I do a lot of thinking in my spare time. I’m one of those people who constantly thinks and rethinks everything. It doesn’t make me very good at quick decisions, but it does help me make important ones. I love a good philosophical argument just to get the old grey matter working. Because of my love of thinking, it shouldn’t surprise you that one of my pet peeves, is a lack of thinking things through or a flat out refusal to think about something at all.
Have you ever written a “Devil’s Advocate” paper? A paper attacking the school of thought you ascribe to? It is perhaps one of the best ways to understand your oppositions thoughts and ideas. No matter how wrong the other sides ideas seem to you, they still hold onto them for a reason. Would it not benefit you to understand this reason? If your beliefs are the better ones, than surely the other sides’ ideas will not hold up under scrutiny. Unfortunately, many people flat out refuse to see the other sides point of view, or they merely take a quick glance at it and then dismiss it. In Thomas Edison’s words, “Five percent of the people think, ten percent of the people think they think, and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” Seems about right. To put it another way, “ignorance is bliss.” The general public shows an interesting revulsion of critical thought. Most people just seem to be afraid of what they’ll learn.
