Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

background. We are different and therefore will never be able to agree on one truth. There is no such thing as “only facts”, every statistic can be interpreted in different ways. It is fascinating to watch how the same numbers around Covid-19 are causing such a wide spectrum of reactions to them.After not speaking to each other about politics for decades there is almost no ability to find a middle ground for most people. Media is reflecting that and before tuning into “Fox News” or “CNN” you already have to make a choice on which side you want to be. Some go even further and exclusively consume alternative media, as they don’t trust the so-called MSM.As human beings we are not capable of not having a bias in one or the other direction, we are not robots. Being aware of that could help us to fill up blind-spots in our perception of the world. Unfortunately we are doing the opposite or better said: It is being done to us.Algorithms decide for you what you need to see. Facebook found out what kind of information you like, Sean Hannity knows what his fans want to hear and Donald Trump entertains his base with empty accusations against political opponents. At the same time Chris Cuomo is arguing with Don Lemon about which one of them has more hatred towards the president.If you want neutral information you would need to watch both sides of the story every day. Who wants to do that? Nobody.What if we would be able to have a respectful conversation about politics with our co-workers, family and friends? We could have our perspective and widen it by adding the thoughts of others into it. After some time we would figure out who is inspiring us to think one step further. We could find out where other people are coming from with their opinions and show empathy for their viewpoints.There will be confrontations along the way, but the more we practice the better we will become in exchanging thoughts. If we can argue about who is supposed to win American idol, we could also talk about who should be Mayor in our town. Why not? Disagreeing does not mean that we can’t be friends anymore.Talking to each other is a system of checks and balances, we don’t want to hurt people around us, we don’t want to come across like an idiot. When we do not talk with others, we run danger of going down a rabbit hole. The algorithms will help us to go deeper and deeper, until we reach a point where everyone that is disagreeing with us is seen as an enemy. Going down that road can destroy friendships as we are seeing during the ongoing pandemic.The comment our friend once made about Alex Jones at dinner was not further discussed back then, but now we are shocked by people in our community sharing Qanon content on Facebook. It didn’t come out of nothing, these people always had these beliefs, we just never talked about it.During the first weeks of lockdown conspiracy content reached an all time high in view time and clicks. Everyone was at home and had enough time to go down the rabbit hole of the wildest theories the internet has ever seen. No checks and balances for weeks. Don’t be fooled, these content producers behind conspiracies had been waiting for this moment and are well funded in order to manipulate you.Talking politics with others can save us from weeklong research about reptile world government or mole children in Central Park. Once you tell someone what you saw in that YouTube video, you will get an immediate reaction if you talk about “Adrenochrome”. Tell your black

Options

friend how much you love Candace Owens and find out what they have to say about that.If you stay at home for weeks and keep “researching” you are basically just feeding the algorithms with information about your cognitive weaknesses. “Out of the Shadows” and other productions are designed to reach people with low education, trauma and/or problems with substance abuse and/or alcohol paired up with a short attention span, but high reactivity to fear. Look at the folks sharing that stuff, it seems to be working.I am not looking down at these people, but I am offering critical thinking to break free from that BS. Asking ourselves basic questions about content we are consuming shouldn’t hurt too much:<ul><li>Who produced this content?</li><li>What is the target audience?</li><li>What trigger points in my bias does it feed?</li><li>Why am I seeing this on my feed?</li><li>What is the context of the information?</li><li>Is there a hidden agenda behind the suggestions being made?</li><li>Do I want to be part of that movement?</li></ul>If you see something on the internet with the potential to change your worldview, I would suggest to talk to someone else before diving head over heals into the rabbit hole.Disagreeing with others is part of a well functioning society. Engaging with people of other political belief systems is what holds us together. Defining limits is the base of a free society. The freedom to do something ends where it endangers the freedom of someone else. Freedom of speech also includes that others have the right to disagree with us and question our talking points.Back to #MeToo, Covid-19 and BLM, again we need to take a look at the conflict lines in politics. Let’s reveal them as what they are:<ul><li>Conservatives trying to keep the Status Quo.</li><li>Democrats trying to beat Trump.</li></ul>It is not about the topics, these are just battlegrounds distracting us from a question that nobody is asking: Why did all of this happen?How were men able to abuse women for decades without anyone daring to speak up? Why did Covid-19 hit the USA harder than any other western country? Where is the systemic racism coming from and why is it so painful to talk about it for many people?What ideology is responsible for all of that? How did things get out of hand so quickly? Why are we not able to talk to each other?The perfect example of what happens when there is no critical thinking is the frog in the pan. The animal does not notice that the pan is heating up quickly while sitting in it. That is us in politics, we didn’t do anything for a very long time and now we are feeling the burn — but not in the way Bernie wanted us to feel it.Political correctness is not an ideology that tries to eliminate the constitutional rights of Americans, it only acknowledges that the language we are using is creating our reality. What they call Cultural Marxism is artists, athletes and musicians using their platform to start important conversations about topics that matter to all of us. These celebrities mostly speak up for progressive ideas, but it doesn’t make them divisive communists because they use their fame to make us think about inequality, racism or other social matters.Critical thinking is not a gateway ideology to Communism, it is an intellectual approach from a city that had to deal with the atrocities of german history and the goal to make sure that this never happens again. Isn’t that something we could all agree on?</article></body>

Critical Theory —Why the “School of Frankfurt” matters more than ever.

“Critical theory is the reflective assessment and critique of society and culture in order to reveal and challenge power structures.”

I grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, studied politics at the University of Frankfurt and have deep roots in this fiery city that is the breeding ground for a way of thinking that has shaped social science throughout the last century.

The “School of Frankfurt” could be described as one of the most controversial and misunderstood think tanks in Europe. Conservative Americans tend to demonise “Cultural Marxism” and “Political Correctness” using these terms to fire up their audience against the “Socialist Threat”.

These are my roots and I feel as if critical thinking is needed more than ever, but was does it actually mean? Let’s have a look.

As more and more problems in the USA are surfacing, we might want to ask: Why is that?

#MeToo started a long needed conversation about men abusing their power to exploit women all over the world. Soon after the “Epstein” case deepened our worries about the decline of morals and ethics amongst certain types of personalities. Early in 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic has struck societies all around the globe in different intensities. In the midst of battling the virus, the USA is facing a national crisis after George Floyd had been killed in front of our eyes.

What would the schoolars from Frankfurt say about all of this and why does it matter?

As mentioned, one of the main goals in critical thinking is to reveal and challenge power structures. Putting a finger on what is the underlying cause of problems is what this tradition of thinking has to offer. Instead of addressing singular symptoms of the same cause, it decodes norms and ignites public discussion about them. That is one of many reasons why the far-right is so upset with them.

The conflict line between conservatives and progressives is probably the oldest cleavage in politics. On one side you have people that would like to keep things as they are and on the other there are folks willing to create change. It is given that the conservative side of the game is pretty united in their goals, while the progressive movements are very fragmented. It is no surprise that the ones looking for change are having different ideas of what they want to change and how to do it.

As long as the progressives, liberals and leftists are battling each other, it will be pretty easy for conservatives to stay in power for most of the time. If another part of the population stays out of politics, this will be even easier.

Many republicans have been dreaming of a forever majority in both chambers for decades and I am afraid to tell you: They are going for it right now.

One part of their strategy is to eradicate critical thinking. Everyone that is opposing anything is seen as divisive and full of hate. Questioning someone is often received as attacking them personally. Instead of agreeing to disagree we try to avoid conflict at any cost. No politics at the table, no politics in sports — no politics anywhere if possible, please.

At the same time we are all experiencing the world around us through our individual perception that is based on our cultural background. We are different and therefore will never be able to agree on one truth. There is no such thing as “only facts”, every statistic can be interpreted in different ways. It is fascinating to watch how the same numbers around Covid-19 are causing such a wide spectrum of reactions to them.

After not speaking to each other about politics for decades there is almost no ability to find a middle ground for most people. Media is reflecting that and before tuning into “Fox News” or “CNN” you already have to make a choice on which side you want to be. Some go even further and exclusively consume alternative media, as they don’t trust the so-called MSM.

As human beings we are not capable of not having a bias in one or the other direction, we are not robots. Being aware of that could help us to fill up blind-spots in our perception of the world. Unfortunately we are doing the opposite or better said: It is being done to us.

Algorithms decide for you what you need to see. Facebook found out what kind of information you like, Sean Hannity knows what his fans want to hear and Donald Trump entertains his base with empty accusations against political opponents. At the same time Chris Cuomo is arguing with Don Lemon about which one of them has more hatred towards the president.

If you want neutral information you would need to watch both sides of the story every day. Who wants to do that? Nobody.

What if we would be able to have a respectful conversation about politics with our co-workers, family and friends? We could have our perspective and widen it by adding the thoughts of others into it. After some time we would figure out who is inspiring us to think one step further. We could find out where other people are coming from with their opinions and show empathy for their viewpoints.

There will be confrontations along the way, but the more we practice the better we will become in exchanging thoughts. If we can argue about who is supposed to win American idol, we could also talk about who should be Mayor in our town. Why not? Disagreeing does not mean that we can’t be friends anymore.

Talking to each other is a system of checks and balances, we don’t want to hurt people around us, we don’t want to come across like an idiot. When we do not talk with others, we run danger of going down a rabbit hole. The algorithms will help us to go deeper and deeper, until we reach a point where everyone that is disagreeing with us is seen as an enemy. Going down that road can destroy friendships as we are seeing during the ongoing pandemic.

The comment our friend once made about Alex Jones at dinner was not further discussed back then, but now we are shocked by people in our community sharing Qanon content on Facebook. It didn’t come out of nothing, these people always had these beliefs, we just never talked about it.

During the first weeks of lockdown conspiracy content reached an all time high in view time and clicks. Everyone was at home and had enough time to go down the rabbit hole of the wildest theories the internet has ever seen. No checks and balances for weeks. Don’t be fooled, these content producers behind conspiracies had been waiting for this moment and are well funded in order to manipulate you.

Talking politics with others can save us from weeklong research about reptile world government or mole children in Central Park. Once you tell someone what you saw in that YouTube video, you will get an immediate reaction if you talk about “Adrenochrome”. Tell your black friend how much you love Candace Owens and find out what they have to say about that.

If you stay at home for weeks and keep “researching” you are basically just feeding the algorithms with information about your cognitive weaknesses. “Out of the Shadows” and other productions are designed to reach people with low education, trauma and/or problems with substance abuse and/or alcohol paired up with a short attention span, but high reactivity to fear. Look at the folks sharing that stuff, it seems to be working.

I am not looking down at these people, but I am offering critical thinking to break free from that BS. Asking ourselves basic questions about content we are consuming shouldn’t hurt too much:

Who produced this content?
What is the target audience?
What trigger points in my bias does it feed?
Why am I seeing this on my feed?
What is the context of the information?
Is there a hidden agenda behind the suggestions being made?
Do I want to be part of that movement?

If you see something on the internet with the potential to change your worldview, I would suggest to talk to someone else before diving head over heals into the rabbit hole.

Disagreeing with others is part of a well functioning society. Engaging with people of other political belief systems is what holds us together. Defining limits is the base of a free society. The freedom to do something ends where it endangers the freedom of someone else. Freedom of speech also includes that others have the right to disagree with us and question our talking points.

Back to #MeToo, Covid-19 and BLM, again we need to take a look at the conflict lines in politics. Let’s reveal them as what they are:

Conservatives trying to keep the Status Quo.
Democrats trying to beat Trump.

It is not about the topics, these are just battlegrounds distracting us from a question that nobody is asking: Why did all of this happen?

How were men able to abuse women for decades without anyone daring to speak up? Why did Covid-19 hit the USA harder than any other western country? Where is the systemic racism coming from and why is it so painful to talk about it for many people?

What ideology is responsible for all of that? How did things get out of hand so quickly? Why are we not able to talk to each other?

The perfect example of what happens when there is no critical thinking is the frog in the pan. The animal does not notice that the pan is heating up quickly while sitting in it. That is us in politics, we didn’t do anything for a very long time and now we are feeling the burn — but not in the way Bernie wanted us to feel it.

Political correctness is not an ideology that tries to eliminate the constitutional rights of Americans, it only acknowledges that the language we are using is creating our reality. What they call Cultural Marxism is artists, athletes and musicians using their platform to start important conversations about topics that matter to all of us. These celebrities mostly speak up for progressive ideas, but it doesn’t make them divisive communists because they use their fame to make us think about inequality, racism or other social matters.

Critical thinking is not a gateway ideology to Communism, it is an intellectual approach from a city that had to deal with the atrocities of german history and the goal to make sure that this never happens again. Isn’t that something we could all agree on?