Our Critical Thinking and Democracy Crisis
They are intertwined, and the sooner we realize it, the better
In a short video last week, I highlighted the depths of the critical thinking crisis plaguing the U.S. and many other democracies around the world.
As I have written about previously, there is a direct correlation between the levels of critical thinking in society and the health of democracy. The quicker we fall prey to cults of personality and lose objectivity, the quicker our democracies around the world will crumble.
Democracy demands critical thought to thrive. It requires that people engage with a healthy skepticism about the world around them. It requires people to question authority, in addition to actions and statements made by government officials, regardless of political party affiliation.
Why does democracy demand these actions? Because government is supposed to be beholden to “we the people.” Not the other way around. And the only way we can effectively speak truth to governmental power is if we’re critical, error-seeking machines.
Unfortunately, instead of thinking objectively, the majority of us now retreat to our respective tribes. We’re so fearful of legitimizing the opposing side by giving them even the smallest compliment.
This is why I wrote an essay and made a video on what Trump did well in his first administration. In both the essay and the video I tried to be objective, describing how I weighed his positive traits against his candidacy overall. I relied on primary sources and facts that I could easily substantiate.
It’s not hard to find some positives about Trump the candidate, and to understand why so many Americans support him. But in my view, these positive perspectives on Donald Trump ignore the bigger (and darker) picture of the man.
Some people don’t want to see the bigger (and darker) picture and that’s fine. People cannot be forced to change their opinions. We cannot require people to think critically.
But we can try. We can give them the tools to do it.
We cannot, of course, demand that everyone reach the same conclusion. At times, even after going through standard critical thinking steps—evaluating source credibility, relying on a diversity of sources, practicing healthy skepticism, etc. — many of us conclude differently. Reasonable minds can differ after all.
What’s happening today in most of the Western world—and particularly in America—is nothing close to reasonable, however. Donald Trump, for example, just spent the entirety of this past weekend telling one lie after another. He even challenged a Fox News interviewer who told him the story about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats was false.
Trump still hasn’t fully admitted he lost the 2020 election despite all credible evidence and 60+ court cases saying he did!
A society that values critical thinking would not have even let Trump into a political primary, let alone as a major party candidate for President. But such is the mess of American democracy; where power and party increasingly trump reason and democratic principles.
I have previously written about how democracy and liberal arts are dying together. How America spends increasingly less on higher education, and even less on teaching humanities topics like philosophy.
“The problem with defunding humanities topics, including history, is not so much that we’re failing to develop well-rounded people. We’re failing to cultivate and foster an informed citizenry. For democracy to function, an informed citizenry is a necessary condition.” - Democracy and Liberal Arts Are Dying Together
It should be no surprise that democracy scores globally have declined in parallel with declines in higher education funding. When people aren’t trained to question authority (including authority within the political party they generally support), think critically, or apply key lessons from history, they are far less likely to objectively assess the current political climate.
What this leads to is an environment ripe for strongmen; someone to rise above reason while peddling fear and hate and turning the populace against themselves. In this situation, the “enemy within” is not any group of voters (or illegal immigrants) in the population, but the strongman leader who’s pulling the strings.
This is why it has never been more important to promote critical thinking in society. If we fail to promote it sufficiently, the viability of democracy is at serious risk. This is especially true if Trump wins in a few weeks.
If Trump’s campaign is any indication of how he will govern in a second administration, we’ll all need to hold him accountable more than ever. This includes holding his enablers — like Elon Musk — accountable too, especially as they try to buy votes (in a likely illegal manner).
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I hope you’ll join me in an effort to make critical thinking cool again.
Read more at The Political Prism (a publication that celebrates diverse and balanced perspectives):
The Paradox of International Law by Ollie Caute
Election Anxiety? Replace it with Election Action by Tim Ward
A More Subtle Kind Of Voter Suppression by Courtney Waller
JFK and His Legacy Through 2 Speeches by John Polonis
The Electoral College Bias by Cole Frederick