Today I am going to pull up a soapbox and rant to get out my frustrations. The subject at hand is critical thinking. I believe a lack of critical thinking is the biggest thing wrong in America. In the dawn of the information age we were greeted with so much information coming at us electronically that we believed everything we read. Eventually it got so overwhelming and so unbelievable that we picked people and ideas that we trust, some based upon heritage others based upon how they matched some of our ideals. There were even some that based their most trusted advisors on looks, religion or how they criticize others. Then we became arrogant about our decision to go with one point of view. We closed our mind on options. We gave our selves sanity by dismissing everything else. But was it the right thing to do? Can we do a thorough research and fully understand the other sides point of view without losing your faith? Yes.

So what am I talking about? Hypocrisy. I am frustrated that there are no credible sources to be found that are cited in the liberal, mainstream and conservative cultures. Is Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck a credible source of environmental science? Not by a long shot. They cut out scientific papers and lie to people about their conclusions. Is an athiest a credible source for Christian information? No way, they only got so far as to deny Jesus and did not get into apologetics and understanding the true meaning of the Bible. Is a democrat a credible source for corporate economics? Traditionally no, they concern themselves with middle and lower class. Is a republican a credible source for government social programs? No, they do not see value in them and desire most to be cut, while people who have lived their entire lives working for the betterment of man have seen results. Is a politician a credible source for health care? No, they filter their advisors who have some financial stake in the outcome. Is a news article a credible source for delivering detailed analysis and objective truth? Not anymore. It is slanted both ways. Is a scientist a credible source for religion? No. Most scientists agree you should not put your faith in something that never has a 100% conclusion, although they do it all of the time. Is a pastor a credible source for peer reviewed science? No. They read their news in a filtered way and avoid contradictory scientific opinions of others. A truthful pastor should admit he knows nothing of detailed science and should not preach any scientific conclusions. All of these cases represent hypocrisy. Our culture is filled with so much we need critical thinking now more than ever.

See, I want my son to be able to look at all angles and not put his belief on something flimsy that is not tested. I want him to see the words and phrases people use to decieve others and to tell the difference between right and wrong. I want him to be able to admit when he is wrong. Sometimes it is one word or one sentence or even body language that can lead you the right judgement. First of all we have to back off our own arrogance. We humans are stupid. We don't understand the world. We don't understand how everything works. Everything we understand to be true is all based on faith. We humans live in a world of faith. We have faith the sun always shines. We have faith gravity works to keep us on the earth. We have faith that electricity powers everything. We have faith that the stars all shine at night. We have to believe our physical laws are correct otherwise we would be scared all of the time.

Why is critical thinking so important? Well it has to do with the consequences of being wrong. For instance if you are wrong in your decision to not follow Jesus a hot fiery place could be the outcome of that decision. If I am wrong in my decision to follow Jesus then what is the consequences of that? A moral family? Helping the less fortunate? Loving God and others as I love myself? If the AGW(anthropogenic global warming) deniers are wrong about global warming then a hot fiery place could be the outcome of that decision as well. If I am right about it then we can do something to try to stop it. The bottom line is you cannot trust anyone and you cannot make assumptions as to their trusted sources and where they got their information. I want the world to be critical of leaders, entertainers, newspapers, science and religion. I want everything to be peer reviewed. I want everthing to be put to the test by many people with different points of view. If you find yourself defending a person like "I heard the other day polar bears are growing from so and so" and your main point is how "so and so" is always right then you have been deceived. Always ask yourself,"Is this person a credible expert or does he want me to get mad at the opposition?" If you can ask then question then you are on your first step to the world of critical thinking. Ok, off my soapbox.