1) THEY SAY….
Can you explain why you believe what you believe? Have you really thought through it? Do you know the reasons behind your beliefs?
Everybody thinks….experts agree….we all know…..all the cool kids believe….all the smart people think…..
The anonymous “they say” is used quite often to lie about things, and is used extensively in propaganda. It works particularly well when someone doesn’t have an evidentiary basis to convince people of some idea that he wants them to espouse, like that a product works or that a politician is correct about everything and his/her opponent is wrong about everything. It’s an easy way to con unsuspecting people into believing things that aren’t true or are highly suspect.
Facebook is notorious for using this approach and often ends up convincing people into believing things that their Facebook friends or promoted sponsors, especially political sponsors, want people to believe. Facebook users end up making decisions about complicated and important issues based upon cute quips or memes, or a joke from their favorite performer. They base their opinions on an emotional reaction to a 2-second view of a post. They just assume that everyone in their Facebook group of “friends” supposedly believes the same thing, or that some random “expert” somewhere can explain why what they say they believe is true. And it doesn’t matter to the Facebook viewers that they themselves can’t explain why or whether the idea is true, because they have the “backing” of this “they say” group,—the “all the cool kids think,” “experts agree” “everybody believes” factor is enough for them to not have to think about the issue on their own or to form their own opinions based upon any real thought or evidence.
https://www.prageru.com/video/how-socialism-ruined-my-country/
This might be the reason why so many believe that Socialism is a great thing when they don’t really know what Socialism is. Or why they are so quick to judge someone with an opposing viewpoint without knowing exactly why they disagree. All that they know is that their “group” or at least someone in or behind their group believes this and so they are with the cool kids, they believe what the anonymous “everyone” knows so they don’t have to consider the issue further.
That is dangerous. It is dangerous because it makes you vulnerable to being manipulated by other people. It is dangerous because until you learn to think for yourself, you aren’t really living the life you ought to live. It’s dangerous because there are people out there who have reasons to want to deceive you, whether it’s because they want to sell you a product, or because they want to take away your freedom and have total control over everything that you do. Especially now, it’s time to put down the phone and step away from the social media, or at least pause to give yourself a chance to think vs. react to things
Especially today, it is also important to question your teachers, who may not be telling you the truth about things like history, philosophy or morality. There are some teachers who have been hired by universities who teach ridiculous things, especially lately. There is some curriculum that is being shoved down the throats of students today that is pure trash—completely deceitful and even manipulative. Students of today come out of college heavy laden with monumental debt, possessing useless degrees and less able to handle the real world than when they went in. Some students have even been manipulated into a kind of paranoia about the world around them. They think that they are eternal victims and that the rest of the world is oppressing them. They believe that they have no power to determine their own lives, and that any effort to do so is futile. Such students end up with psychoses and even as violent criminals. The graduates of yesterday built America and were a blessing to their families, their communities and themselves. Today’s graduates firebomb cars. Don’t get caught in that hopeless web of lies. You are worth much more than that. Think for yourself and determine your own future. You were made for this time and you have a purpose to fulfill.
QUESTION EVERYTHING!
It is so important to THINK and not just blindly accept ideas that are presented to us, especially when we don’t really know that background of either the people who are presenting it or the details of why they espouse what they espouse.
REMEMBER TO:
THINK FOR YOURSELF
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH
READ ALL SIDES OF AN ISSUE AND THINK ABOUT IT ON YOUR OWN BEFORE YOU JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS
READ, THINK, ANALYZE A SUBJECT BEFORE YOU FORM AN OPINION.
This will keep you from being deceived or tricked by people who may not want the best for you.