Critical Thinking on the Cheap

Educators across the nation want their students to learn critical thinking. I was an undergraduate philosophy major and participated on my high school and college debate teams. Those were wonderful ways to learn critical thinking. I taught argumentation and debate at three different universities. My classes often included sophisticated critical thinking techniques: my students learned to identify common fallacies, to analyze syllogisms, to separate qualified from unqualified sources, to identify simple statistical errors, and to understand the ins and outs of cause-and-effect reasoning. Some of that was very hard to learn.

Even though those topics were hard, it was wonderful for students to learn about them, and I hope they remember all of it. Sometimes, however, critical thinking only requires you to slow down for a few moments to think about a controversial issue. It’s not always hard. Critical thinking often requires only a trifling effort. Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to devote even the tiniest amount of energy to sort out whether something is true or false. So let’s look at some examples of how we can evaluate controversial points in ways that are simple and easy. In other words, I want to show how critical thinking can sometimes be quick and easy.

The liberal wing of American politics has, in the past, sometimes taken off on extreme flights of absurd fantasy. In recent years, however, it is the conservatives who have come unglued, so I’m going to pick on them. Sorry about that. Here are three recent examples where a great many conservatives believe ridiculous things. Yet, with the tiniest effort, anyone could figure out that the conservative conspiracy theories are absurd.


Hydras in the Vaccines?

According to a popular conspiracy theory, scientists and other supposedly evil people have placed a tiny creature, the hydra vulgaris, into the coronavirus vaccines. According to the conspiracy theorists, the hydra enters a human body when injected. It then supposedly consumes or controls the patient’s brain.

This isn’t a particularly trivial conspiracy theory. New Hampshire State Representative Ken Weyler circulated a document about the hydra vulgaris living in the vaccines. 

The hard way to think critically. Of course, one could discredit the conspiracy theory the hard way. That is, a person could read the scientific literature. Doing so, one learns that the hydra requires a fresh-water environment and that it is intolerant to preservatives and disinfectants. Therefore, it would obviously perish in a vaccine vial. That kind of critical thinking, however, requires effort. One would need to track down hard-science sources, in addition to knowing something about vaccine formulation. One would also need to be informed about the human body’s chemistry. Is there an easier way to deal with this conspiracy theory?

The easy way to think critically. Here’s a simple way to dispose of this conspiracy theory. The hydra vulgaris’ body is about 1 mm wide. After acquiring that one simple fact, you can go to any vaccination site and look at the needles that they use to inject the vaccines. You don’t have to measure them. Just look at the incredible tiny openings in the needles. The openings are obviously much narrower than 1 mm. Therefore, the hydra’s body would be squashed as it passed through. And thus, the conspiracy theory is also squashed. Simple enough? And you don’t need to understand about preservatives or hydra habitats. You just need to use your eyes.


Microchips in the Vaccines?

Of course, the oldest conspiracy theory about coronavirus vaccines says that Bill Gates has placed microchips in the vaccines. In July 2021, a TheEconomist/YouGov survey found that 5% of Americans think there is definitely a microchip in the vaccines, while 15% think there is probably a microchip in the vaccines. Only 46% believed that this is definitely false. 

The hard way to think critically. One could, I suppose, research about vaccine development. One could determine whether microchips can survive in the vaccine’ s solution. One could use electronic devices to find out whether patients emit electromagnetic radiation after receiving the vaccine. What a lot of work! 

The easy way to think critically. We can settle this the same way that we settled the hydra conspiracy theory. Go to a vaccination site. Just look at the needles. The syringes are incredibly tiny. The needles are very, very small. You have one or more microchips in your cell phone. Look inside your cell phone. Would even the smallest microchip in that phone pass through the injection needle? Obviously not. Conspiracy theory destroyed.

The nanoparticles in the vaccines are not tiny robots, which can be verified easily. 


Gas Prices and the Keystone Pipeline

Any devotee of the conservative media hears that the prices are spiking because President Joe Biden canceled construction on the Keystone pipeline project. For example, former Vice President Mike Pence threw the kitchen sink at Biden about spiking energy prices: “gas prices have risen across the country because of this Administration's war on energy—shutting down the Keystone Pipeline, shutting down oil and gas leases in this country—while they were incomprehensibly green-lighting the Nord Stream 2 deal for the Russians.”

The hard way to think critically. Now, was Pence correct? Well, no. We could look at it the hard way. We could, following principles of cause and effect reasoning, investigate whether alternate causes explain rising gas prices. That’s the kind of thing that I taught my students to do. We would also need to find out what qualified economists have to say. I also taught my students to do that. And what would we then discover?

Well, we could dispense with the Keystone pipeline conspiracy theory by engaging in rather sophisticated economic study. For example, after careful research in high-quality sources, one learns that the United States has plenty of excess pipeline capacity. One might also reflect that canceling the Keystone pipeline’s permits obviously affects future construction, not present supply. One could also learn that American oil companies have reduced their production levels. 

We also would find that oil prices are not only spiking across the United States but around the world. This rise began in October 2021, as the economy opened up from the coronavirus pandemic. Prices spiked badly in January 2022 as Russian forces gathered along the Ukraine-Russian border. Russia is a major oil-producing nation. The obvious explanation for rising gasoline prices is that producers are worried about whether the world will continue to get reliable oil supplies from Russia. It’s hard to believe that canceling the Keystone pipeline – which was not yet in operation – would have caused a spike in energy prices at the same time that Russia invaded Ukraine.

That probably explains why Joseph Von Nesse, a research economist at the University of South Carolina, shows that gas prices are rising in part because pandemic restrictions have been lifted and people are driving more, and partly because Russian oil imports have become unreliable. Simple supply and demand. 

Similarly, John Rogers, who is a professor of Economics and Finance at American International College, explains that “geopolitical instability” caused by the Ukraine crisis will contribute to high gasoline prices.

But, wow, that requires us to look at multiple facts, consult expert opinion, and understand the basics of cause-and-effect reasoning. In other words, it’s a lot more work than sitting in front of the television listening to a Fox News pundit.

The Easy Way to Think Critically. There is, however, an easier way to settle the issue. Just look at the timeline. Biden canceled the Keystone pipeline project in January 2021. Remember, of course, that Biden only canceled future construction. Yet, prices are spiking now, in March 2022. That’s quite a long lag, isn’t it? When the Ukraine-Russia war and the pandemic are current, and canceling the Keystone pipeline is not? The conspiracy theory’s timeline does not work. I noticed that Republicans frequently complain, bitterly, about canceling Keystone. They generally do not mention the date on which it was canceled. For, if they mentioned the date, their accusation would disintegrate.


Conclusion

Yes, critical thinking can be hard. To do a thorough job of thinking critically, you must to sort out good sources from bad sources and evaluate different perspectives, reaching the most logical conclusion that is best supported by the evidence. You need to be willing to look carefully at both sides of a question before deciding. That’s a lot of work, and it requires a certain amount of academic skill.

Often, however, we can dispose of untrue claims quickly and easily. Hydras and microchips cannot pass through a tiny needle. Canceling a pipeline project (not a pipeline, but a construction project) a year ago probably has little effect on energy price spikes today. You don’t have to be a genius to figure any of this out. You just have to take a few seconds to think.

There are a few catches. There always are. First, anger shuts down critical thinking. If you turn on Fox News or listen to talk radio, you might hear hours and hours of people screaming in rage about subjects which they often know little about. They are not persuading you with facts. They are just getting you so angry that you can’t think straight. So, Step One is to calm down.

Step Two, which is even harder, is to look at both sides of every controversial question. I don’t always like Fox News, but I read their website every day. I often read the once-great conservative flagship National Review. Why? Because I don’t want to restrict myself to sources that I already agree with. My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Dixon, told our class to get news from more than one source. She was right. And, in today's polarized environment, you can’t just go to multiple sources; you need to seek out sources that give you different viewpoints.

There is, of course, the question of time and effort. It took me maybe 30 minutes to find the facts that I cited in this post. It wasn’t all that hard. Which takes more time? Listening to Tucker Carlson bloviate for 60 minutes? Or 30 minutes conducting research from qualified sources? But that leaves out the question of effort. It is, unfortunately, easier to sit on your couch and yell at the television than it is to evaluate information. Yet my point is that it is often almost – almost, but not entirely – effortless to refute many common conspiracy theories.

Many conspiracy theories and wild smears disintegrate quickly if people will just stop to think. Often (not always) a brief moment of thinking is enough. Not everyone can take a college class in informal logic, research methods, or debate. But everyone can stop to check their beliefs against simple, obvious facts of reality. Yes, critical thinking is sometimes hard, and the more we learn about it, the better off we will be. Sometimes, however, it is almost effortless. Are we willing to make a tiny effort to learn the truth? For the simplest critical thinking could be enough to save America.

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Earlier Posts about Critical Thinking:  

Biden Countered Russian Disinformation about Ukraine. Are People Listening?

Barack Obama's HBCU Convention Speech Leads Us to Ask: Why Do People Celebrate Unreason?

One of my all-time most popular posts:

Speeches about Conspiracies: How Can We Tell Whether a Conspiracy Is Real?

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Research Note: If you would like to learn more about critical thinking, there is no better place to start than Howard Kahane’s groundbreaking book, Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric. Used bookstores are selling it as low as $4, including shipping. 

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P.S. Real conspiracies happen all the time. The difference between dangerous, real conspiracies and foolish conspiracy theories comes down to one word: evidence.