{"id":19685,"date":"2018-10-24T13:20:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T20:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=19685"},"modified":"2018-11-01T12:33:51","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T19:33:51","slug":"egocentric-thinking-and-halloween-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/egocentric-thinking-and-halloween-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Egocentric Thinking and Halloween 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egocentric thinking results from the unfortunate fact that humans do not naturally consider the rights and needs of others\u2026We do not naturally recognize our egocentric assumptions, the egocentric way we use information, the egocentric way we interpret data, the source of our egocentric concepts and ideas, the implications of our egocentric thought.\u00a0 We do not naturally recognize our self-serving perspective.[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking \u2013 Concepts and Tools.<\/em> 2014.<\/p>\n

This week during youth group here at Huguenot Church we discussed the concept of \u201cwhat is appropriate to wear\u201d on Halloween.\u00a0 It has become a unique talking point here in town as we get closer and closer to Halloween, and certainly isn\u2019t a new topic to the New York Times<\/a>[ii]<\/a> and the USA Today<\/a>[iii]<\/a>. When polled, most of the Junior High students were going to dress up on Halloween as something \u201cscary,\u201d like the Bride of Frankenstein, or Jason from the Friday the Thirteenth series.\u00a0 The Senior High students weren\u2019t as into the fear concept of Halloween, more into the dress up part.\u00a0 They either wanted to be something funny or dress up as a character from a show they enjoyed, almost turning Halloween night into a Comic-con type experience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But how do we know when these costumes, intended to be either scary \u2013 or funny \u2013 cross the line?\u00a0 In my mind, anything that is demeaning, disrespectful, and tasteless is out of bounds. \u00a0But how to base this in critical thinking?\u00a0 Well, to best make these judgments we need to take into consideration the concept of egocentric thinking that is discussed in this week\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n

There is a member of our church who comes from India.\u00a0 Her family celebrates Diwali and every year invites many of us over to learn and participate in the family observance. \u00a0It is an amazing time as there are candles, colors, and so much intercultural learning.\u00a0 However, someone locally asked if they could borrow some of her \u201cIndian dresses\u201d and wear them on Halloween, going out to a party as a \u201cHindi Princess.\u201d\u00a0 This ended up infuriating the family from India (rightly so!) and demonstrated a lack of cultural and critical thinking on the part of the family that made this insensitive and poor ask.<\/p>\n

Requesting to borrow \u201cIndian dresses,\u201d and thinking it would be a good idea, demonstrated this individuals egocentric thinking.\u00a0 They were missing the critical step of considering the rights and needs of others.\u00a0 The Halloween costume was not going to be worn in a respectful fashion, but because it was self-serving, the person making the request thought it was acceptable.\u00a0 As I have tried to explain to the youth of the church its best to ask yourself before you get dressed up questions like these, does your costume:<\/p>\n