Bill O'Reilly and the Potty-Mouthed Eight-Year-Old Girl

[Typhoid]

So I read this thread again, accompanied with thinking of many other forums.
People say things such as "Did you read what __ said" or "__ said this" or "But __ is an ___?"




Can people not make up their own minds, without encorporating any thoughts of any type of media influence, or something?

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

So I read this thread again, accompanied with thinking of many other forums.
People say things such as "Did you read what __ said" or "__ said this" or "But __ is an ___?"




Can people not make up their own minds, without encorporating any thoughts of any type of media influence, or something?

To think that your thoughts and opinions haven't been directly influenced by others is foolish. We are bombarded with opinion-making media and commentary daily on TV, the radio, billboards and yes even the classroom. Trying to say you can avoid letting media affect your opinion is like saying you can breathe without inhaling. You have to inhale, you have no choice in the matter.

Enjoying the opinion of others can also be an enlightening experience. It allows you to look at a topic from another perpective and the works of those that would have their opinions heard have done no less than change the world, such as those from Martin Luther, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Abrham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne and Jesus (regardless of whether he is the son of God or not). The danger is simply repeating what someone else has said without actually thinking about it or doing any research on your own. This is far more rare, but an example of this is Hitler and his rise to power.

Listening to what others have to say can help strengthen your own opinion or better yet, help change your opinion for the better once you've thought about a topic from a new light. The point is to LISTEN and THINK before allowing it to help shape your thoughts. Those are two activities that one can never do too much.

[Teuthida]

I think this is the first time I wholeheartedly agree with one of your posts.

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Listening to what others have to say can help strengthen your own opinion or better yet, help change your opinion for the better once you've thought about a topic from a new light. The point is to LISTEN and THINK before allowing it to help shape your thoughts. Those are two activities that one can never do too much.

Good post. I took Typhoid's question and thought about it. I can't come up with any response better than yours, however I thought it interesting how in my experience his question is one posed by many, but not only just about the media. For example, I hear something similar fairly often from fellow engineering students or physics majors or similar. Some ask the question why they need to learn more specialized areas of engineering, when they argue that they are able to derive everything they need from the basic physics equations. For example, I'm a studying electrical engineer, and a friend of mine who is also an EE used to complain that he doesn't need specialized integrated chips because he can build the exact same thing out of the basic analog components. While he's right, that is he is able make the same thing out of analog components, he would also be wasting a lot of time.

Edit: I reread this and thought maybe the connection between my example and Typhoid's isn't very clear. Questioning the need for specialized areas of engineering is another way of questioning the need for what other people have already said or done, and boils down to the question why can't someone figure out the things they need on their own without incorporating what others have already done.

In this case, I do think learning the basics (especially electromagnetic theory for EEs) is key to truly understanding the field. But as you said, a lot can be learned and your knowledge can be strengthened by listening and thinking about what others have already done or said.

A roundabout way of saying you don't always need to reinvent the wheel, which I think applies to Tyhpoid's question as well.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Listening to what others have to say can help strengthen your own opinion or better yet, help change your opinion for the better once you've thought about a topic from a new light. The point is to LISTEN and THINK before allowing it to help shape your thoughts. Those are two activities that one can never do too much.

I was meaning strictly people in a media position, not just "regular" people.
Like, people put more stock and credability in someone, just because they are on TV, forgetting that they can be on TV for various reasons, and that can falsly influence people with really...really bad advice and outlooks. IE: Ann Coulter.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I was meaning strictly people in a media position, not just "regular" people.
Like, people put more stock and credability in someone, just because they are on TV, forgetting that they can be on TV for various reasons, and that can falsly influence people with really...really bad advice and outlooks. IE: Ann Coulter.

I totally agree with that. Many people let others determine their opinion, simply because its easier than thinking about it. But don't think that this only takes place in the media. Just look to our schools and universities to see endoctrination replace education.

I have a education certification from a highly regarded school in that field; a school that had Sociological Foundations of Education as a required course. That sounds wonderful, until you realize that most of the course covered the writings of Karl Marx and the benefits of his theories. Many people in my class took his word as absolute truth.

The man had a doctorate and was immensely intelligent, yet I did not agree with most of his theories. Still, I listened to him and learned a lot about topics I never learned about before. I did not simply accept his opinion, but I can't deny that his opinions and materials changed the way I thought about Marx and education.

Allowing others to help shape your opinions is not the same as becoming a sheep, but one can become one if they stop thinking and allow others to do it for them.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by Professor S

I totally agree with that.

...'but'?

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Professor S

I totally agree with that.

I thought I saw Satan skating to work today.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by manasecret

I thought I saw Satan skating to work today.

Now that was funny

Typhoid and I are not political parties. I'm not going to disagree with him simply because he is Typhoid. I disagree with many of his ideas and questionable methods in which he supports them, but I don't just disregard anything he says because he is Typhoid.

If we see eye to eye on something, the admission of that is not a sign of weakness, its simply stating the truth. The exchange of ideas is not a debate in which you are competing with arguments. Ideas can be heated and strongly felt, but they are not exclusive or infallible.

The exclusivity and infallibility of ideas is called Idealism, which is a dangerous and intelelctually stagnating mindset.

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Now that was funny

Typhoid and I are not political parties. I'm not going to disagree with him simply because he is Typhoid. I disagree with many of his ideas and questionable methods in which he supports them, but I don't just disregard anything he says because he is Typhoid.

If we see eye to eye on something, the admission of that is not a sign of weakness, its simply stating the truth. The exchange of ideas is not a debate in which you are competing with arguments. Ideas can be heated and strongly felt, but they are not exclusive or infallible.

The exclusivity and infallibility of ideas is called Idealism, which is a dangerous and intelelctually stagnating mindset.

I don't agree with that...

I know all of this of course. Still, it's nice to read what we all perhaps take for granted in our minds put down into explicit words.