August 5, 2024: Critical Listening
"Examine what is said, not who is speaking."
- African proverb.
The acquiring of reasonably accurate knowledge depends greatly on our ability to pay attention to what is being said, as we consider why the speaker might be saying what is being said. A follow up questioning thought might be "what is the speaker trying to get me to think or do?" In today's "alternative truth" world, even a term as important as "critical thinking" has been sullied so that instead of meaning an objective analysis of some concept, it is being treated as a biased criticism of some concept; almost entirely losing its long-standing 'objective analysis' meaning. It looks as if all of us are going to have to sharpen our listening and thinking skills so that our attention focuses more on the messages we are receiving than on who is doing the telling. What is the message and does it make sense without regard to who is saying it? Trying to stay reasonably informed and vigilant will help as we battle to discern the real-world facts from the contrived fiction. So put on your thinking caps and fasten your seatbelts because the road ahead is going to be interesting and challenging.
© 2024 Detroit Flanagan
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