Critical Thinking vs Theory – What I Believe.ca

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
Edward Gibbon, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776), Volume 1, Chap. 68.

As a contrast to Critical Theory, look at Critical Thinking then review the real world implications of imposing Critical Theory on a country that traditionally used Critical Thinking to prosper.

Critical Thinking
Critical Theory
Comparison Chart
Why Critical Thinking matters
The heart of the Struggle
Anti Racist Pogroms
Racism is ubiquitous
Excerpt from Global Affairs Canada anti-racism training materials.

Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation. The application of critical thinking includes self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective habits of mind, thus a critical thinker is a person who practices the skills of critical thinking or has been trained and educated in its disciplines.

More from Stanford school of Philosophy

Comparison Chart

Critical Theory: challenge power structures.	Critical Thinking: careful thinking directed to a goal.
-philosophy that attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge power structures.	-analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments
-often results in a focus on identity struggles, your group, tribe	-often results in a focus on character, individuality
Strives to be political, roots Marxism, sociology and literary criticism.	Strives to be non political, roots in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Sees ideology and Capitalism as the principal obstacle to human liberation, focus on ending capitalism	Sees Education and ignorance as the principal obstacles to human liberation, focus on solving problems
Marx argues that only by changing practices at any cost can societies realize their ideals of no religion, no private ownership, state control.	John Dewey used the term ‘critical thinking’ to describe educational goals that achieve a process of defining facts. (1910)
Not a means to achieve some independent goal, but rather seek to “human emancipation” in circumstances of domination and oppression.	active and careful consideration of any knowledge in the light of evidence, and the further conclusions to which it tends. (Dewey 1910: 6; 1933: 9)
victim-hood to justify oppressing the real or imagined oppressor	testing facts, seek technical innovation to reduce poverty
Focus on class, capitalism, race, gender, colonialism, spirituality, tribal wisdom	The scientific method, testing facts to establish explanations of phenomena.
broad awareness of Identity politics and social justice, inequalities such as racial justice, sexism and LGBT rights, white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States but not slavery today.	human happiness, knowledge thru reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, constitutional government, and separation of church and state
A critical theory is any approach to humanities and social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge power structures.	Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, observations, and arguments to form a judgement by rational, skeptical, unbiased analyses and evaluation.
Marx held that human societies develop through class conflict. In capitalism this conflict is between the bourgeoisie that control the means of production and the proletariat who are wage earners. Marx predicted that capitalism produced internal tensions these tensions would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system known as the socialist mode of production.	Dewey’s had a profound belief in democracy, be it in politics, education, or journalism. For Dewey Democracy was the ultimate ethical ideal of humanity. Dewey considered two fundamental elements—schools and civil society—to be major topics needing attention and reconstruction to encourage experimental intelligence and plurality.

Why Critical Thinking matters

This year (2023) Canada accepted a million new residents. This resulted in a housing crisis, a health care and educational crisis. The cost of living for new arrivals is high.

Because 50 years ago 98% of the Canadian population was white European, Whites tend to have land, houses and some financial stability. The new comers not so much. That inequity born of “just showing up” when seen thru a critical theory lens is being rallied into a fight for Social Justice and the need for a resolution of the systemic racism of BIPOC peoples who demonstrably have less. A critical thinking approach will recognized that “just showing up” you will have less. You have to work hard to achieve what others have achieved. A critical theorist will insist on redistribution to correct historic wrongs.

The heart of the Struggle

At the heart of our struggle with new immigrants will be the adoption of western ideas of science and technology as opposed to Marxist ideas of Critical Theory. On a human level it is about the difference between a people that focus on character or a people that focus on identity. Those who focus on identity politics, personal identity and Critical Theory are more susceptible to Fascist ideation. Critical Thinking leads to democracy or in Canada’s case, peace, order and good government.

Anti Racist Pogroms

Pogroms: An organized, often officially encouraged persecution of a minority group. Whites are now a minority in 50 of 300 ridings in Canada.

Critical Theory is Marxist ideation, Marxism lead to Lenin, Stalin, Mao and now Trudeau. The process is well understood and unfolding today in Canada’s Civil Service.

Through a freedom of information request, the Toronto Sun recently obtained results of “official anti-racist training materials” for Global Affairs Canada. The literature is markedly different than Canada’s official anti-racism training of only a few years ago, which stressed tolerance and accommodation for an increasingly multicultural workplace.

“These new course materials explicitly cite as their inspiration “critical race theory,” which posits that Western society is immutably tainted by white supremacy, and must be confronted and managed by conscious “anti racist” thinking and policies.”
Toronto Sun Only White People can be racists: Inside Global Affairs’ anti-racism course materials

Advocates fail to note that Canada until very recently was 98% white. And it is through open borders and hospitality that we have become multicultural. Once here the BIPOC newcomers are ungrateful despite outrageous concessions and accommodations.

It is reported that “Objectivity” and “worship of the written word” are being taught to Canadian diplomats as markers of “white supremacy”.
Toronto Sun Only White People can be racists: Inside Global Affairs’ anti-racism course materials

The alternative proposed is an analysis of systemic racism and indigenous knowledge. In fact the opposite is prejudice and ignorance. At a time when we need Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths more than ever New Canadians are flooding the country and biasing the traditional knowledge of Old Stock European descendants.

While Liberal ideology sees multiculturalism as our strength, Old Stock Canadians thrived due to a low population, allot of resources and the accumulation of knowledge thru reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, constitutional government, and most importantly separation of church and state.

It is important to remember that ideas of tribal knowledge and the lack of the written word in pre literate societies also went along without iron, bread, domesticated animals like horses, cattle, poultry, the wheel, sanitation, and a very high infant mortality rate and very short life. All improved with the application of a “racist white” written scientific world view according to critical theorists.

It’s a ramping up of an initiative first begun in 2019, when the Government of Canada began rolling out anti racism training within its departments in a bid to combat a federal bureaucracy that they asserted was shot through with “systemic racism.”
Toronto Sun Only White People can be racists: Inside Global Affairs’ anti-racism course materials

Anti-discrimination movements of the past sought equal opportunity for all. A noble idea. But critical race theorists appeals to the million new immigrants who arrived this year who do not understand why they do not have all the things Canadians spent generations working to achieve.

The reality of our “colonial” past is that my Mennonite pioneer great great grandparents arrived on the open prairie in November and survived the winter by digging a hole and covering it with Sod to survive the prairie winter. White privildge indeed.

The systemic racism of today in Canada is the stark awakening of the new immigrant realizing that the standard of living achieved by white people comes from extremely hard work and not exploitation, but that is not what they are told by authors like Robin DiAngelo or Ibram X. Kendi.

Racism is ubiquitous

Seeing racism as a systemic problem in North America is to ignore the racism around the world

Anti-Semitism in Africa
Black Supremacy
Racism in China
Han Nationalism
Racism in Japan
Racism in Turkey

Racism will persist simply because:
~Sikhs and Hindu’s arrive from a country with a racist caste system.
~Muslims who arrive see non Muslims as infidels worthy of jihad and reject the notion of nationalism preferring a sharia law caliphate.
~Africans identify by tribes and blame the colonialism that was applied to New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada as the cause of all their problems. Even though those countries had remarkably different results.

The Global Affairs materials is correct when they cite racist profiteers / writers like Ibram X. Kendi “Racism is ordinary, the ‘normal’ way that society does business.” Where the discredited Kendi and his Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University goes off the rails is when he applies more racist thinking and states “the white race is at the top of the racial hierarchy and all other races are below, with the Black race on the bottom.”

A more accurate statement would be “Racism is ordinary, the ‘normal’ way that all societies do business. Every institution in every country is used to prove that race exists and to promote the idea that the local race is at the top of the racial hierarchy and all other races are below. This is true of Asians, Japanese, Africans, Caucasians and Indians“

The problem with stating the truth in age of Memes and Social Media is that the truth is not worthy of click bait so it does not get as much attention.

Excerpt from Global Affairs Canada anti-racism training materials.

“Perfectionism” and “worship of the written word” are markers of “white supremacy”

“Most people associate the term “white supremacy” with hate groups such as the KKK, it can equally be applied to any system that affords disproportionate advantage to white people.”

“white supremacy culture includes the principles of objectivity, individualism and worship of the written word.

“pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps is covert white supremacy.”
Toronto Sun Only White People can be racists: Inside Global Affairs’ anti-racism course materials

Hisorty will Judge

Critical Thinking suggests the present must judge the past on its own terms, Critical Theory suggests we use present day standards to judge the past. Be careful; historians tend to judge Critical Theorists (Mao, Stalin, Lenin) harshly. The flaw in Critical Theory is that it believes its own rhetoric. The standards that it uses to impose judgements upon society it sees as the correct interpretation of contemporary humanity. Critical Theory believes in its morally superiority.

It misses the most important point of Critical Thinking and that is everything must be questioned, it is the essence of its error correcting nature and the secret to its success.

~End~

Started writing on a sunny day in May 2022, nothing more entertaining than a 7 year old and 4 year old with a bucket and a hose. Daffodils in bloom, beavers are a problem in the pond clogging the culvert and flooding my road. Or is their road, in any event, either a pre literate rodent with a innate knowledge of how to stop the sound of water running or a capitalist primate with a .22 is going to win and rule the road.

Updated November 2023 White cake and blueberry cupcakes with burnt butter icing for Great Grandmother or “GG” to the little ones.

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