Have you ever tried figuring out a problem when you are upset or stressed? How’d that go? Maybe you tried telling your spouse, “Honey, calm down, let’s be reasonable,” and someone ends up sleeping on the couch. Did Mom and Dad get all red-faced as they stopped listening to you arguing back, and you just end up getting sent to your room? Have you ever made a stupid mistake or rash decision when angry? Critical thinking is about looking at situations without letting feelings or opinions get in the way.
When looking at any polarizing topic (no trouble finding one of those lately), it is very hard to separate emotional reactions from our thinking and analyzing. Just look at a topic like favorite pro sports teams, religion, or politics and you can see strong feelings spring up in everyone’s opinion. If any topic has significant impact for your personal life or family well-being, your emotional state will likely dial up another level or ten.
How often when you read or watch the news, do you immediately feel upset? That is no accident. News media’s business model depends on triggering emotions in their customers to entice them to want more. They have a saying, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Nearly every lead or front page story they chose to present is chosen to fit their business model. Therefore they are not trying to present information and facts to their customers so they can objectively form their own opinions. If you disagree, can I interest you in some ocean front property in Iowa?
What about all the important information that cannot be glorified or doesn’t induce emotional response mandated by their business model? Maybe that topic just goes unreported. Or… how often do you think it is reported with altered context to fit their business model instead? When the media shows their customers upsetting video, how capable are those viewers able to evaluate the situation presented? If the reports also provide opinion on the topic, their audience is not in the best emotional state to think clearly and then are told what to think about it as well. Maybe the moniker “fake news” is more appropriate that many can admit.
The message should be obvious. When making any important decision, we should take a moment to check our emotional state. When our feelings are running hot and time is short, most often those are situations where mistakes in judgement are made. I don’t know about you, but I don’t get the best night’s sleep the couch.
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