Speaking about critical thinking, this week, we used Hitler as one example of a person "in authority" who should not have been listened to.
Another example would be Charles Manson. I was in grade school when I read about the Tate-LaBianca murders in the newspaper. Our fifth-grade teacher had assigned us to bring news articles to school for discussion. (They want to teach you to be interested in current events.)
Then here the little kids are bringing in these lurid, horrific accounts of - literally - "bloody murder"! It was truly awful. I wonder if our teacher wished she hadn't brought up "news articles" just at that particular time....
And I'm not sure if that string of news stories about "the Manson family" was in our paper right after the murders occurred, or approximately a year later when they were going to court.
I remember how the girls who lived with Mr. Manson and did the murders would be pictured: long hair, parted in the middle. Short dresses.
They called themselves a "family." Ever notice how when a con man wants to bamboozle people, they say the word "family" - ?
magic words:
family
Christian
"I'm a Christian!" - a person who needs to bonk people over the head with such information likely has bad intentions....
If critical thinking had been applied by people who met Charles Manson, they would not have followed his "leadership" or bowed to his "authority."
Skepticism, baby. Skepticism.
Quentin Tarantino recently made a fictional film based on the Manson murders, called Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I haven't seen it yet.
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