Critical Thinking vs Stupid Opinions
79
Good Thinking, Logical Analysis versus Bad Thinking, Logical Fallacies.
Sometimes I am driven up against a wall by stupid opinions - especially the stupid opinions of nice people who don't want to be nasty to anyone, and therefore refuse to think!
What is a stupid opinion? An opinion which does not make sense. For example, if you go, "fish are animals," then continue with "cows are animals," and you conclude "therefore cows are fish," that is a stupid opinion. It does not make sense. No evidence has been given to indicate that cows are fish, just that both cows and fish are animals. To hold that cows are fish is to commit a logical fallacy, an error in logic. Also it goes against the evidence.
Here I won't get much argument: most people are in agreement with me. Cows are not fish. However, there are a number of opinions that hold as much weight as arguing that cows are fish - and yet these are opinions which many people in the West currently believe deeply, rigidly, ardently.
Current popular poor thinking. "All opinions are equal." And in a similar vein: "No opinion is better than any other." "My opinions is just as good as yours." And, re almost everything, "It's just as matter of opinions, and of course, all opinions are equal."
My question: does that make sense? Has any evidence been given that all opinions are equal? In fact, what would it mean, "equal"? It clearly does not mean, backed by the same amount of evidence. In fact, when we go get a second opinion about a serious illness, we clearly believe that not all opinions are equal, and that one doctor may have better knowledge and sources (and success rate) than another.
Another stupid opinion - incredibly popular, especially among New Age people. "We are all where we are meant to be." That means, of course, that everyone massacred in Rwanda - all 800,000 of them, including every newborn infant - was where they were meant to be. The same goes for every Jew murdered in the Holocaust, everyone murdered in Darfur, and so on and so forth.
Further, if everyone is where they are meant to be, there is no longer any free will. We are puppets, doing what we are meant to be doing, going where we are meant to be going.
Still more stupid opinions. "All religions are equal." This is closely allied to the opinion that all opinions are equal. Again, does it make sense that the Christian religion as practiced at the height of the witch burnings about 5 centuries ago, is equal to the most lovey-dovey present-day liberal Christianity, say of the Unitarian church? First, what would "equal" mean, if these 2 were equal? It clearly could not mean they are the same. And it could not mean, they are of equal value.
Many people also hold, when confronted with differences between religIons, that it's all a matter of opinion, and who are we to judge? I personally have no problem judging. It's crystal clear that witch-burning Christianity and tolerant Unitarian Christianity are not equal - and likewise other religions are not equal. All it takes is a bit of good clear logical thinking, critical thinking.
Some people try to take refuge in the opinion that what is behind each of these religions, no matter how different they appear on the surface, is the same. That is the same as saying a loving parent and one who disembowels their infants at birth is the same - after all they are both parents and all parents are equal if one just looks at what is behind them, Those people are welcome to spend time with disemboweling parents. Personally I do not hold all parents are equal, and I am happy to be judgmental and say that the loving parent is better (higher survival rate of infants, at the very least).
There's a lot more in-depth analysis you can do of poor thinking - all available at The Idea Emporium. Come visit.
****
More Logical Fallacies - and More Good Logic
In the meantime, here's a list of some of the least logical opinions - that is, the most stupid opinions - that many people (many of them otherwise very smart) currently hold:
"All opinions are equal." Dealt with.
"We are all where we are meant to be." Dealt with.
"Everything happens for a reason." I know someone who holds her younger brother got cancer because he was a brat, and having cancer taught him to be a nicer person - so he got cancer for a reason! Now, does it make sense there is a god, or some cosmic force, that can only teach a brat to be nice by giving the child cancer?
It makes sense to hold that things have causes - economic, social, personal, genetic, etc. But that's a far cry from having a cosmic force or deity hand out horrible things to teach us lessons. If human teachers committed a fraction of these horrors, it wouldn't be considered acceptable. But somehow people find it acceptable for a deity to be horrific - the deity supposedly has a good "reason." Amazing the nuttiness people will believe.
"They did the best they could." People say this most often about parents who have done terrible parenting. Somehow they are not be be held responsible because "they did the best they could." Many people did do the best they could. But all? One, it means there is no free will, if we are all always doing the best we can. Then, it means that no matter how horrible people are - Idi Amin with 2 million deaths to his credit, and so on and so forth - they were doing they best they could. Give me a break!
"All religions are equal." Dealt with.
"All religions are basically the same." Dealt with.
"No one has the right to judge another culture." People who say this hold it as if it were a god-given truth - instead of backing up the statement with evidence. Why should we not judge another culture - or our own? In fact, it is because we judge that we work for change. Everyone who worked to end slavery, to get equal rights for people of color, for women, for lesbians and gays - all those people started by judging that slavery and inequality were wrong, immoral. It's vital to judge. It's also vital to get evidence on which to judge well.
"All cultures are equal." See the arguments re religion. The same arguments apply.
"It's wrong to be judgmental." These people are making a judgement: they JUDGE that it's wrong to be judgmental - in other words they are being judgmental against judgmental people, and they have no right to do that, not if it's wrong to be judgmental.
In this, they are just like the people who hold that all opinions are equal - except the opinion that all opinions are not equal. Faced with that opinion, they are prone to shake their heads in horror: how horrible, how can one be so judgmental as to judge that all opinions are not equal. But they are being blindly, irrationally judgmental and opinionated - and generally utterly unaware of this.
First of all, if all opinions are equal, then the opinion that all opinions are not equal is just as good as the opinion that all opinions are equal.
If you care about logic, you will realize that since holding that all opinions are equal means that it's also equally true that all opinions are not equal, this proves that all opinions are not equal. Something and its opposite cannot be true (you can't be alive and dead at the same time, except in a horror movie.)
Good thinking, amazingly powerful stuff.
Yet at present, among a huge portion of the population, it is more taboo than walking around naked, more taboo than having sex in public on CNN. Don't ask me why. I just know this is the case.
It's as if people were going around boasting, "I'm a 98 pound weakling and proud of it, and no one will make me change." But there is a difference between 98-pound physical weaklings and mental weaklings. The physical weaklings can't deny their weakness. In fact, they've often suffered because of it - and therefor are motivated to change.
For those hanging onto poor thinking, the situation is different. They live with a distorting mirror, which reflects them back to themselves as tolerant, caring, good, kind, nice, politically correct, and so on. Time for that mirror to be cracked and shattered into small pieces, so they can see - like the emperor parading around naked - that they are not mentally well dressed.
My hope is that, slowly but surely, better thinking will prevail - in part through the efforts of all those on the side of good thinking, clear thinking, critical thinking.
Signed,
Elsa is Elsa, Brain Trainer, Clear Thinking Trainer
Elsa is Elsa, a.k.a. Dr Zee, for good thinking from A to Z
Good Thinking - Loads of Fun, Brain Candy
all at The Idea Emporium
Come visit. Welcome.
Also at the site, the 2 major ingredients of good thinking - both highly non-secret.
CommentsLoading...
Hi,
I think you think too much :)
My point throughout: most people think too little.
Trish, when you wrote, "I think you think too much," I know you were (somewhat) joking. At the same time, your response is right at the heart of the problem: people not thinking enough.
And as for "you think too much," for me thinking is fun - as much pleasure as dancing for a dancer (and I love dancing too), swimming for a swimmer (another activity I love.)
Hi Elsa,
Yes, I was. After reading your hub, it made my brain tired :)
Probably because I am currently extremely stressed with work, and my granddaughter just had surgery,,,just an awful lot on my mind.
Actually, if I took the time to 'think about it',,,a very dear friend of mine tells me the same thing, that 'I think too much'. He is always amazed where my thinking goes :)
I never thought of thinking as 'fun', but I guess it is at times, now that I think about it LOL,,,.
Sooooooo,,,,,thanks for a 'thoughtful' hub,
Trish
Hi Trish,
I understand about sometimes being overwhelmed and stressed, having too much on our minds. Not easy. Hope you soon get to better times - healthy granddaughter, better work situation.
I also understand that, for whatever reason, something easy for one person may make another person's head spin. I take ballet jazz classes from an 85 year-old teacher, once a major dancer and now a fabulous teacher. My head spins, though what she's teaching is ultra easy for her. And I've been taking classes with her for years! Yet, though I end the classes with my brain fried, they're also an amazing pleasure, taking me to new places.
I'm glad you also like thinking and where it takes you.
Elsa
It doesn't seem like some of the readers understand the actual concept of thinking is not as simple as they take for granted. Most take the concept lightly when perspective and mindset as I teach are the wild cards. It also shows why people make so many questionable choices.
Hello aquariancore, I agree that many people don't understand what it takes to think well - and don't realize it might take some understanding of good thinking tools. I believe this is, in good part, because our society doesn't send out messages, the way hundreds of messages are sent out on diet and exercise. Most people have learned (even if they apply none of the learning) that some foods are healthier than others. A huge number of people haven't learned the same about ways of thinking. So again, thanks for your comment. Elsa
I subscribe to the statement that thinking more wouldn’t hurt people. The impression that remains however, is that your world is black and white, right or wrong.
Communication, life is not all about logic. If we try to reduce everything we do and say to logic, a lot is lost.
There are various ways to look at the statement that all opinions are equal. One way is your way. But there’s also something like interpretation. And my interpretation of this statement is a little wider. To me, the underlying meaning of the statement “all opinions are equal” is that every opinion (every man/woman) is entitled to be expressed, heard AND refuted.
Hello Ananta,
You seem to assume I value only logic - but I don't live in a world of just logic. Another of my hubpages, for instance, is on love poetry. Emotions - love hate anger euphoria - very powerful and important in our lives.
Then, you write that, in addition to logic, communication is important. Absolutely. But I see that clarity is crucial to communication. You SAY that, according to your interpretation, the underlying meaning of "all opinions are equal" is that all opinions have the right to be expressed, heard and REFUTED (your capitalization). This is not, I can tell you from years of experience, how hundreds of college students understand the statement. They virtually unanimously believe it means - closer to the words, actually - that no one has the right to challenge any opinion, that all opinons have equal value.
I am all in favor of good clear communication - and of exploration: what do people mean by certain things? I have explored - over and over. Hundreds of my students have adamantly held that every opinion - including outrageous ones such as that Jews deserve to be exterminated, blacks are inferior, etc - is EQUAL, EVERYTHING IS JUST A MATTER OF OPINION, and WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE.
They want to be totally tolerant and non-judgmental. So I have had black students hold that, like me, they are against slavery, but unlike me, they believe it's just a matter of opinion. Likewise, many female students hold that, like me, they like living in a country where women have a lot of rights - but unlike me, they are sure that women's equality is just a matter of opinion.
So what I express comes from lots of experience - and from seeing that many people are clueless when it comes to logic. Logic - not all of life. But something useful.
Elsa
Elsa,
I agree, but beg to differ or at least make a distinction. As you can see, I say that (in contrast to your students) any opinion can also be challenged.
I'm all in favour of clear, unambiguous communication. Reality is however, that this is hard, if not impossible. In English (just like in Dutch) words can have different meanings and people are inclined to be implicit, especially about things that are 'obvious' to them.
In conclusion, if your plea is to challenge opinions, I am all for it. For me it raised the impression that 'bad' or low quality opinions should not be listened to.
It goes to show that even when you have the same opinion, you can approach it differently and even if you don't have the same opinion, you can agree :)
Hello again, Ananta,
Of course one must listen (for a time) to all opinions. How can one find out which are - your words - low quality, if we don't listen and listen carefully? I say, for a time, because some people will push away all and any evidence and continue to fervently hold very unfounded opinions (for example, the traditional medical establishment, maybe nowhere more than in North America), no matter what the evidence to the contrary - and then I don't believe in continuing to listen or to refute.
A big agreement: hard to be totally clear. That's one reason why, in fact, 2-sided listening is so important - we can get closer to understanding what the other is saying, meaning, and sometimes we learn more about our own position.
Elsa
In my opinion our opinions are not so far apart ;)
Agreed
I was told all I had to know was two and two are four. I mentioned that if we did not know how two and two became four, it wouldn't work with three as the answer might then be five, six, or nine. You should have seen the blank stare!
I love the hub!
Totally agree - that one needs not just the answer, but the why of the answer. And can well imagine the blank stare! Glad you like the hub - and good thinking. Elsa
When I first saw your 'name' Elsa is Elsa I did wonder about it. Having read this hub it makes complete sense. I would love to have you for a dinner guest - I would also invite Anata65 - what an evening that would be! Although to be honest, I think my brain may hurt by the time dessert came!
If it weren't for the traveling distance I'd gladly accept :)
Who knows?
Well, you know how it goes - opinions are like a**holes; everybodies got one.
Wow, maybe I need to exercise my brain more. You make some good points here.
Hi Elsa! I stumble upon this hub way after the fact, but hey, if you're free for dinner I'd love to have you, too! Laugh!
Every now and then I get the typical "you think too much", at which time I think "and your point is, again?" Most of the times, when someone utters "you think too much" they mean it in a sort of derogatory way, like it's bad to think, never mind to think a lot! 'Cause really, it's never 'too much' as far as I'm concerned! The fact that "thinking" and "too much" are used in the same sentence goes to prove your point that some people just think too little.
Hi Elena, I appreciate your comment, and like your approach. i've also now gone and looked at a couple of your hubs, and your way of writing. Fun. Dinner sounds great.
Wow, too much overthinking !
An article after my own heart! Inferior logic seems to be the norm these days, much to my dismay. My question is, are you single?! A logical Woman is my dream come true!
:)
Glad you like a woman being logical. :)
You've been hanging around with New Age relativists. Yes, they're irrational. But there are plenty of other types of people, who probably don't cross your path as much, who are equally irrational in the opposite way. For every person who says "All religions are equal" there are a thousand people who say "My religion is the best." (ok, made up statistics!) And frankly, I'm more afraid of the second group than the first.
I have 2 responses: first, yes, those who hold their religion is the best, the one and only, are likely to pose the most immediate danger. But those who block thinking, insist all opinions, religions and cultures, etc are equal may actually pose more of a threat in the West. They are cut off from a vital part of our human selves: the capacity to think, to sort through what is coming in, to figure out what is happening in the world. Quite a danger.
It's not just New Age relativists, by the way. I'm a college prof. About 90% of my students tend to rigidly hold that all opinions, etc are equal. Those who don't, far from being better thinkers, tend to be those who believe in their religion!
I consider it quite a danger, if we have learned not to listen to ourselves, not to use our thinking faculties - because to do so is (horrors!) judgemental. How are we to make sense of the world?
And in fact, in our society, there's so much repetition about how we need to be in touch with ourselves. But if we are not in touch with our capacity to think, that is no better than being cut off from our emotions. Plus, how can we be in tuch with our emotions if we must feel all religions and cultures are equal. I have strong (and different) emotional responses to different opinions, cultures, religions.
While I agree that some opinions are more well thought out than others it would appear that you are far too self-involved to understand the position from which many of the statements you attempted to prove wrong are coming from. To simply judge them as stupid proves that you have yet to get into a conversation with someone who HAS thought deeply about said subjects, and that some part of you lacks the desire to do so because you can't let go of your pride.
In order to truly THINK you must not allow a preconceived notion achieved by an earlier thought process to filter out the parts you don't agree with. Which it would appear by your opinions that you have allowed a lot of these notions to do your filtering for you.
Just an opinion :).
Wooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww
People generally choose emotions over logic. They believe what they want to be true.
Dear Elsa, you will get your answers, all of it, when you die. surely, just wait for 60-70 years. Just wait...
as for me, ive got the answers allready.
- Critical Thinking On The Web
A directory of quality online resources for critical thinking. Fabulous resource for critical thinking. Also ratings of lots of critical thinking sites. - Austhink: Critical Thinking Argument Mapping
Austhink: creators of Rationale, software for producing diagrams of reasoning. Improve critical thinking & reasoning skills, develop stronger arguments, communicate complex cases, produce better documents, make better decisions - Foundation for Critical Thinking: Books, Conferences and Academic Resources for Educators and Studen
The Foundation for Critical Thinking works to promote educational reform and seeks to promote essential change in education and society through the cultivation of fair-minded critical thinking. - Critical thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
What is critical thinking? Though the term "analytical thinking" may seem to convey the idea more accurately, critical thinking clearly involves synthesis, evaluation, and reconstruction of thinking, in addition to analysis. - Logic
An explanation of the basic elements of elementary logic. Logic - essential to critical thinking. - Logic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As a formal science, logic investigates and classifies the structure of statements and arguments, both through the study of formal systems of inference and through the study of arguments in natural language.
 | Amazon Price: $21.96 List Price: $40.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $29.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $30.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $72.21 |
 | Amazon Price: $26.00 List Price: $29.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $35.10 List Price: $44.33 |
 | Amazon Price: $32.51 List Price: $32.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $13.74 List Price: $19.95 |
PHG 4 years ago
Good thinking - Yes extremely good thinking
Thank you.