According to Alec Fisher's approach to Critical Thinking, Rachel Maddow and John Stewart can be considered as critical thinkers because they use both criticism and evaluating thinking in their television shows. Often times, Maddow and Stewart are very imaginative when they analyze the current news topic. They spin the topic with humor and offer the viewer alternative considerations and new possibilities.
I do not see the use of Alec Fisher's critical thinking model in the Health Care Bill protestors. Their violent action and emotionaly packed epithets seem like an automatic response to a rival political party legislation. This does not sound like imaginative criticism as we see from the Sarcastic Times reading.
I think the Maddow and Stewart examples work well with Alec Fisher's mode of critical thinking. Fishers explains that critical thinking is a very important skill that students should practice not only in specific situations but rather in all moments in everyday life. This simple idea of being able to identify alterniatives and draw conclusions from complex problems is a form of 'thinking about your own thinking'
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I strongly agree with your statement about the protesters of the healthcare bill not using critical thinking.They instead present evidence of unreflective thinking; the perfect counterexample.Good observation.
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