Taken In

Gullible Thinking

No one likes to think they’ve been cheated or scammed. No one wants to believe they are one of P. T. Barnum’s, “born every minute,” suckers, but it’s a pretty safe bet, you have been suckered, and are so thoroughly taken in, you have even become complicit in spreading the scam.

It’s probably not your fault. The thing sounds so good! It’s what you’ve always been taught, and there is almost no one who does not believe it. You are no doubt so convinced, if someone questions it, you become incensed, outraged that anyone, except someone intentionally evil could be against it.

How could anyone be against reason?

How It’s Put Over

No intelligent individual opposes reason; but the scam is not reason. It’s not even called reason. It’s called, “critical thinking,” and it’s whole purpose is to corrupt true reason, to make it totally ineffectual, and almost everyone has, very uncritically, swallowed the lie whole.

The Mind-bender’s Tool

If you wonder how all the lies believed by 99% of humanity are made so convincing, it is a simple “bait-and-switch,“scam. The promise is to deliver good correct reason but the package delivered is actually anti-reason. It is very carefully packaged to appeal to the desire for knowledge and understanding, but the content is a mixture of truth and deception so subtle, it makes good correct reason impossible. Critical thinking is irrational nonsense put over as reason.

The Ultimate Academic Mental Poison

It begins with education. By the time one has, “graduated,” from whatever level of education achieved, one’s mind has been completely taken over. Even those who considered themselves individualists and freedom seekers speak the language of social justice warriors, statists, and collectivists.

It’s how the lie works. H.L. Mencken wrote:

“What they mistake for thought is simply a repetition of what they have heard. My guess is that well over 80 percent of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought.”

The very first point on the, “35 Dimensions of Critical Thought,” from the Foundation for Critical Thinking (missing link) is:

Critical thinking is independent thinking, thinking for oneself.

That is what the hustler or scam artist calls, “the hook.” Of course everyone wants to think for themselves. With that beginning one expects a list of ideas having to do with, “how to think,” but it is not a list of, “how to think,“but, “what to think.”

The very next point makes it clear the intention is not for one to think for themselves, but submit their own thinking to what they are taught to think:

Egocentricity means confusing what we see and think with reality. When under the influence of egocentricity, we think that the way we see things is exactly the way things are. Egocentricity manifests itself as an inability or unwillingness to consider other’s points of view, a refusal to accept ideas or facts which would prevent us from getting what we want (or think we want).**

…We can change egocentric tendencies when we see them for what they are: irrational and unjust.

The assault on reason here is almost breathtaking. What kind of thinking is possible if reality itself cannot be trusted, if the only reality we can know, the one we see, hear, feel, smell, and taste is not to be trusted. One is not supposed to trust their own consciousness of reality, but, “consider other’s points of view,” no matter how dumb or blind those others are. Our thinking, according to these collectivists, will only be right when we give up thinking about what we as individuals want, and only think what our teachers tell us is, “just.” Of course their view of justice is not true justice at all, but, “social justice.”

If you do not believe that is what is intended, the third point in this list under, “Exercising Fairmindedness (sic) is:”

To think critically, we must be able to consider the strengths and weaknesses of opposing points of view; … to overcome our egocentric tendency to identify truth with our immediate perceptions ….

[This kind of lie always reminds me of the woman caught by her husband in bed with another man. Denying her culpability she argued, “are going to believe your eyes or the word or your loving wife?”] Being right, even if we are, or being unwilling to suspend our own best reason and judgment to consider other views is, “unfair.” It’s not a matter of right, or wrong, true, or false, but being willing to accept anything, no matter how absurd, to not unfairly hurt someone else’s feelings.

Since, “critical thinking,” is not about how to think correctly, but an ideology intended to produce a kind of confusion that makes rigorous sound reasoning impossible, all the rest is a hodge-podge of good and bad ideas elucidating nothing. For example:

Uncritical thinkers assume that their perspective on things is the only correct one. Selfish critical thinkers manipulate the perspectives of others to gain advantage for themselves.

Everyone assumes what they believe is true. [“Perspective,” is one of those intentionally imprecise mushy words that confuses ideas with feelings.] Who believes what they think is not true. If you have faced the argument, “well that’s just your point of view,” you see what is absurd about that statement. Who argues for what is not their point of view?

It does not follow, however, that one’s own views lead to the manipulation of others or any desire or attempt to take advantage of others. The opposite is almost always true. The truly independent thinker has no interest in influencing others except to their mutual benefit, regarding all other relationships as self-defeating. Only a, “critical thinker,“like these collectivists, could consider a difference of opinion a source for malice.

Critical thinkers recognize the importance of using reliable sources of information. They give less weight to sources which either lack a track record of honesty, are not in a position to know, or have a vested interest in the issue.

The rational individual does not base any belief on any authority. In, “Correct Thinking—Basic Principles Of Clear Reasoning,” under, “False Teachers and Logical Fallacies,” is this explanation:

Every true idea and all true knowledge is discovered. No truth is simply declared or determined by an expert or authority. None of us live long enough, however, to discover even a tiny fraction of what we know ourselves. Most of the things we learn we have to learn from others, like all the scientists, thinkers, mathematicians, and explorers who discovered the things we have learned and even take for granted.

If our knowledge is not to be limited to the tiny bit we can discover ourselves in our own lifetime we must learn from others. In the world there are endless professional and self-proclaimed teachers, experts, and authorities clamoring to teach us, and most of what they want to teach is untrue. The question for anyone who wants to think correctly is how to determine which teachers to listen to, and which to ignore.

It is not possible to judge what is being taught by judging the teacher. What must be judged is the, “content,” of what is being taught.

A teacher’s apparent sincerity, air of authority, charismatic charm, credentials, certifications, popularity or broad acceptance do not matter, only the content of their teaching matters. One may only learn from others if one completely understands why what they are taught is true and it does not contradict any certain knowledge they already have.

Of course that is not what is meant by, “critical thinking,” at all. The, “content,” of what is being taught is not even mentioned, only the basis for the authority itself, such as, “track record, or, “position.” For the record, anyone who teaches anything which has no direct objective value to that teacher (vested interest) is a liar. It is tantamount to saying, “this is true but it does not matter to me in any way whatsoever.”

What Is Critical Thinking, and Where Did It Come From

In the article, “Critical Thinking about Critical Thinking,” I wrote about Michael Scriven and Richard Paul’s description of critical thinking for the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction:

Before examining the description itself, I must make this interesting observation. The most amazing thing to me about this description of thinking is the language. How it is possible to describe what thinking is without using any of the following words: logic, identity, identification, truth, true, false, incorrect, real, reality, mind, (though ‘openmindedly’ and ‘fairmindedness’ are used) consciousness, fact, facts, factual, contradict, contradiction, non-contradiction, order, objective, or subjective, is a feat that surpasses writing an article on chemistry without using the names of a single element or compound.

The actual description of critical thinking provided in that article makes it clear it’s purpose is not clear objective reason but an obfuscation of reason itself making correct reason impossible. It is no accident.

In “Gullible II—Critical Thinking,” I explained:

The idea of “critical thinking” was hatched in cultural Marxism, reinforced by logical positivism, and propagated throughout academia as critical theory, mostly in the form of post-modernism. What most honest and decent people believe they are advocating by, “critical thinking,” is good, clear, non-contradictory reason, when in fact, every time they promote “critical thinking,” they are promoting the leftist/collectivist/statist agenda.

[NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with cultural Marxism, logical positivism, critical theory, and post-modernism you will at least be familiar with the modern social and cultural ideas they spawned called “political correctness” and “multi-culturalism,“—so-called “critical thinking” came out of the same cesspool.”]

You Are Supporting The Comprachicos

If you in any way support government education you are supporting the intentional destruction of children’s minds. One of the primary tools of that destruction is, “critical thinking.”

The The Ultimate Cheatsheet For Critical Thinking is one of the devices used to put over this mind-destroying concept. [Click on the image or link to see the Cheatsheet].

The whole purpose of such an instrument is not to teach a child how to think, but to make thinking so confusing it is impossible to think correctly. Here is grab-bag of 48 questions unrelated to anything specific which are to be applied to just any idea one is exposed to. There is no description of what thinking actually is, what a judgment is, what a contradiction is, or what truth is. How does one answer any question without understanding what those are? Of course, they answer with whatever they have been taught, which is exactly what is meant by critical thinking—thinking totally determined by statist collectivist pedagogues.

—(03/18/2021)

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