Critical Thinking is missing

One skill out of a panoply of skills cited as needed for the future is critical thinking. With the openness of the Internet and the ability to communicate with people around the world, we need to learn to be able to ascertain the real from the fake, the good sources from the bad, the scientific from the fantastical. In the very near future we probably will be encountering deep fakes so it is incumbent upon us to learn how to question, to probe and to think critically about facts and sources.

So many people are already failing in this.

And this brings me to the current brouhaha surrounding the Dorian weather forecast, specifically the President’s forecast tweeted out on Sunday, September 1st and then the follow up conference on Wednesday, September 4th.

So, not only do we need to be able to discern the logic of the argument and the truth of the tale, we also need to be able to put forth our arguments in an intelligent and logical manner. And we will also have to do it in ways that moves people – add the emotional component that convinces people. Facts and emotion.

Doctoring a map undercuts any argument put forth. I cannot believe the White House staff allowed a doctored map to be shown. This is beyond embarrassing.

Critically, the story about the Alabama forecast does not hold. Maybe on August 29th, it was a good possibility that Alabama could get hit if Dorian were to cut a swath across Florida. At that time, it looked like a strong possibility that Dorian would hit the Gulf. But by September 1st, the day of the erroneous tweet about Alabama, the August 29th map was way out of date and all new forecasts showed the hurricane turning north and hugging the east coast as it moved north, and not even getting close to Alabama. So, by the day of the tweet, there was not a hint from the forecasts that Alabama would be impacted. No where close to 95% chance. The Alabama National Weather Service tweeted out less than 30 minutes after the President’s tweet that there was no chance of Alabama being hit.

Why couldn’t he have said, “Oops, I misspoke. I didn’t mean to add Alabama. I was so relieved that Alabama was out of the woods that it slipped on my tongue.” And then just stop talking about it.

To then bring out that August 29th map on Wednesday, September 4th with that black line drawn on the map was just amateurish and unprofessional. Any person with a critical thinking brain would have noted that black line as out of place and looking suspiciously like a sharpie drawn line. I can’t believe he led a conference with that map, a map 7 days old and doctored.

And then, to add insult to the whole situation, the NOAA came out on Friday, September 6th in support of Trump, saying there was a possibility of Alabama being hit. What weakens this support was the fact it took a full 6 days after the President’s tweet and the Alabama National Weather Service countertweet. That support was extremely lagging (not to mention done anonymously too) and feels like someone in that organization was put up to writing that letter. If what the NOAA wrote as support had any merit, NOAA would have come out on that Sunday September 1st, not September 6th.

Furthermore, I’m not aware of any Republican supporting the President in this drama; they are curiously quiet, and that is good. This is the one time the Republicans have any sense.

When I was growing up, I kept reading about how “Johnny couldn’t read”. A few years ago, I tried to do some research and was left with the impression that “Johnny couldn’t read” began sometime in the ‘40s or ‘50s. But, whenever it started, maybe this inability to read, and thus the inability to think critically, is why we are here: American voters voting against their economic interests, evangelicals seemingly throwing out their moral values in support of him (who knows the appeal), and a leader showing bad proof of why he is right.

If you believe in that doctored map, then you need an education on thinking critically.