziness. And they are risking their children's lives and health on those decisions. In addition, they are risking other kids' lives, because their kids are running around infected with virulent, potentially life-threatening diseases. DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU??? It doesn't to me.
I see instances of this every day:
- Some people believe that Sarah Palin attempted to ban books at a local library. You heard this, but have you checked it out? (second bullet)
- Some people believe McCain/Palin ads they have seen that indicate the Obama team is belittling Sarah Palin. Have you checked this out?
- Some people believe the Large Hadron Collider in France and Switzerland will (or could) cause the end of our world. There is no scientific evidence to support this, and all scientific evidence indicates that this cannot happen. I've checked it out. Have you?
- There are a number of people who think the moon landings were staged. They are not just wrong, they are DEAD wrong. And there's plenty of proof. In this case, though, the evidence the pro-hoaxers believe in is based on misquotations, false science, and outright lies; They are being intentionally mislead. But they keep on following.
- Did the Nazis really kill over 9 million people in their concentration camps in WWII? Did they even really HAVE those camps? This one I don't understand people questioning, because the truth is there for all to see.
Talk to people that you meet. Ask them about things they believe to be true, but intentionally don't accept the information at face value. THINK about what you heard. Do some research. Were they correct? Can you PROVE it through reliable sources? (The word "sources" is plural intentionally - don't believe just anything you read - find corroboration from multiple reliable sources.)
If you don't think critically about the things you hear, then you are taking all of it on faith. You are accepting that the person you talked to or the source you read is credible. Doing so can actually harm or even kill you or someone you love.
Think about that. What if you voted for and we elected a President that lied about his or her credentials, and, through inexperience (or vileness of purpose), took us into a war. Your neighbor's son (or your daughter), old enough to be in the military, goes to fight in the conflict and is maimed or killed. Who hurt or killed that person? The person at the other end of the gun that fired the shot? The President who sent that kid to war? Or did you, because you didn't check out his/her political credentials before you voted (or didn't vote, for that matter)?
THAT'S something to think about.
Yay! Well said. And thanks for the link!
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I am glad to see another good argument for this online! Heaven knows I try to teach this. I know a student who genuinely believes that "mole people" exist underground and live with the rats... and she tried to offer proof of this in her biology class. Poor child. Her bio teacher is still in disbelief that the girl was so adamantly defensive of this fact of nature.
I teach students to examine sources for credibility and work my best to get the kiddies to question everything. But it takes work when they've been raised for 14 years to take things as they are. And they have so much new information coming at them. It's a lot to contend with.
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Oh. My. Stars. And. Garters. (With apologies to Marvel Comics.)
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Sid, very well said. And it needs to be said over and over again from many more sources.
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