Blog #3- Intro to Critical Thinking

In Alec Fisher’s article "Critical Thinking: An Introduction," several approaches to critical thinking are explored. Critical thinking involves actively analyzing and evaluating the information you are given to reach a conclusion. Following this simple definition both Rachel Maddow and John Stewart could be considered critical thinkers. Rachel Maddow, whose television show debuted in 2008, follows a pattern of sarcasm and is very satiric. She looks at the world and peoples interaction a little differently than you would expect from broadcasted television personnel. She expresses opinions that are outside of the norm and that went against many peoples’ common beliefs. Maddow finds comic relief in her sarcasm. She plays off of the fact that she cannot be too blunt when presenting the conclusions she has come to based upon her attained information. John Steward on the other hand comes to his conclusion but decides to present them in a way that the viewers did not realize that his opinions were different than there’s cause he smoothed it over. He is very sneaky and socially acceptable. Yet, Maddow created a larger following that was devoted to her and her show. Her unconventional methods seemed to create an allure of a more accepting audience. However in Frank Rich’s New York Times article, "The Rage is Not about Healthcare", people did not seem to be so accepting. Rich speaks of “civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank” and how they threw “hurl venomous slurs”. When you first look at the phrase “venomous slurs” there is an automatic judgment we make. It has a strong connotation towards the negative and links back to hate, despise, anger and maybe even violence. This does not seem very accepting. The fact that Lewis is a civil war hero while Frank is openly gay just more plays into the social constructs that tells us people should be a certain way. Being a civil war hero is a high honor and something that is regarded as a large and honorable accomplishment. Yet, being gay has a negative stigma attached to it. People that choose to live there lives that way still do not even have equal rights under the law so how are people suppose to accept them when not even the government can do it. The way that Lewis and Fisher think is very different due to the different constructs that they operate their lives in. The group that you identify with strongly influences your opinions and how you present yourself as a person. People are only accepting of what they know and what they were taught to be, so logically Lewis and Frank run the risk of not getting along. They just are programmed to not be accepting of each other due to the media and the constructs that our society has created.