Blog 1858 – 10.25.2020

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EV9ZfFxjOGjA_OcuNgj_1za5w2HViVfu/view?usp=drivesdk

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Some people get a kick out of scaring other people. This story reminds us that if we want people to believe us when there is a real emergency we cannot play pranks and practical jokes regarding dangerous situations, and expect to be taken seriously when announcing real trouble.

I believe the COVID-19 virus is real, that global warming and man made climate change is real, that systemic racism is still real, that women deserve equal rights, equal pay for equal work, that everyone deserves a living wage, and that another Presidential term for a man who has proven that he was never up for the job and still isn’t are all real dangers to our democratic republic. The damages that have already been done will take great effort to repair and we need progress more than we need to conserve a system that rewards one percent at the expense of the ninety nine percent. As Forest Gump liked to say, “That’s all I have to say about that.

But on the subject of crying wolf I have a little more to say. The concept of fake news is not new. Nor is the idea of a real education being one that helps students develop critical thinking skills. We have always had religious educational institutions and others that seemed to specialize in a very narrow set of dogmatic teachings or programming. A famous quote from the Jesuits is, “Give us a child till he or she is a grown and they will be a Catholic for life.” They were far from alone in this narrow view of teaching. The job of teachers is not as many seem to believe and behave, to tell them what to think, but to teach them critical thinking skills.

What is critical thinking? The dictionary defines it as follows:

Being a college graduate does not guarantee that one possesses or uses critical thinking skills nor does not having degrees and doctorates disqualify one from developing and using an open and inquiring mind. Thinking we already have all the facts we need and that there is nothing left to learn (pun intended) is a sure sign one is not using critical thinking. A willingness to let new facts inform our thinking is a sure sign that we are indeed critical thinkers, open to new ideas and reluctant to take anything at just face value.

Critical thinkers are less susceptible to being conned or believing that someone else should get to decide for them. Everyone it seems wants to tell us how to vote or failing that to try to prevent us from voting our own mind. Well here’s hoping they, whoever they are, fail this time and that the critical thinkers vote in droves and decide this election, not the political hacks, the puppet masters, the strategists, nor the state legislatures, nor the courts, but the people – We The People, and an even bigger and wider swath of us than the original framers of of the U.S. Constitution envisioned, with their only white landowners being allowed to vote. We have indeed come a long way, Baby, but there is yet a long way to go.

It is being reported that this election in a little over a week is on target to have the largest turn out of voters ever and that even the young voters may finally vote in large numbers. We shall see. High time I say and may the best candidates win.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5UGucaz8iwNdmt3cm42dXp5dTA/view?usp=drivesdk

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