Critical Thinking
I should be writing more about politics at this time, but the spirit just doesn't move me much anymore. Politics is critical at this time, and people need to know that. To be honest, I'd rather be writing another movie commentary, or working on fiction, and that means I'm forcing myself here. My problem is, however, that all I seem capable of when it comes to the subject is a bunch of incoherent cussing and blather. I do believe that the irrationality of the whole political scene has become so idiotic that any attempt to insert a word or two of sense and meaning simply leaves one blabbering like the baboons running the whole show. If you need further examples of what I mean, observe the Democratic Party and its illustrious leader, Howard Dean. I'm sure there was a time in his life when what he had to say made sense and had meaning. But, all things considered, it simply cannot happen anymore. It's like someone took the Democratic Party, buttered it lightly all over the political scene, then dropped it in the cat's sandbox, buttered side down, now no one will touch it…and you can hardly blame them.
I wrote that about three years ago-- http://wm-monje.com/politicalblog/archives/45-Self-Government-Is-About-Not-KnowingIt-Seems.ht In fact I wrote a lot of stuff back then, and most of it offended people because I questioned their critical thinking, if not legitimacy in their attempts at self-government. What’s more, I still question it. At that time, three years ago, I was questioning the American public’s unwillingness to question or even acknowledge cronyism in high places and their total ignorance of such institutions as the World Bank and the power over all the people of the planet being achieved by multinational corporations and the handful of individuals who will ultimately control the whole shooting match…stuff like that. At present there seems to be yet another variation on our overall failure in critical thinking.
Critical thinking can be defined, at least in part, as an intellectual process of perception, analysis, evaluation, logic, experience, reasoning and credibility. It is an extensive mental procedure, but one which much also recognize one’s own proclivity toward bias or prejudice, particularly when influenced by an indoctrination of belief systems imposed by external and coercive forces. It must also practice a high degree of intellectual honesty and humility, specifically a willingness to admit to one’s errors in judgment and past convictions when evidence may prove one wrong. The art of persuasion, especially as practiced by salespersons, politicians and religious leaders, I would say, is a deliberate assault upon an individual’s ability to think critically. When one is asked to trust or have faith, particularly where the word “sacrifice” is used as some sort of glorious human virtue, and when one has bought into that line, one has relinquished their critical thinking and been enticed into intellectual surrender and mental captivity.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. -- John Adams
If ever there was a war this country fought that was truly righteous, it was the Revolutionary War. All others may have been perpetrated under the guise of “national defense,” but beyond that virtuous sounding characterization of mass death and destruction made possible by an ignorant, gullible and nationalistic people’s sacrifice of life and fortune, it all amounts, in the long run, to imperialism in the form of multinational corporations who serve their bottom line. It was not all so noble as we have been led to believe. We have served the stockholders of Halliburton well and made the world safe for Monsanto, Boeing, and General Electric. To quote a line from the Australian movie The Coca-Cola Kid, "The world will not be truly free until Coke is available everywhere." It is the end result that matters, and the end result is a kind of international corporate feudal system. The corporate elite are the new lords and ladies of our time, and we their surfs and servants. What’s more, we consider it our good fortune to belong to their fiefdom.
The John Adams quote above was appropriate at the time. It is no longer applicable in reference to future generations. We are the future generations for whom he studied war and politics (although, in fact, he did have a classical education as well, as did virtually all of our founding fathers). The great interest in higher education today seems to be the MBA, the Master of Business Administration, which includes the ultimate academic achievement of our present president. It is a degree of variable time and effort conceived in the USA for the sole purpose of teaching the youth of the nation how to perform in business. This is not the pursuit of any particular business, not a business of personal interest and youthful aspiration, just business in general. That is a significant issue. I think it says a lot about the degree of personal enthusiasm, or lack thereof, in learning a distinctive profession that stimulates the ambition of natural and inherent talents that have excited the souls of inspired and creative young people down through the ages. Today, it seems, the pursuit of an indeterminate and nameless business, for the sake of mastering the business of business, has replaced the time-honored aspirations of the hopeful and gifted youth of our nation.
Where can such indifference toward intellectual and cultural values lead us as a nation? Whatever happened to art, literature, drama, history, philosophy and all the studies in all the humanities? Perhaps they have little to offer in an increasingly mind-numbing, anti-intellectual, corporate society where the cold, hard, and sometimes deadly teachings of war, politics and business seem to be the only way to succeed, if not simply survive. There seems to be a growing absence of learning that might appeal to our nobler dreams, a tendency toward the dulling of the mind and imagination and a conformity to the mundane and commonplace with profit the only remaining motivating goal of the human spirit.
Beyond the type of education one pursues there is also the significant difference between an education received and what one has actually learned. I have known, for instance, persons with masters degrees in theology who do not know what a scientific theory is, who have a dearth in classical literature and art appreciation, and not only don’t have a clue about higher math but can’t balance a checkbook. We’re talking about an individual who has been highly educated with the evidence to prove it on paper. Theology, of course, is in a class by itself when it comes to an absence of factual material and an inadequacy in the confrontation of reality. When it comes to religious studies, however, there are big differences between whether one is studying the historical and social aspects of comparative religions, such as a course by someone like Joseph Campbell, or if one is studying the mythology of someone’s bible as if it were actual history complete with an absolute moral code as decreed by God himself and enforced with horrific penalties.
The blind belief in those stories, particularly in the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible we so cherish as the first, last and only word on the absolute truth, is, without a doubt, one of, if not the greatest failings and sticking points to attaining rational, realistic, logical, critical, and just plan grownup thinking this country has ever suffered. What we have here is a Bronze Age document, written in the words and concepts of the superstitious fears and dreadful unrealities from a primitive time of gross ignorance and blind sacrifice to unseen powers.
They did not know the earth was round, so it had four corners with a sun that came and went; they did not know the earth was several billion years old, so it calculates out at about 6,000 years if you rely on historical record as found only in the Bible; they had no concept of the origin and development of the universe, the planet or the life thereon, so it was created by a super being in six days; and they did not know what was “up there,” so they designated it “Heaven,” and they did not know what was “down there,” so they designated it “Hell.” Today we know, for the most part, the reality of these ancient myths, beliefs and misconceptions. We have been “up there,” and we know it is not Heaven, just space and other planets. We have drilled to great depths, and using sophisticated equipment and procedures have otherwise determined what is “down there,” and it is not Hell. Even so these superstitions continue into our present society to the point they infringe on rational thinking, even in high places.
In the Bible we have a day the sun stood still; a snake that not only talked but corrupted mankind from that day forward in so doing; several generations of the first men on earth who lived for hundreds of years; a man who lived for a time in the belly of a large fish (usually referred to as a whale); a sea that parted so a fleeing people could conveniently cross; an ark that carried two of all living animals for forty days and forty nights and then some, plus many more such tales of totally unbelievable and impossible happenings. Ultimately we are to believe that in the final chapter everyone who ever lived, died and decayed, will be physically resurrected and judged on the basis of whether or not he or she believed in another man who lived, died and was resurrected, evidently before he rotted. All this we must believe as the literal truth or end up “down there.” At the same time we have no doubt that fairy tales, zombie movies, and other people’s myths (such as the Hopi legends, for instance) are all make believe. If nothing else, I think it incredibly arrogant to believe that only our fanciful myths are real events and everyone else is being childish.
We’re talking now about Twenty-first Century people here—two of which are running for President of the United States. First of all—the matter of church and state aside (for the moment)—we have two guys who freely admit they are “imperfect” and have moral failings, but—and it’s a big “but”—they believe in Jesus, therefore they are forgiven and saved. It’s as simple as that. No sweat. McCain: “It means I'm saved and forgiven.” Obama: “As a starting point, it means I believe in -- that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and that I am redeemed through him.” These are two men trying to qualify themselves to a multitude of people of many religions. This is a nation of many religions that are not Christian, and a nation whose Bill of Rights begins with the statement, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” These are two guys, running for President of the United States who seem to believe their Christian beliefs are a necessary qualification for that office. How did that happen? This has never been an issue nor should it ever be.
In the words of McCain, “I have attended North Phoenix Baptist Church for many years, and the most important thing is that I'm a Christian." The emphasis is mine. It says a lot. His religion, being Christian, that is, is the most important thing. It means it is a good thing he is not of some other religion or none at all. In other words, despite Article Six of our Constitution, he has declared he has passed a religious test…in his opinion. The way it looked to me—and you can say it was just me—we had a whole program devoted to the passage of a religious test by both presidential candidates. I’m sure no one else, or very few if any, saw it as such. But then, I might wager, very few know Article Six of the Constitution either. And that, again, is one of our great failings as a self-governing people.
Then you have to wonder how the Founding Fathers viewed religion, especially when we seem to be advancing the argument that this is and always has been a Christian nation. What exactly were their hopes or even predictions as regards Christianity, belief in the Holy Bible, and religion in general?
Here’s a few quotes about the Bible by Thomas Paine:
I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to that book.
Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses. Here is an order, attributed to 'God' to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and to debauch and rape the daughters. I would not dare so dishonor my Creator's name by (attaching) it to this filthy book.
It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible.
And here’s a quote by James Madison, our fourth President, on the clergy:
What influence in fact have Christian ecclesiastical establishments had on civil society? In many instances they have been upholding the thrones of political tyranny. In no instance have they been seen as the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty have found in the clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate liberty, does not need the clergy.
On the matter of state-supported chaplains in Congress, he said:
Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
And then there was Jefferson, third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, who had a great deal to say:
I have ever judged of the religion of others by their lives.... It is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be read. By the same test the world must judge me. But this does not satisfy the priesthood. They must have a positive, a declared assent to all their interested absurdities. My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest. The artificial structures they have built on the purest of all moral systems, for the purpose of deriving from it pence and power, revolt those who think for themselves, and who read in that system only what is really there.
On the Bible and its primitive if not childish wording and, most of all, its priesthood:
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.
Speaking of ridicule, Bill Maher has had a few things to say about the Bible:
"I'm not an atheist. There's a really big difference between an atheist and someone who just doesn't believe in religion. Religion to me is a bureaucracy between man and God that I don't need. But I'm not an atheist, no. I believe there's some force. If you want to call it God... I don't believe God is a single parent who writes books. I think that the people who think God wrote a book called The Bible are just childish. Religion is so childish. What they're fighting about in the Middle East, it's so childish. These myths, these silly little stories that they believe in fundamentally, that they take over this little space in Jerusalem where one guy flew up to heaven…no, no, this guy performed a sacrifice here a thousand million years ago. It's like, ‘Who cares? What does that have to do with spirituality, where you're really trying to get, as a human being and as a soul moving in the universe?’ But I do believe in a God, yes.”
Although not an atheist (and I personally understand and appreciate his point of view), he makes it quite clear his objection is the Bible itself, its childish stories of impossible events, and most of all the foolishness of those who believe it literally. One of his favorite lines seems to be about the “talking snake,” a reference to the Book of Genesis and the Garden of Eden when Eve was tempted by a serpent. (It is difficult to say “talking snake” with a straight face, I’ve noticed.) The greater matter is, no doubt, the still existing idea that this particular myth is literal truth and thus invalidates the whole of the theory of evolution. In that one matter alone, the Garden of Eden versus evolution, we have one of the most outstanding and outrageous examples of Twenty-first Century, presumably educated human beings, failing utterly at critical thinking. They have simply abandoned all rational and realistic concepts to perpetuate a Bronze Age fairy tale in the hopes of going “up there” when they die. If there is a God, and if he will pass judgment, I suspect he will say to these true believers, “How fucking stupid can you get?” Then they will stand judged…finally.
