Have you ever wondered who gets to decide what is culturally acceptable and what is culturally offensive?
Who decides for you, what is okay and what is not?
Is it the majority or the minority? Is it the squeaky wheel or the large bank account? Is it the collective regular ordinary persons or the array of celebrities? Who decides for YOU, what is best for you?
When I was in college we were challenged to activate critical thinking. For those, like me, who wasn’t sure exactly what that meant then, it is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.
I had never actually consciously applied that to everything in my life. But once I learned, it changed a great deal of how I looked at life.
We all lean towards our own understandings, beliefs and opinions more often than not, without ever objectively evaluating all other possible thoughts or even facts (historical or otherwise).
It takes mental energy and admittedly, a bit of humility to see something from another angle. To have the willingness to accept that at times, it’s possible our short or long held beliefs may just be a little off the truth bubble is not a comfortable space to reside.
My first awareness of my lack of critical thinking was when our class had to research the events around a long accepted celebrated historical figure. A hero of sorts. Who when thoroughly researched, was grossly far from that in reality. It rattled my mind and made we aware that not all I was taught in my life was truth but rather biased selected truth, chosen by others and inferred upon me and countless others, without question.
My awareness asked the question: how could I not know this when the evidence was all around me? Because I wasn’t looking for another “truth” other than what I was told.
How do we accept what others tell us without our own research? Is it laziness to ask questions? Is it blind trust? Assumed authority?
I hope this encourages and maybe even challenges you today, to ‘critically think’ where your current beliefs and opinions reside? Are they something you accepted because of the noise of the culture, what you were taught or result of critical thinking?
You can be your own judge.
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