https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/ntquof<\/a><\/p>\nAs I write this, the presidential debate is airing and I am reminded of the lack of fairness being displayed by either candidate as they use persuasive tactics to solicit votes from their audience.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if they have lost all critical thinking skills and the fairness to consider each other\u2019s perspective is of no concern.\u00a0 I wonder what the debates would be like if each candidate drew on the principles Elder promotes for critical thinking?\u00a0 It\u2019s as if character assassinations are the goal of the debates along with confusing the opposing candidate with a flurry of responses, antics, and interruptions that do not create the coveted clarity needed for a fair debate to take place.\u00a0 When clarity is replaced with confusion\u2026accuracy, precision, depth, relevance, logic and fairness cannot take root.\u00a0 Clarity is the fertile soil in which a rich conversation can grow and bloom into something we can all relate and connect with as we enjoy developing our understanding.\u00a0 Our energies can go into building and developing\u00a0instead of attacking and defending, as we allow critical thinking to guide our interactions with one another.<\/p>\n
For critical thinking to take place, I was reminded of how important it is to have intellectual development and restraint. Elder gained my admiration and respect when he introduced the two word combinations that captivated my attention and peaked my interest: intellectual humility, intellectual courage, intellectual empathy, intellectual autonomy, intellectual integrity, and intellectual perseverance.\u00a0 Strong words individually but when combined, presented such a powerful way of thinking and interacting.\u00a0 Again, I cannot help but reference the debates.\u00a0 I would watch in fascination and admiration if Trump reflected intellectual humility, or if Hillary embodied intellectual integrity.\u00a0 They would inspire me to participate and use my critical thinking skills instead of watching in horror as I cringe at the immature interactions lacking of intellectual substance.\u00a0 I am confused and bothered by the interactions, and I find myself psychoanalyzing them more than participating in their debate.<\/p>\n
Although it is ill-advised to discuss those three taboo party subjects, I find myself secretly longing to participate in a constructive, critical discussion to see if all participants can stay respectful, objective and fair in presenting our perspectives.\u00a0 Passion can easily dismiss critical thinking skills thus soliciting chaotic, biased communication. \u00a0Similar to the three party taboo subjects, it reminds me of the three main subjects couples fight about, providing job security for therapists: money, sex, and in-laws.\u00a0 Usually one or all of these subjects can bring the fire and passion out in each person that makes a constructive conversation full of critical thinking usually impossible without a mediator.\u00a0 Maybe applying Elder\u2019s techniques will cause couples to get out of egocentric thinking.\u00a0 But what can be done for our candidates?\u00a0 I nominate Elder to be the next debate moderator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Politics, religion, and money are the three taboo subjects to discuss at a party.\u00a0 Reason being? No one thinks critically or fairly about any of those subjects because the passion for their view often replaces all reason.\u00a0 Elder says, \u201cFairness implies the treating of all relevant viewpoints alike without reference to one\u2019s own feelings or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[923],"class_list":["post-9732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elder-lgp7","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}