Have we lost our ability to think critically?
I love reading articles that make a case for doing something completely opposite of what you’d expect. It’s not that I’m a contrarian at heart (though some say I am), it’s because I think when you’re presented with options, you’ll behoove yourself to truly know the advantages and disadvantages of each. I also think that when given a clear cut choice that’s best for you, you gain a better understanding and are more likely to stick with it if you fully understand the choice you’ve made.
That’s what I had in mind when I wrote:
Does giving to charity hurt your bottom line?
From reading books and blogs dealing with finance, I see a lot of ideas thrown out there with very little critical analysis behind them. That’s not to say that the advice given isn’t correct, because a lot of it is. But you have to wonder how much of the information we receive relating to pretty much anything is just a large collection of group think. How many articles do you see that quote to another article? Almost every single one! Then you go to the original article and end up finding that a lot of the analysis in it is pretty weak.
I’ll be honest with you, I’m guilty of it too. It’s really easy to piggyback on the writing of another and produce a quick and thoughtful post. I’m sure I’ll still do it sometimes, but with this blog I really want to try and break through a little bit and present other sides of arguments that other writers, pundits, and bloggers have put out there. I think one of the important skills we’re losing in our society is that of critical thinking. We depend so much on other telling us what to do that we’ve lost the ability to do it ourselves. So, my goal is to make Kirby on Finance a bit more critical, not really in a viscous way, but in a way that will hopefully promote thought and conversation. I hope you’ll continue to visit, come back often, and if I light a little fire up under you, you’ll become a bit more critical yourself!
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March 29th, 2007 at 9:31 am
[...] Have We Lost Our Ability To Think Critically? This person basically calls out poor thinking on personal finance blogs - with some very clear points. I try to produce critically thought out posts because if I don’t, my readers let me know loud and clear. (@ kirby on finance) [...]