Author: Americans Are Losing Their Critical Thinking Ability
by Mary Rettig
May 5, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An author and editor for the National Post in Canada says Americans are losing the ability to think critically, a problem he relates to the lack of objective reporting in the media.Michael LeGault is the author of Th!nk: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye (Threshold Editions, 2006). He says his book discusses why the premise behind Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking, a best-selling book by Malcolm Gladwell, does not work.
Gladwell's Blink extols and even advocates "gut reactions" and snap judgments. But LeGault feels this is poor approach for reasoning minds, and he is concerned that increasing numbers of people in America seem to be moving away from thoughtful, critical decision-making, and turning instead to their emotions.
"The result of this has been, ultimately, that more and more people rely on received knowledge," LeGault says. They take their information and conclusions "from news media primarily," he asserts, or in any case, "from other people, rather than doing thinking on their own or asking questions -- hard questions."
The author of Th!nk says this reliance on media for more and more information has caused the facts to be increasingly filtered through various biases. "Behind each one of these as it's presented in the media," he contends, "are other information and other sides to the story that are often not presented, and our general tendency is to believe these wholesale, without question."
Also, LeGault notes, this phenomenon has resulted in what he calls a "greatest hits" mentality, where news media outlets exploit hot-button issues in an effort to increase their ratings and bring in advertising dollars. As a result, he suggests, the public has come to rely on pithy pundits and appeals to passion instead of real, objective information.
Americans are buying into all kinds of media hype, LeGault asserts, because many have lost the ability to think critically, weighing information and separating opinion and propaganda from actual facts. He says this is why so many people tend to believe unfounded claims such as global warming theories or the idea that the Earth is running out of oil.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
