The Idea Emporium .

here: from stupid opinions to critical thinking

STUPID OPINIONS
SPOTTED BY DR ZEE

STUPID OPINION NUMBER TWO –
THAT WE ARE ALL WHERE WE ARE MEANT TO BE,
and SO IF SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS,
IT'S IN ORDER TO TEACH US A LESSON.

Millions of people hold this opinion - even though it means
that the 800,000 people slaughtered in Rwanda
were where they were meant to be,
and that they all - even the newborn babies -
were being slaughtered to order to teach them something.

Yes, millions hold this stupendously dumb idea
that we are all where we are meant to be -
even though it means the 6,000,000 Jews slaughtered by the Nazis
were where they were meant to be,
and they were all being slaughtered to learn some lesson.

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Yes, outrageously imbecilic,
yet more popular than popcorn,

STUPID OPINION NUMBER ONE –
THAT ALL OPINIONS ARE EQUAL.

Again, millions upon millions of people hold this, even though
it means that racist opinions are as good as anti-racist opinions,
that homophobic opinions are as good as non-homophobic opinions.

I have had black students argue that, while (like me) they are
against racism, it is only an opinion that racism is bad.
I have had female students argue that though they are glad
they are living where women have rights, it is only an opinion
that women are equal to men -
and who are they to say anything against any other opinion?

The only opinion these people are against is the opinion
that all opinions are NOT equal. Then they become judgemental
(though they are horrified at the thought of being judgmental).
It's wrong, wrong, wrong to believe all opinions are not equal.

But how is that possible? After all, if all opinions are equal,
then the opinion that all opinions are not equal
is equal to the opinion that they are.

No, no. no, come the shrieks of horror.
Every other opinion is equal,
these people hold, but not that one.

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HOW DOES DR ZEE FEEL ABOUT
THESE OPINIONS?

She has no feelings abut the opinions,
but she is frequently frustrated by people.

She is most frustrated by how hard it can be
to get through to people. She reminds herself
that lots of changes are possible -
but that they're rarely easy.
She thinks of the struggles to have
women and men be accepted as equals,
for people of all races to be accepted as equals,
for people of all sexual orientations
to be accepted as equals.

 

"It is a fact readily acknwledged, that for humans,
an idea is much more powerful than a fact."

When she heard that, she had a
EUREKA moment.
Yes, she had seen that very often.

 

IS THAT THE ONLY WAY
DR ZEE RESPONDS TO
THESE OPINIONS?

NO.

She has asked herself,
has someone given these people lobotomies ?

More calmly she often asks herself,
what is it that has put up barriers to thinking,
barriers more rigid than scar tissue,
as unbending as a granite tombstone?

And very very often she tries to reach people.
That is part of why she gets frustrated.
If she didn't try, if she just shrugged and said,
well, that's how people are,
it might be easier for her.

But other changes have happened, not because people sat back and let things be, but because
people worked to create the changes.
So she keeps trying.

A QUESTION:
CAN ONE LEARN TO THINK?????????

 

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HERE – THE IDEA EMPORIUM
A CELEBRATION OF GOOD THINKING

HERE – THE IDEA EMPORIUM
NO HOLDS BARRED THINKING

HERE – THE IDEA EMPORIUM
LOOK AT ANYTHING, ASK ANYTHING

LOOK ANYWHERE ...

AT OUR OWNERSHIP OF PETS,

AT OUR CELEBRATION OF TOLERANCE,

AT GAMBLING,

AT THE RAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS,

 

PLUS, LOOK AT THE JOURNEY…

FROM BAD THINKING TO GOOD THINKING,

AND EVEN LOOK AT …

HOW TO THINK, TIP NUMBER ONE

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top of page

Click here for a blog on the writing of The Rage of the "Righteous" -
fear, censorship, self-censorship, and the unexpected.

For a "favorite" stupid opinion, click here for Stupid Opinion #One.

 

And should you believe in a god or many gods,
here's a great quote:

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)

 

critical thinking

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
IDEA * EVALUATION * CONCLUSION * INSIGHT * COMMENTARY *
CONTROVERSY * INTELLECTUAL CONFLICTS *
CONFLICTING VERSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS * DIFFICULT AREAS *
THEORY * THEORIZING * FEMINIST THEORIES *
PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORIES * ENVORINMENTAL CONCERNS * UNDERSTANDINGS * COMPLEXITIES * UNCERTAINTIES* GUESSES *
HUNCHES * GUT FEELINGS ABOUT THINGS *
EXPERIMENTS TO VERIFY IDEAS * VIEWPOINTS * OPINION *
THOUGHT-PROVOKING IDEAS * STIMULATING THEORIZING *
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS * THE IDEA EMPORIUM *

The Idea Emporium - why and what

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. What is happening? Why is this happening? And with that I come to ideas - ideas about reality, ideas that need to be checked against reality, not just believed in like the tooth fairy is accepted by a child. But how does one check them? What qualifies as proof, as evidence.

And why, so often, is evidence of no interest to people? We have masses of evidence of how good many people are at denying evidence when it goes against what they believe. Millions have denied, and continue to deny the equality of women and men, of Jews and nonJews, of atheists and Muslims, gays and heterosexuals. People are incredible experts at denying reality - what is seen, experienced. Of course we need to interpret reality - we do not know it "pure" but through our limited senses, our limited memory, our limited ability to perceive and make sense of the amazing array of information that does gets perceived.

Still, it boggles the even slightly rational mind - how can so many people be so utterly blind to, let's say, findings about nutrition? It amazed me to find out, when I was growing up, that there was evidence for the health benefits of whole grains over refined products - because masses of people stuck with white flour, white rice, white sugar. How could they be so closed to evidence? Somehow they had a wall against the evidence.

The ideas I want to explore are those that go with, not against, the evidence, that try to make sense of evidence.

So, the Idea Emporium - a place for ideas.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are explored.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are entertained , played with,
looked at from many angles.
The Idea Emporium, a place where ideas are evaluated.

What is an idea, by the way. I hadn't thought of that when I chose the name of The Idea Emporium. It just seemed the obviously right name. It was months before I realized I had a hard time putting into words what I meant by idea. I began to think about the word. Sentences with the word, idea, floated into my mind. Like, "I have an idea. Why don't we order pizza?" That was an eye-opener for me.

My guess is that most of us use the word without knowing exactly what it means. "I have an idea of what we might do. Maybe we could go out for Chinese food. But It's just an idea" - meaning this need not come to pass, but we think it might be fun. That is obviously not what I meant by idea.

"I have an idea. Maybe you left your hat in the car." Again, no.

"My idea is that we go in together and talk to her." No.

These are all legitimate uses of the term, idea, but it's not what I meant when I came to name The Idea Emporium. And I'm sure it's not what people might expect if they click on The Idea Emporium - because it's not what most people mean by the word "idea."

Word has a built-in dictionary. This is what it says:

Idea -
a personal opinion or belief;
a thought to be presented as a suggestion;
an impression or knowledge of something;
a realization of a possible way of doing something or of something to be done;
the aim or purpose of a plan or project;
the gist or précis of something such as a book, report, project or plan;
a thought about or mental picture of something
such as a future or possible event;
a concept that exists in the mind only;
a mental image that reflects reality.

The last is what I'm most interested in - ideas that reflect reality as well as possible. But I've decided that I like it that idea is such a wide term.

Here I am taking idea to mean (and I think this is what most of us think of when we think of the meaning of the word, idea) some thought one has about something. "I have an idea" - meaning, I am not sure this concept fits reality, but it is a hypothesis I have formed.

I also think that, when I named The Idea Emporium,
I was blurring words together in my mind -
idea, concept, conception, understanding, hypothesis.

The Idea Emporium - a place for all these things.

This is not the same as people having "an idee fixe" - meaning, a fixed idea, a rigid belief that something is one way or another.
The sooner people get rid of such ideas, the better. The Idea Emporium is not a place to set out rock-hard beliefs and stone people with them, hurling them like missiles at all and any that come within striking range.

That is not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium - a place to present and explore ideas - for now my ideas.

That does not mean the idea need to be timidly set forth, all hemming and hawing, tentative even when the evidence is strong.

The Idea Emporium – the goal is smart opinions, critical thought, perception, good analysis.

The Idea Emporium. Smart opinions - meaning, drawing on every resource possible, rather than "it's my opinion, that's why I believe it, and it's as good as yours any day. Who are you to say blacks can do math, women can learn to read, Jews deserve to live. I have every right to my opinion." Personally, I'd rather do my best to think well, but many others are clearly proud of their avowed right to be thoughtless.

That's not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium. Critical thought - that means we do our best to think well, to apply logic, information, all our capacities.

The Idea Emporium. Good analysis. Again, that means we try to ensure that we use valid arguments - not, "because it's my opinion," "because I say so" "because I know that's right" "because my god says so" "because everyone knows that's right" . We both draw conclusions from evidence (so there may be evidence showing patterns and tendencies in certain groups (for instance, I've done lots of research on the impact of rights movements on those who get involved, and have found lots of evidence for patterns of response) - and at the same time we are careful not to generalize, to draw conclusions beyond what we have evidence for, and even contradicting the evidence ("Women are ..." "Muslims believe ..." "everyone this happens to ..." "Jews are..." "Gays are ..."

The Idea Emporium. Perception. Not easy to perceive. We each do it through a filter of experience, memory, assumptions, and so on. We have all learned not to perceive many things - denial - and to magnify other things. The goal at The Idea Emporium (and this should be the goal everywhere) is to be as perceptive - taking in as much information - as possible.

The Idea Emporium. i could go on and on. But this is enough for a start. More important now to put it into action - because it's ideas came first, surging inside me, wanting to find a place to be heard.

I'm (among other things) a college teacher, so my teaching gives me one outlet for my ideas, to express them, modify them, listen to other ideas, test the evidence, the power (or lack thereof) of different arguments.

But that hasn't been enough for me. One small class at a time.

I have a sense that I have some ideas that could be valuable to many people - ideas many people don't have (many have very different ideas), ideas where my ideas may help other people struggling with some of the same concerns, and so on. I think these ideas could help make some kind of positive difference in the world, reach people who are reachable, maybe even break through some shells many people live inside, shells that stop them from perceiving things.

There will be space for the ideas of others as well. Right now I am starting with a few ideas of mine. But I envisage that The Idea Emporium is a place that will grow, enriching both others and also myself - that I and my ideas will grow from some of what comes back.

Elsa
brain trainer

July 30, 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2008 - all rights reserved
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2008

 

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