Good thinking defeats fear-and-smear tactics



Almost three-fourths of employers want educated employees who can “think critically and creatively, write clearly and communicate well,” according to a Sept. 17 survey in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  One respondent to the article added that “critical thinking and problem solving skills” are “what make an employee invaluable.”

Thinking, as opposed to automatic responding, is hard work, so many avoid it. But only thinking solves problems and navigates through negative propaganda.  Those without critical thinking abilities often find it impossible to deal with people they disagree with because they can’t compromise. Worse yet, non-thinkers fall prey to propaganda. They may follow biased media programs that use fear tactics to inveigh against people’s best interests. Biased media programs, funded by corporations which are vested in making big profits, often use propaganda to advise the public against things that will greatly benefit them — as we have recently seen.

Who are these corporations? They sell oil, fossil fuels, pharmaceuticals, health insurance and weapons. Their largest profits come when the public allows their products to flourish in a so-called “free” market, as opposed to a government-regulated market. Large corporations oppose regulations that may limit sales of their product — such as guns — or oppose programs that will hold down insurance prices.  These corporations, now being permitted to invest millions in their favorite candidates, have also bought up newspapers and news stations, a goodly percentage of the press. Biased media use the fear-and-smear tactics of propaganda to influence the public.

The point is that an educated public is not blinded by propaganda; it can think critically. (You will see these same politicians, controlled by big money, come out against increased funding for public education. They don’t want an educated public, quite the reverse.) Good critical thinkers don’t believe everything they hear. They can weigh the “facts” provided by propaganda and determine where it’s coming from and what vested interest in profits proponents may have. People without this ability may blindly follow any leader they perceive as “strong,” sometimes because he or she screams the angriest message.

Think about it: Who is stronger, the hate-filled person who uses destructive name-calling, or the person who creates new programs that may benefit people? What new programs have the hate-mongers proposed? What have they done for the poor?

I have seen the adverse effects of negative propaganda twice before in my lifetime. Once in the 1940s when Josef Goebbels was minister of propaganda under Hitler. He boldly proclaimed that Germany’s ills were caused by the Jewish people, and that the solution was to rid Europe of Jews. The propaganda he issued included fear tactics and no truth at all. But Goebbels knew if a message was repeated often enough, people would believe it, no matter how outrageous. The result was the Holocaust, when many people blindly followed their leaders in putting to death about ten million innocent people.  

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