Critical Thinking and Accountability.

Critical thinking skills are an important part of understanding the world around us. In a political context, asking “thinking questions” about things we are told or see is the only way to truly assess a situation and deal with it effectively.

I found the following quote in a Reuters article talking about Obama’s numbers beginning to sag.

“While Republican criticism of the Democratic president's policies may be scoring points with voters, the strategy does not appear to be benefiting the party.”

What exactly was the author trying to say? If Republicans are “scoring points with voters” doesn’t that mean, by default, that the strategy is benefitting the party?

You may rightly say that most people would have ignored this statement since it was buried in an article about half way down, and I agree, which is precisely why I’m bringing it up.

Critical thinking requires paying attention.

We seem to have a national obsession with distraction. Our collective attention span grows shorter every year as we text each other about last night’s American idol while driving 65 miles per hour hurrying to get to our next destination because we’re bored.

All of history’s greatest swindles, con jobs and power grabs have come as a result of people not paying attention. The mortgage meltdown, Bernie Madoff, the TRILLION dollar deficit all happened because people weren’t paying attention.

It was a failure on the part of the American public to pay attention and to think that lead us to where we are today. It was the blind eye we turned toward our leaders that has gotten us into this mess. We didn’t pay attention to our mortgage contracts. We didn’t pay attention to the warning signs that accompany every “get rich quick” scheme. We didn’t pay attention to what our government representatives did behind closed doors and in the middle of the night.

The pain this country is in right now could all have been avoided if we had paid closer attention.

Critical thinking requires paying attention to the words being used.

Words matter. Word choice matters. Word order matters. Finding the right word, to convey the right thought, does matter.

How can we ever hope to hold accountable the press, the politicians or anyone else if we allow them to get away with making nonsensical statements (like the one above)? How can we possibly begin to think critically about an issue if it is unclearly described to us? Or worse, how can we possibly begin to think critically about an issue if those who describe it purposely use unclear language?

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity”- George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946

The only reason to use purposely vague language is to separate your words from your actual beliefs.

I would like to point out that an unthinking public is easier to dupe and control than those who can think critically and are able to express those thoughts in a clear and concise manner. In fact, that’s the whole issue addressed by the “free speech” and “petition the government for redress of grievances” parts of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. The founders knew that a well informed public that could articulate its concerns would help to avert the disasters of an out of control government by holding their elected representatives accountable for the gap between their words and deeds.

Critical thinking must re-enter our national consciousness before we can begin to have accountability. And accountability is becoming ever more necessary as we watch an out of control government run this country, its economy and its future into oblivion.