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Sowell: Is Thinking Obsolete?
Creators Syndicate ^ | April 30, 2013 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 04/29/2013 12:48:01 PM PDT by jazusamo

While it is not possible to answer all the e-mails and letters from readers, many are thought-provoking, whether those thoughts are positive or negative.

An e-mail from one young man simply asked for the sources of some facts about gun control that were mentioned in a recent column. It is good to check out the facts — especially if you check out the facts on both sides of an issue.

By contrast, another man simply denounced me because of what was said in that column. He did not ask for my sources but simply made contrary assertions, as if his assertions must be correct and therefore mine must be wrong.

He identified himself as a physician, and the claims that he made about guns were claims that had been made years ago in a medical journal — and thoroughly discredited since then. He might have learned that, if we had engaged in a back and forth discussion, but it was clear from his letter that his goal was not debate but denunciation. That is often the case these days.

It is always amazing how many serious issues are not discussed seriously, but instead simply generate assertions and counter-assertions. On television talk shows, people on opposite sides often just try to shout each other down.

There is a remarkable range of ways of seeming to argue without actually producing any coherent argument.

Decades of dumbed-down education no doubt have something to do with this, but there is more to it than that. Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination. Moreover, it is largely indoctrination based on the same set of underlying and unexamined assumptions among teachers and institutions.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: education; indoctrination; sowell; thomassowell
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1 posted on 04/29/2013 12:48:01 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; Battle Axe; ...
*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to or removed from the Thomas Sowell ping list…

2 posted on 04/29/2013 12:49:04 PM PDT by jazusamo ("Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." -- Adam Smith)
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To: jazusamo

What is thinking?

What channel is it on?

Can I get it on You-Tube?


3 posted on 04/29/2013 12:49:08 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: jazusamo

The idiots in this country don’t have to think anymore. They’ve got the government and state-controlled “media” to do that for them and have a “smart phone” for backup.


4 posted on 04/29/2013 12:51:10 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (I got expelled from the "fundamental transformation" indoctrination center.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

And a calculator to do all the math.


5 posted on 04/29/2013 12:52:22 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: jazusamo

Huh? What?

Sorry, wasn’t listening ...


6 posted on 04/29/2013 12:52:33 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: jazusamo
"The Obsolete Man."
7 posted on 04/29/2013 12:52:46 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement (Obama is the "Disco Duck" president. A no-substance novelty that reached number one.)
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To: jazusamo

” Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination. Moreover, it is largely indoctrination based on the same set of underlying and unexamined assumptions among teachers and institutions.”

You mean left wing teachers & institutions(colleges) are intellectually lazy ?

NAW!!


8 posted on 04/29/2013 12:55:06 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker
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To: jazusamo

I was once told that I got into trouble when I started thinking in the Army. Independent thought is counterproductive in the Collective.


9 posted on 04/29/2013 12:57:03 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Da Coyote

Yep, I believe that for many their only thinking is about when the next episode of American Idol or Duck Dynasty will be on.


10 posted on 04/29/2013 12:58:06 PM PDT by jazusamo ("Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." -- Adam Smith)
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To: jazusamo

Asking for facts is fine, but there comes a point when people who constantly ask this are really putting their own brain in the cupboard. There is intuitive knowledge that any inconclusive “studies” will never be able to support or refute.

The homo-Nazis are first on the list as an example.


11 posted on 04/29/2013 12:58:50 PM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

12 posted on 04/29/2013 12:59:44 PM PDT by jazusamo ("Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." -- Adam Smith)
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To: jazusamo

I’ve got too much to think!


13 posted on 04/29/2013 12:59:57 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: jazusamo
Thomas Sowell, national treasure, and the devil incarnate for those who feel rather than think.
14 posted on 04/29/2013 1:02:22 PM PDT by Truth29
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To: jazusamo

We have had a couple of generations right now that have not had to face the punishment for not thinking. For example, it is easy to blithely call for a “gun free” society when you are not faced with starvation when the “rabbits don’t hop into your pot.” It is easy to attack oil when the alternative is to NOT have kerosene for your lamps. It is easy to deride big business after you already have electricity and indoor plumbing.

The poorest in our society “want” for nothing, therefore it is very EASY to exist and to NOT THINK. There is no negative consequence to NOT THINKING.


15 posted on 04/29/2013 1:05:38 PM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: jazusamo
Thanks for the ping.

This article reminds somewhat on today's John Ransom's article in Townhall.com

The Dishonorable Liberal Order of Regulatory Scientists

Where he writes

I got an email from a reader yesterday that went something like this: "Hey, the American Cancer Society says you're full of it on the link between breast cancer and abortion. Trust me I'm an expert and a scientist, and you're being less than honest. So do us all a favor and shut up and stick to finance."

To which I reply: "Hey, if you're an expert and scientist why are you citing a lobbying orginization like the American Cancer Society? Thanks for proving one of the points in the email/hate mail column."

16 posted on 04/29/2013 1:06:50 PM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Politicians no longer have to think. They pay a gaggle of low-information focus group trolls to tell them what will get them reelected.


17 posted on 04/29/2013 1:09:05 PM PDT by Russ (Repeal the 17th amendment)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

FlingWingFlyer ~:”.. The idiots in this country don’t have to think anymore. “

With the Libturd media , it’s all about emotion and knee-jerk reaction, and not about thinking and logic .
Look at the president’s budget for example .


18 posted on 04/29/2013 1:09:06 PM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt ("Political correctness is tyranny with manners." - Charlton Heston)
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To: jazusamo

LOVE Dr. Sowell. And as Mark Twain said “On the Damned Human Race”...’They don’t think, they THINK they think.’


19 posted on 04/29/2013 1:09:25 PM PDT by AuntB (Illegal immigration is simply more "share the wealth" socialism and a CRIME not a race!)
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To: jazusamo
"Shut Up!", he explained.

This passes for debate, in so many circles. Alas, they're both liberal AND conservative, though I could argue that it's more prevalent on the Lib side.

20 posted on 04/29/2013 1:10:12 PM PDT by wbill
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