RE: We Desperately Need Critical Thinking
Truly? You teach Critical Thinking? Then why do I see you using some of the common Appeal to X fallacies in your videos? Are you using them because you know they work and your viewers are not trained to recognize them? (It's been awhile since I paid attention to point out where I first noticed it, I remember being annoyed by it. So I do have some BIAS in this response to you. Though I am often wrong, and I am willing to change my mind.)
I agree 100% that critical thinking is perhaps the most important thing we need to teach. I don't think any plans for the future are very realistic without a population well versed in critical thinking.
I also recognize that someone disagreeing with me doesn't mean they lack critical thinking. Yet I do see Appeal to Authority, Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Tradition, and Appeal to the Stone fallacies being used VERY frequently in our society. I have seen them in your videos.
Critical Thinking is NOT a sometimes thing. It is an always thing. It is not something we should turn off when it is convenient to our agenda. It is something we should always do.
So IF you teach Critical Thinking then I do challenge you on when you use fallacious techniques to push the message in your videos. You are human, you do have the right to your opinion.
Overall your videos are pretty good. That's why I often put links to them in an @newsagg headlines news aggregation posts.
Also, not all college critical thinking professors are actually good at it. My favorite class in college was a class that was good at it taken from an instructor that most students tried to avoid and take the class from someone else because he was so strict and harsh. I can say I hadn't TRULY encountered Critical Thinking until that point.
Am I a critical thinking master? NO. I don't believe such people exist. It is something we can practice, and quiz ourselves on and GET better at, but never truly master.
I will say this... IF you truly believe in its importance though I disagree with you on a lot of your political ideology you will find in me an ally when it comes to critical thinking.
Thanks for challenging david and sharing your questions. I would love for you to criticise my work. I never learned critical thinking myself formally and only read a few things about the fallacies. I welcome intelligent criticism of my videos as I am sure I unconsciously use fallacies in what I do and would like for them To be exposed so that I can use them less and less and develop my thinking.
I am often skeptical of detractors of President Trump, simply because he has done an excellent job and the majority of criticisms of him are either using a double standard, fake news, or are incredibly minor and not noteworthy. That's not to say there are no detractors of Trump who are intellectually honest and ideologically consistent. Alan Dershowitz, for example, is very consistent with his positions and is a real critical thinker. I disagree with him but I can't dislike him.
I haven't liked some things Trump has done. Such as shooting missiles at Syria over "sarin" gas at a time things were going well for Assad and doing a gas attack would make it bad. That was haste.
That is an example...
but overall I've been VERY impressed with how much he is getting done considering the constant onslaught of petty attacks and hypocrisy he is being hit with... Very impressive.
I often have started to think a lot of the things he does, he does so those people will have fuel to keep them busy focusing on stupid things while he works on actually doing things.
I had the same opinion on the Syria missile situation, but then I realised it was an excellent power play and that only 4 or so people died. Low casualties, strong message to China.
I'm not a fan of some of Trump's dealmaking, especially when it comes to policies he promised to repeal, but I can live content with this because he has turned the economy around and gives the American people faith in their country.