posted by Sam Richards
The problem we’re dealing with in 2009 is that we’re not asking people to THINK. We are feeding them information and few engage in dialogue with people who ask “why” and “how” and “if what you are saying is true, then what about…” Rusty thinking is what happens when we don’t sharpen our understanding of the world by conversing with people who are inclined to say to us “please tell me more about what you think about that.” These are, more often than not, people who have ideas that are different than those we espouse.
Imagine not having taken the opportunity to ride a bicycle for thirty years and suddenly somebody asks you to take an old, rusty bike out for a cruise. How do you imagine that you’d fare? Thirty years without ever being asked to spin those wheels and now you need to perform with all eyes upon you.
So we have this idea that people around us are thinking, that they’re truly using their brains. But have you listened to the conversations going on around you recently? No? Give them a listen now and then. There’s very little back and forth. I’d like to even be able to say that those are just opinions that people are throwing about but it’s hard to even hear the random, shallow, sophomoric ideas as “opinions.”
Okay, so really, the video below was put on the web by people who are critical of Sarah Palin and the people who support her. I’m putting it up, however, because it says nothing about Palin or her supporters and everything about Americans with rusty brains — including the millions of Obama fans who would answer similar questions about him and his policies in the same sort of awkward ways because they, too, drink in “fast food news” without being asked to give their brains a workout and interpret it.
And now…on to the show. And please, don’t laugh at them unless you have answers to the questions that don’t make you sound like a lost soul.
UPDATE: I’ve been reading some of the comments and I have to say I’m not entirely impressed. It’s the standard muckety-much about “my generation” and “people today” rounded out by “but I have to be honest and admit that I don’t know anything about politics.” C’mon people, how does it FEEL to be woefully and utterly ignorant about basic social and political issues? Take ownership, ya’ll. Lay it out there. Don’t grovel in it…but say something about what it means for you.
It is incredibly amazing, yet not surprising by any means of how uninformed the general public is in our nation as a whole. People say that "our generation" are the ones that are not "civicly active" and generally do not follow what happens in our government and in politics. This is not just our generation. The majority of those who were interviewed in this video were 40+ years old. Others might say also that it may because of the area that these people were from. However, I am willing to bet that you can pick any random street corner in the US and you receive many of the same results. For example, Howard Stern did an "experiment" (I guess you can say) of sending an interviewer out onto the streets of Harlem to see who the people were deciding to vote for in the past Presidential election. The catch was that the interviewer decided to swap the policies of the two candidates, Obama and McCain. He would ask a question like "How do feel about Obama's decision of picking Sarah Pahlin to be his Vice President?" It is unbelievable that not one person questioned the interviewer but rather just trusted them to be telling the truth and just agreed with whatever they said. You can find it on youtube. The most astounding part; however, is not that they didn't know anything whatsoever about the presidential election, but that they tried to carry a conversation and act like they did. I am no where near the most informed person when it comes to politics, yet I definitely don't act like I am either. To be honest, I can not sit here and say that I wish I could be more politically active and I can't say that everyone should strive to be so either. I do my part to vote and understand what going on in the world and just do enough to merely be informed. Whether or not some said something to someone else or gave money to someone on the Senate floor or something, really will not effect my everyday life. I will still wake up tomorrow and carry on with my day just like it is any other. You can say I am not fulfilling my duty of being an American and being apart of a democracy, but when here things like this video and the Howard Stern clip, What does that even mean? Is my knowledge going to make a difference when we have people like these who either don't vote and when they do, they vote for them because some guy told them they were 'good'? The conclusion is that our country is incredibly uniformed as a whole. It is not certain groups of people. Generally, it really is our entire nation.
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Thought and thinking are mental forms and processes, respectively ("thought" is both). Thinking allows beings to model the world and to represent it according to their objectives plans ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes include cognition, science, consciousness, idea, and imagination. The world today has found a way to totally destroy the whole theory of thinking. We have technology that does all of the thinking for us. When a person is challenged to think, they are stuck. The other day I was on the bus and over heard a conversation. The topic was about health care. I am not going to go in depth about the conversation, but let’s just say that the facts were not know. People are lead by the thoughts of others. The meager thoughts of those who half read and understand the facts are the ones that are always listened to. People have become accustomed to having everything handed to them without even thinking about it. When they have to actually think about what to do they have no way to go about handling the situation. They’re “opinions” on things are not well thought out. Without critical thinking you basically become a parrot, just mouthing the voice of others. Some think that critical thinking involves going against the popular view of things, but not every rebel is a critical thinker. The key is to consider the viewpoint of the source of your information, as well as understanding your own biases. Many claim to be giving unbiased facts, but in reality everyone has a viewpoint that guides how we present and absorb information. The trick is to know your bias, and consider how that may cloud your judgment. If you challenge everything, you can stand confident that you aren't being fooled. We live in an age in which we are bombarded with information. It is not unusual for people of the current generation to assimilate their perceptions rather than making changes to individual mental maps. We (all generations) are predisposed to assimilating (collecting) ideas and thoughts. If we don't examine world events, our reactions and our perceptions, it is extremely difficult to live a life of satisfaction. We need to make accommodations or changes to our mental map. If individuals cannot think critically it may be because many people cannot think abstractly. I suspect many people are too self absorbed to think critically. Without critical thinking we cannot change our minds and are only collectors of the thoughts of others. We can never be creative if we lack the ability to alter ideas and thoughts and form our own personal ideas. It is difficult to stop and reflect but reflection enhances our consciousness of self and others. Both the impact of our personal experiences and the impact of world events are altered by judgments. Informed decisions (true judgments) come from critical thinking. Critical thinking leads to response rather than reaction. "You be the judge."
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It is extremely unfortunate and disheartening, yet the honest truth, that this video was not at all surprising to me. This video is about far more than politics, but rather about the human brain and how people think and are so incapable of changing viewpoints when so set on something. The perfect description of this really is "the rusty brain". People, and yes, me included, fail to think. If people were to ask me what party I was , I would say democratic. I would also continue to say, that I would never vote for a Republican candidate, regardless of if they were better fit to lead our nation. I wouldn't even dare to consider voting for a Republican, and find a way to twist around everything they proposed in their campaigns to use it against them as candidates. My back up? I would say I disagree with what the Republican party stands for. (In all honesty, writing this and watching this video, what does that even mean?) However, if a Democrat were not as fit for a position as a Republican, I would never admit to it, due to my stubbornness and incapability, like many others, to actually think about my stance and viewpoints, and possibly have them changed would most likely never happen. But this lack of thinking, this lack of openness to change, and actually to extend even further, lack of experience, is what plagues our society.
This does not just effect politics, it effects social interactions, race relations, and even more specific things like advancement in school and personal and societal discovery. Our parents and/or guardians, families, teachers, and overall aspects of our environment affect how we view "our" world. We are raised to think about things one way or another. I think I am SUPPOSED to marry someone Jewish, because my mother has always told me so. This is the way it SUPPOSED to be, so that's the way I will try to make it. What about your earliest science classes? Your teacher stood up in front of the class and told you the earth was round. Anyone ever question a teacher? What about ask him or her to prove it? Chances are, your answer is no, because you're not SUPPOSED to question a teacher. What about a friend you've met here, at Penn State, who has never met a black person in their life, a person who comes from a small white country town? They are most likely, like many of the people I have met from these places, going to have a negative view of black people (overgeneralization or not) Regardless of if they meet someone and become great friends with a black person at Penn State, they will still hold a viewpoint of them regardless of if they realize it or not. Yes, many people may argue me on this, that a person's opinion can change. But that is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that views and "supposed to be's" are drilled into from our individual environments and we then develop views that we THINK have substantial support, yet how many times are our viewpoints even accurate? What's so wrong with branching out? What is so wrong with thinking? Chances are its fear; fear of change, fear of being wrong, fear of challenging what "is". It is lack of exposure, lack of experience. People need to open up a little more and look at the whole world, rather than the "one they live in".
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There are always going to be dumbasses on both sides of the isle, but it sure seems like those conservatives love showing how stupid they are. Granted, I know there are stupid people on the left, but it seems like the right almost enjoys to highlight their stupidity—to show how ‘real’ they are. When you look at Bush and Palin, they are a prime example. The intellectuals on the left are elitist, but the right wing stars are down to earth. It’s crazy.
And I know this looks like a partisan attack, but I don’t fit into either of those ideologies. I think everyone has different idea’s and some are good and some are terrible. In saying that, I think the only reason the republicans have the popularity that they do is because of this stupidity of America. Look at the republican strong holds—the south in mid-west. Look at the education levels of those regions (and of course income follows education). They are the worst in America. Look at the liberal strong holds—the north and west—the regions which bring in the most money and the regions that are the most educated. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
In regards to the video, the people in this video have such distorted views of policy. They don’t know what the policy is, nor do they care. They were asked about cap and trade, health care, foreign policy, and abortion, but had no idea what those actual policies entail. They proudly held Palin’s policies on top, but had no idea what her policy ideas were. One woman was asked what spending she would like to see cut, and she said all of it. By the looks of it, she wouldn’t be too happy if her Medicare was taken away.
You could tell a lot of these people were legitimately scared of what the Obama administration is doing. They think he is repealing everything in this country, disregarding the constitution, and destroying everything he can before he’s kicked out. The last guy looked like he was so scared he was going to cry. And it wasn’t just one or two people’s opinion—it was everyone. When asked about where they got their news from, of course Fox news was mentioned. I think that is exactly where they are getting all of this miss information. All they hear is opinions on Fox news and take it for actual news. These people are now living in such fear because of this politically oriented new organization. Granted, all the other news programs are biased as hell, but they certainly don’t instill fear in people(besides Keith Olberman crying).
Lastly, why did that woman start crying about PETA when she is talking about drilling?
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The world today is becoming less and less personable, and much of it is coming from our selfishness. We don’t want to ask the deep questions because we’re either lazy or just don’t care, and that’s just plain sad. Everyone has a mind and a heart that needs to be attended to, and that starts from our own. Like so many others, I’ve eavesdropped on many conversations around campus from time to time and heard dialogues that only reach the surface of what’s going on between two people. I appreciate being involved in a Christian community where real questions should be asked to dive deeper into each other’s minds and hearts, and I plan to use this kind of communication when befriending or making acquaintances in classroom settings and, in the future, my workplace. I’ve been involved with a Christian organization on campus since my freshman year, and as I am on the homestretch to graduation this semester, one thing I learned from my family at Penn State from this organization is that at the end of the day, people matter. We need to ask the tough questions that will make things uncomfortable and, sometimes, unintentionally offensive. We won’t learn anything about ourselves or each other until we get to the roots of human nature by figuring out why we decide the beliefs we want to believe in, how we want to live the way we live, and so much more.
As for the video, I’m not surprised that these politician supporters don’t know as much as they should when deciding who should govern and control the very nation they live and take pride in. As one can tell, these supporters base their decisions on outer appearances: she’s a “strong woman,” “stands for the American people and not for other people,” “a “breath of fresh air,” “fairness and realness,” and so much more. It goes the same for Barack Obama, as many of his minority supporters can easily say he represents the minorities that don’t get a say, he offers “a new hope,” he will bring CHANGE because “Change is coming.” In my opinion, people don’t know enough about the issues that center the presidential campaign and, ultimately, each American’s life because they’re unaware and possibly apathetic. If they did care, they would at least have to know something they’re supporting! As the American people, we want a leader who knows what he’s doing to give us the best lives we can live for. The problem is that when our president offers something to the table, like a reformed health care plan, so many people overreact and get all crazy because that’s not what they want. But in reality, not everyone will get their favorite piece of the pie.
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