Where do we go from here?
INTRODUCTION
On the Home page of this website, it was asserted that Western citizens are progressively losing their ability to have open and inquiring minds, and to use their brains to think critically. This supported the idea that one of the foundation stones of the Western Civilisation – rational thinking – was being eroded and all levels of society were contributing to this decline in reasoning.
Most Western citizens would initially disagree with this assertion. So, the aim of this website was to persuade most people that there is a problem.
INCREASING IRRATIONALITY
Don’t you think we are being bold by claiming we are rational when the bulk of Western citizens believe in the ‘Henny Penny’ tale – ‘Global Warming’. Without thinking, we believe that the human race will become extinct in 1995, 2000, 2035, 2050 and 2070 – pick your most suitable date. Some Green followers retort that the campaign is not an Armageddon story. That claim, in itself, is extraordinary.
We are told that the planet is doomed, all life as we know it will be lost apart from some heat resistant microbes. Our grandchildren will see lakes boil and forests self combust. On our TVs, we see the planet viewed from space gradually turning brown and then bursting into flames – or, more foolishly, breaking into three parts and drifting off into space. At the Canberra airport, Green advertising signs show a map with two thirds of Australia underwater. There is an incessant drumbeat of gloom and doom stories from the Green public relations organisations supported by the Media.
It is not too bold to claim that anyone who believes the sky is falling in or, any other Armageddon story, is irrational.
Also, we cannot claim that we have open and inquiring minds when secondary school science can disprove the Green claims. Our brains must be turned off as even a small amount of critical thinking can undermine most of the other Green claims. How could we believe in catastrophic sea level rises when a casual investigation shows there is not enough available ice. Similarly, our belief in catastrophic weather events – when there is so little additional energy to create such storms.
Our growing irrationality is on display when we attempt to defend the Green claims. We rely on irrational arguments, emotion and avoid the issue by focusing on personalities and labels. When that does not convince, we attack anyone who disagrees with us, shutting down any conversation on the issue.
Are we being too bold to claim that this shows there is a growing problem of irrationality in Western societies.
Our reactions to the global warming tale reinforces the belief that irrationality is growing. After twenty years with dozens of failed predictions proving that there is neither a logical or scientific basis for the global warming tale, we are still chasing ’emissions’. Emissions, mind you, is a code word for ‘pollutants’, which in turn is a code word for “dirty”, which in turn is a code word for ‘carbon’, which in turn is a code word for ‘carbon dioxide’. Such a long list of code words distracts our irrational minds from the fact that carbon dioxide is not a threat and consequently we do not need to react to whatever label is being used.
Yet we do react without any critical thinking. For example, we dismantle a power generation system, that has been incrementally improved over one hundred years providing Australia with some of the cheapest electricity in the World. In its place, we have a triplicated system producing some of the most expensive electricity in the World. Apart from the 3-4 times more expensive electricity, this new system is unreliable, uncontrollable and inefficient – even producing most of the carbon dioxide that it was meant to eradicate.
With this in mind, do we really believe that we are behaving rationally, and have open enquiring minds that can think critically?
Hopefully, most will now believe that there is a problem – the aim of the website.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
“If you have something good, you need to maintain it. If you don’t, you deserve to lose it. “
Introduction
Hoping that the aim of this website has been achieved , we now move onto less robust ground in suggesting just some of the ways we might consider to reverse this irrationality trend.
Most would agree that it is good to have;
- Open and enquiring minds,
- Critical thinking skills, and
- An ability to use logic and facts, rather than illogic, fallacies and emotions to identify the truth.
These are the rationality skills that were one of the foundation stones of the Age of Reason which has brought us so much good.
If this is good, then we need to maintain it – if we don’t we will lose it. These skills don’t just drop out of the sky – they need to be taught. Our parents might start this teaching, primary and secondary teachers might consolidate and continue this teaching, and those entering the tertiary sector should learn even more.
Today, can you see any organisation in our society that has this educational role?
Without being taught these skills, is it any wonder that Western citizens are becoming progressively more irrational. It doesn’t take any training to become irrational and use emotion, illogic and fallacies to defend one’s ideas.
Solving the Problem – Individual Level
Since the irrationality problem is endemic in our society, one starting point for an individual might be not accepting anything automatically and approach everything in a sceptical way. This does not mean believing nothing, or taking the opposite view, or not listening to anyone else. What it does mean, is not to be influenced by anything until you have critically investigated the ‘issue’.
Understandably, we might say “I don’t have time to question everything”. So, depending on the importance of each ‘issue’, we might rank those that we need to investigate. Also depending how these issues are presented to us, we should have a good idea on what to investigate.
For example, when anyone tells us not to investigate – we should investigate. Anyone who attempts to silence us or bully us on an issue, means we need to investigate that issue. When deception tools (e.g. weaponised words, definitional or language deceit, or visual, graphical or statistical deceit) are used, it should trigger a critical examination. These are ‘tell tale’ signs of someone who cannot robustly defend their position on an issue.
Anyone who uses labels to argue an issue, and does not go to any depth behind the label to explain their arguments should attract a critical investigation.
One of the most effective ways of “investigating” is to gather as many contradictory views on the issue that is possible. Then become knowledgeable on the issue. Although this will help significantly, unfortunately, we will need to train ourselves in all the deception tools and irrational arguments that will be used to lead us astray. Although ‘scratching the surface’, the pages in “The Swamp” section of this website gives us some idea of how much we need to learn.
We will be surprised how little effort is required to produce significantly better outcomes from our critical thinking.
Collective Level
As a society we should encourage and reward people who robustly discuss issues in depth. Nothing could be more healthy. Today the opposite occurs.
There is a growing trend within our societies not to focus on issues at any depth, but argue the issue using personalities and labels. Before evaluating the issue, we choose a side and use positive personalities and endearing labels to declare why we support that side of a debate. Using the irrational argument of “Ad Hominem” we denigrate the personalities of our opponents and use unflattering labels to counter their views.
The issue is not discussed, let alone debated. This shallowness and irrationality needs to be exposed and such arguments need to be rejected.
As a society, we need to regain control over our emotions. We should control the fear and panic that occurs whenever a shadow passes over our heads. Hopefully this will stop ourselves believing in ‘Henny Penny’ tales.
In the past, the fable of ‘Henny Penny’ was taught to children so they would not believe everything that they were told. Even at that early age, they were encouraged to critically evaluate every tale – especially Armageddon or “End of the World” tales. If they didn’t, there were people (the fox who ate Henny Penny) who would take advantage of their naivety. We all need to take ‘Henny Penny’ refresher courses.
Collectively, we have become far too tolerant of people who lie, deceive and mislead us – and sometimes reward such behaviour. We need to re-introduce sanctions for those who do this. The sanctions have to be harsh enough so there is no longer a net benefit in behaving in this way. This, in itself, should significantly reduce the irrationality in our society. We all need to take “The Boy who Cried ‘Wolf'” refresher courses.
Institutionalising the Solution
Imagine an extreme example where our schools and universities teach perfect knowledge to all students but also imbue perfect irrationality in every student. At best, the use of the perfect knowledge will be sub-optimal, at worst, the misuse of the knowledge will damage our society. The importance of teaching all students how to have an open mind, to turn on their brains, so they can think critically and rationally cannot be over emphasised.
Because of our irrationality problem, today the teachers and lecturers are ‘the blind leading the blind’ when it comes to teaching their students to think rationally. First, rationality is not taught separately nor given any sort of priority. It is swept up as a general aim in the educational curricula, and teachers are not taught how to ‘operationalise’ the concept.
At best, students are taught to have an open mind by identifying two sides of an issue and then decide which one to support. The arguments supporting both sides of the issue could be irrational, emotional and based on factoids or myths. Yet the students are rewarded for identifying two sides to an issue and the use of irrationality is lost on them.
It is not surprising that our society is becoming increasingly irrational. You can only be taught rationality – it does not drop out of the sky.
Finally, we are not taught about the foundation stones of the Western Civilisation (including reasoning), showing us how they contributed to all the benefits we have today. More importantly, we are not taught of the damaging alternative if we abandon the foundation stones of this civilisation. In some universities, undermining our civilisation is done deliberately and students are encouraged to tear down our civilisation, with little thought of finding a better replacement.
Our tertiary education sector is frightened to teach anything about Western Civilisation, let alone help maintain the foundation stones of this civilisation.
This is not the type of “maintenance” we require to sustain something that is good that has brought us so many benefits. If we don’t improve, we deserve to lose all these benefits.
SUMMARY
First, we hope that the aim of this website has been achieved and more people realise that we have a growing irrationality problem.
Second, we hope we have shown the damage that is already happening and the damage that can be done to our society if we don’t solve this problem. Benefits obtained over centuries are at risk of being lost.
Finally, we hope the website has given visitors “food for thought”.