Critical Thinking and You!

My relationship with critical thinking has recently been on the rocks. Every day I read the L.A. Times. As I sat and read one morning not two weeks ago I began to wonder. I wondered if life would be easier if I just didn't care what was going on. Would I be less stressed out, would I enjoy life more? Would I agree with people who say the a National Health Care System will "pull the plug" on my aging grandmother, and not go crazy and call these people every expletive under the sun. Life became more and more stressful for me, especially during the presidential election of 2008. One would think that since we are in the "information" age (A.K.A. The Dis-Information Age) that we would be able to sift through the crazy talk and get to the bottom the issue or debate. Seems this isn't the case. I mean, if people took 20 minutes away from watching their "American Idol", or "Dancing with the Stars" I truly believe that we would be in a far better situation than we are now. To have a working, successful democracy people need to be informed and at least have a general idea of what the ramifications are if they vote either way. This is why I believe critical thinking should be a skill that everyone should learn and master early on in life.

I began to critically think around the election of 2000. I asked my dad how people can just believe someone without asking any questions when it is so blatant that he/she is lying through their teeth! He told me they aren't critical thinkers, they are sheep. Their lives consist of waking up, going to work, eating dinner, going to bed. The news they do get is from "shock jocks" trying to get the best ratings by dividing people on the most basic levels. Now, this is just a generalization, but I understood the example he was giving. From then on I began to question everything. I questioned what I read in textbooks, what I heard from politicians, and especially what cable news said. I began a personal quest to become as critical a thinker as I possibly could. This leads us to current time. A time when I believe that critical thinking is at an all time low. Unfortunately from what I see and read, people are willing to believe anyone who promises them the moon. This is quite a scary outlook if you ask me, but, that's just the critical thinker in me. Anyway, on to what I believe this class can and will do for me and my passion for writing.

I believe this class will help me organize my many thoughts and put them down on paper as one cohesive idea that flows from beginning to end. I truly hope this class will heighten my ability to be a critical thinker. Most of all, I want this class to teach me to refine my writing skill so that when I write people will listen. That is, if people still read in the future.