Controversy Seekers

Why is that anti-vaxxer friend on your socials always posting controversial questions

The battle between critical and categorical thinking. This is a tormented op-ed that has been keeping me awake after lurking on social platforms.

We've all encountered THAT person on social media; vocally challenging the establishment and lamenting the oppression of the masses. Indeed, history is replete with revolutionaries whose actions have led to positive changes. Yet, as we are well into the complexities of the 21st century, the apparent decline in critical thinking within our society is particularly striking.

These critics, unmistakably vocal, position themselves consistently in opposition to government decisions, it seems just about ANY decision. While we might find common ground on issues like plastic waste and ecological concerns, more often than not, their rants veer into the realm of New World Order theories and political conspiracies.

This disparity became painfully evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period during which many of us parted ways with friends we once admired for their outspokenness or creativity. Their posts about the various "Corona conspiracies" and participation in anti-vaxxer rallies transformed from amusing quirks to points of contention, especially when we chose to get vaccinated not just for our own safety, but to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Suddenly, to them, we were the conformists, the ones who had lost the rebellious spark of youth.

Except.

Except that maybe you also noticed that the same controversy-seekers are now supporting the clearly wrong side of the Russia - Ukraine war. Or ranting about other world conflicts in a manner that shows their complete lack of elementary school history lessons. They are asking questions such as: “are you happy about your useless Covid vaccine?” while ironically benefiting from the herd immunity provided by those who were vaccinated

Or the same crowd is now mingling with the new right-wing extreme, betraying a stark ignorance of, or indifference to, recent European history.

The heart of the controversy seekers

This brings us to the heart of the matter: the distinction between categorical and critical thinking. To illustrate, let's consider the Texas Republican Party's 2012 platform stance against Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and critical thinking, a policy aimed at preserving fixed beliefs and parental authority over the development of questioning minds (Zimmerman, J. (2012, June 29). Texas GOP officially comes out against critical thinking. Grist. https://grist.org).

What did that mean in short? The mostly religious Republicans are explicitly against behaviour modification and any teachings that aimed to challenge students' biblical beliefs and undermine parental authority.

So let's ask a simple logical question: How would have any of the inventions and human progress happen in the past if everyone followed their elder’s instructions? 

Without asking the critical questions of their parents, how would have Tesla invented electricity, Fleming discovered antibiotics or Banting and Best extracted insulin. 

Without asking the critical questions and disobeying parents we would have still lived in the cave. That is what would happen if every generation keeps doing the exact same thing the previous one did, without any changes or critical thinking. That is categorical thinking. 

Categorical thinking is great for autocracy

Well if you want to run a hierarchical society then yes, you do need citizens who will not question their parents, and later their governments.

Now we come to the tricky part of this story. And that trick is why this great confusion works! Even though the Republicans are seemingly rallying against the big government’s hold, don’t forget that is only beneficial to you if you are the a person that will physically and morally fit into their beliefs.

If you accidentally need to have an abortion or disagree with that capital punishment, well no... you will not have the freedom of their government’s hold.

Living in a box

People who think in categories love to segment, separate and divide. Or if you prefer, keep you in your box: white, female needs to be a good housewife; a man should be strong and dominating; kids who are fully obedient...

So now, let’s get back to those “rebellious” friends on your socials. These guys might look like the inventor-type rebel, but in fact, they are intuition followers. And as a smart scientist once said: intuitive judgment is “the absence of analysis" (Hamm, 1988). It is the blind following of preset boxes that you “feel” are correct.

Steven Colbert called it “truthiness.” The gut-feeling. The not-questioning.

Sometimes commonsensical things are just that, easy. White is white and black is black. Unless you ask an artist who can talk to you about the percentages of white and black.

Didn’t you often feel something will happen and it did? Well, have you considered the all the times it did not happen? That is analysis. That is knowing you need to analyse and learn and sometimes sit in a metal tube that will miraculously take off and fly.

Feelings get you soo far on foot, but the rest of the way is most often in a car or a plane that was designed without intuition and a whole lot of facts and critical analysis.