The Object is to Become a Critical Thinker

It would seem a little clarification is called for in my continuing series, "Lessons In Thinking For One's Self"... with respect to their intended purpose.

These "lessons" are not intended to sway anyone to any Ideological Bent. That is to say, they won't turn you into a Liberal or a Conservative, just capable of weeding through the rhetoric, and perhaps, deciding for yourself what to believe. If anything, my purpose in these lessons is to teach intellectual honesty.

Now, the examples I'll give throughout these lessons will be of a certain Ideological Bent [simply IB from here on out] because my IB leans modestly to a specific side of the fence, and because it's what I'm most familiar with. But on the off chance you weren't aware, learning to think for one's self is not learning to favor Limbaugh over Franken, or vise versa. Instead, the idea is to be able to find the kernels of truth in both views.

By learning and then utilizing Intellectual Honesty consistently, that consistency will inevitably carry over to how one interprets statements made by the likes of Limbaugh and Franken, Democrat and Republican.

Intellectual Honesty requires a willingness to hear and see what one would not normally accept, and weighing these things-- shining a light of critical analysis --to determine if a given statement will, or will not float.

Finally, in regard to "Truth", it follows no IB. It simply is. Truth doesn't favor one IB over another, nor does it care if accepting the truth requires we toss out old and familiar friends when they prove to be false, and no friend at all. Truth will be truth whatever we choose to believe.