Of Thinking Blog #1

Do you refuse knowledge because it does not go along with what you want to believe?

This is called intentional ignorance. It is the basis of most prejudice and is a barrier to finding solutions to any problems affected by it.

This issue is relevant to my blog because 99.9% of our population cannot think coherently whenever the subject of sexual abuse is brought up. Anger is the predominant emotion. And although it is natural okay to feel anger, allowing anger to overcome reason solves nothing. I liken this to boxers as the goal in a fight is to make an opponent angry. Angry people make crucial mistakes that can cause them to lose. The same way decisions made in anger or fear or some other emotion are more than likely not to be what is needed to solve the problem of sexual abuse.

What is needed is the ability to use what is called "critical thinking". In this process a person learns to understand and overcome prejudices and to understand strong emotions and how they impact the way he or she thinks, and then to learn how to become informed, to obtain information to understand opposing points of view, and then with all the relevant information, make an educated decision.

This is what we need: can you do it?

Check it out: www.criticalthinking.org