There is a disturbing trend taking shape: In an age where information is at our fingertips, literacy is at an all-time high, knowledge is everywhere, and the expertise of untold millions is freely available, the peoples of the developed world seem to be thinking even less and less.
Knowledge has replaced critical thinking. Page 1 of Google’s search results has replaced true research. Sound bites and pithy quotes have replaced original thought.
What does this mean?
It means that we aren’t quite as smart as we like to think we are.
We have been conditioned to trust the written word. It doesn’t change, it’s meaning is fixed. School textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries. These tools of education have ingrained within us the idea that what we read is the untarnished, unadulterated, truth. This is one of the very first things we learn in school: Trust the written word.
So we are preprogrammed to believe what we read. And by human nature, we are more likely to read (and believe) something that agrees with our views. We don’t take challenge well.
What happens, then, when we couple bad information, deep-rooted beliefs, and an inability to think critically?
We get people who are always right, can’t listen to an opposing argument, and who only know how to repeat sound bites and talking points. We’ve made the mistake of believing that literacy equals knowledge; that information equals wisdom.
Where are the true debaters? The real thinkers? Those individuals who, without resorting to name-calling and vitriol, can make their argument heard and believed, and can be trusted to make a well thought-out decision? The ones who truly have their hearts in the spirit, and who can actually answer the question: What Would Jesus Do?
