Freethinker the Enemy
Tim Bean
7/18/2012
The title of this article is actually the name of a band my brother was in, as is the picture; so I cannot and do not claim them to be mine, but I do believe it fits nicely with the article below
Critical thinking, it is one of the biggest things that separate human kind from animal kind. It is our ability to think critically which has aided us from emerging from caves and developing civilizations. I suppose in the purest sense of those words, “critical thinking,” it is what makes us ask the simplest and most complex of all questions, “Why?” Asking that one word question demands explanation, and just like when we were children, the answer “because,” just isn’t good enough. “Why,” challenges the status quo of everything. “Why,” is the reason Moses wanted to free his people from the Pharaoh’s bondage. “Why,” is what led to Jesus’ teachings. The word “why” gave us Aristotle, Plato, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Gandhi, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, John Locke, and Thomas Jefferson. In fact the list contains every human who has and will walk this Earth, because each and every one of us has asked “why?” countless times. However, according to the Texas Republican Party, they have deemed it necessary to eliminate critical thinking from schools. Which begs the obvious question, “Why?”
Now, I admit that I did not discover this on my own, I learned it from watching last night’s Colbert Report on Comedy Central. He didn’t exactly break the news either, because if you click the hyperlink in the first paragraph you will find that article is dated June 29, 2012. Again, the question, “why?” pops up. Why isn’t this bigger news? Why is a comedic, faux news program the first time I am hearing about this? Why didn’t the Democrats seize this as an “ah-ha” moment? Why, why, why? To be fair, the Texas GOP said that it was an oversight that the wish to eliminate critical thinking from school curriculum made it into their party platform, and I think Stephen Colbert sums it up best on how that is a bunch of horse hockey, so I encourage you to watch the segment (click the hyperlink above in this paragraph) it is certainly humorous, but at the same time not so much.
Why would any group or person wish to curtail and or eliminate critical thought? Because thinking critically is dangerous. Thinking critically is a challenge. Thinking critically is a threat. If you don’t believe me look at that list of individuals above again and tell me which, if any, of them were welcomed with open arms by the powers that were in charge of their respective fields and societies. In the beginning most, if not all, were shunned, discredited, threatened, exiled, assassinated, or crucified before their challenges became accepted. So, it should come as no surprise that one of our illustrious political powerhouses would want to remove critical thought from school curriculum. They couldn’t possibly want our children to wonder why, they just need to be good little worker bees and not upset the apple cart.
Why wasn’t there more press? Well, I know that on more than one occasion I have heard a pundit or two, or three on Fox News discredit not just liberal arts degrees, but liberal arts classes too, because they are supposedly worthless endeavors which has lent no significant merit to society nor will they ever. It is the liberal arts that deal mostly with that esoteric concept and challenging word, “why.”
Why hasn’t the Democratic Party pounced on this as an “ah-ha” moment? Because they too have a vested interest in limiting the critical thinking of We the People. Why, would they want people to be able to think critically of their platform and policies? No one in power wishes to actually have to explain themselves; that is why.
On a slightly different note, that same episode of the Colbert Report had a segment on how the GOP is wanting the state of Nevada to eliminate the option of “None of the above” (NOTA) from their Presidential election ballot. Why? Because the Republican Party fears that NOTA will take too many votes away from their candidate, Mitt Romney. There’s nothing like eliminating public choice so that your guy has a better chance, huh? Maybe the whole freedom of choice thing was a typo in the Constitution? Maybe it was supposed to say, freedom FROM choice…
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. ~ Ludwig Börne
