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A “thinking” environment should be at the core of any true democracy
by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD
Several times during my life I have
been asked, “If you could change anything in this world, what would it be?”
And, at various times I have given different answers to this question:
poverty, the environment, or honesty. But, I have an answer that could
really make a difference in our world — not that solving the problem of
poverty, saving our environment, or creating an atmosphere of honesty would
not make substantial contributions. If everyone — parents, teachers,
religious leaders, politicians, and individuals themselves — focused on
developing and maintaining a “thinking” environment, perhaps many of the
other problems of this world would and could be solved.
The first place where developing a “thinking” environment must occur is in
the home. The question is, “How do you encourage children to think on their
own?” Thinking as I use it in this essay means using the mind or intellect
in exercising judgment, forming ideas, and engaging in rational thought. It
is parents’ duty to feed and clothe their children, but parental
responsibility must not stop at supplying these needs. Another basic need is
to feed the minds of children with facts, information, ideas, and knowledge.
Children need a foundation from which they can exercise judgment, form their
own ideas, and engage in rational thought.
Important to establishing a structure upon which children can build a life
is providing them stimuli — anything that rouses the mind or spirit. This
may mean having books, magazines, and newspapers available, but it is
important that parents read to their children from infancy (or before!)
until they can comfortably and pleasurefully read for themselves. They must
always be supplied with books at their level, so that when they are looking
for things to do, interesting and enjoyable literature is at their
fingertips. They need to see their parents reading not just sitting
passively watching television, surfing the Internet, or playing movies.
In addition to reading material, children need to be taken to the library,
to museums and zoos, and other trips away from home. For example, camping is
a great way to discover, explore, and enjoy nature. Such excursions help
them form opinions, develop feelings, and invent and imagine related ideas.
Also, they need to be challenged. In our house, dinnertime was an
opportunity to ask questions, present ideas, discuss positions, laugh, love,
and express ourselves and our true nature.
School is the second place where developing a “thinking” environment should
take place. Perhaps this looks too obvious; after all what else is school
supposed to do? Students not only need to cover the basics, but those
“basics” need to be reinforced at every opportunity with no excuses and no
“watering down” the curriculum. Students need to be challenged from the very
beginning—in preschool—where they can be asked intelligent questions,
challenged to come up with their own interpretations, and even encouraged to
take actions based on their facts and opinions. By beginning the “thinking”
environment early, it is established as a benchmark for all other classes,
grades, and levels that follow. Thinking becomes inherent, instinctive,
accepted, and deeply rooted.
This does not mean that learning cannot be fun. But fun does not need to be
unorganized socializing, unstructured playing, and unregulated talk. These
activities can be focused, ordered, and well run so that students are
actively engaged in academic work that is enriching, edifying, illuminating,
productive, and gratifying. When academic activities are satisfying,
students will seek to be involved on their own — without being told,
encouraged, or rewarded to take part.
The school-home connection for encouraging a “thinking” environment should
be established through homework. Homework promotes self-discipline and bonds
between parents and children. It extends lessons introduced in school, helps
students toward deeper understandings, keeps ideas and thoughts at the
forefront of students’ minds, provides additional insights and
understanding, prepares students for life, keeps parents informed of what is
going on in school and, most important of all, establishes a pattern of
learning and information acquisition beyond the classroom — outside of the
school’s formal, well-defined walls.
The third place where a “thinking” environment can be established is in
churches and synagogues. Although it is essential that basic concepts and
understandings are established, once they are established, congregations
should be attracted because churches and synagogues make what they offer
inviting, even irresistible. Church patrons should then be offered
alternatives and encouraged to attend other churches — to investigate,
scrutinize, inspect, study, and research other religions. At no point should
church-goers be reprimanded, admonished, or publicly punished because of
their interest in, attendance at, or membership with another church or
synagogue — even if it is a different denomination, group, sect, persuasion,
or order. The main point is that people must be able to freely choose how
they want to express their religious beliefs, and any church or synagogue
supporting a “thinking” environment must, indeed, promote and encourage
freedom for individuals within their purview.
The fourth place where a “thinking” environment can be promoted is at work.
“Subscribers to the Harvard Business Review,” writes Ronald B. Adler and
Jeanne Marquardt Elmhorst in their textbook Communicating at Work
(McGraw-Hill), “rated ‘the ability to communicate’ the most important factor
in making an executive ‘promotable,’ more important than ambition,
education, and capacity for hard work.” Those most successful at work share
personality traits that distinguish good communicators: a desire to
persuade, an interest in talking and working with other people, and an
outgoing, ascendant personality. These are the people who connect with
others, discover important information, and generate creative new ideas.
Given the freedom to and the rewards for “thinking,” they seek problems that
demand attention, depend upon the considerable data they have stored up,
ameliorate ideas, and begin thinking of well-thought-out and realistic
solutions.
When a “thinking” environment begins at home, continues at school, bridges
the school-home fracture with homework, is reinforced at churches and
synagogues, and extends into the workplace, the result is a world full of
thinkers who use the mind or intellect in exercising judgment, forming
ideas, and engaging in rational thought. They analyze, criticize, take
nothing for granted, weigh opinions and evidence, and devise options,
alternatives, and various courses of action that are the result of
organized, systematic, and rigorous reflection and deliberation. Isn’t that
precisely what a true democracy should have at its core?
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A "thinking" environment should be at the core of any true democracy
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The "feel good" pattern
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We Get What We Deserve When It Comes to Alcohol Overuse and Abuse
The "feel good" pattern
by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD
You hear about the “feel good” pattern, and you read
about it over and over again — although it is seldom labeled. Here,
Michael Kinsley writes about it in the final
Time essay (August 11, 2008),
“[Bill] Gates founded Microsoft and ran it with legendary single-mindedness
for three decades. There was not a lot of energy devoted to lifting up the
world’s poor. Now, having squeezed every drop out of capitalism, he is going
to devote almost all his time and fortune to improving the state of the
world. Even the skeptics tend to agree that the results of that redirected
single-mindedness could be awesome” (p. 68).
I was talking with a friend of mine who is an environmentalist and works for
a company in Texas that is concentrating on protecting some of the fish in
the Gulf of Mexico — at least in that body of water that touches the eastern
portion of that state. He said that it takes the cooperation of a wide
variety of entities, and the goal of the corporation for which he works is
to try to bring all those entities — government as well as businesses —
together. But the key, he said, is getting businesses to a point where they
want to become good stewards of the environment.
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A "thinking" environment should be at the core of any true democracy
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The "feel good" pattern
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We Get What We Deserve When It Comes to Alcohol Overuse and Abuse
We Get What We Deserve When It Comes to Alcohol Overuse and Abuse
by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD
This is an essay about how startled I
am. On this topic — alcohol — I never cease to be amazed, and I have decided
to use St. Patrick’s Day to reveal my feelings.
When I taught college, I was often told that students could not be in class
because of heavy nights of drinking. On campuses across our country,
drinking alcohol is “cool,” and active and prodigious drinking is nearly a
right of entry. It is part of the deal. College students spend 5.5 billion
dollars a year on alcohol — and that doesn’t include what teenagers spend.
With all that money spent by college students on alcohol, is it any wonder
that 90% of student crime on college campuses is tied either directly or
indirectly to alcohol. Also, rape, date rape, fights, assaults, accidents,
falling off balconies, drowning, and car accidents are most often
attributable to victims or perpetrators being under the influence of
alcohol.
College is not an exception, rather, it accurately mirrors what happens
throughout our society. Alcohol is everyone’s favorite drug, and because of
that, it causes more harm than either heroin or marijuana. Fights,
arguments, money troubles, family upsets, spur-of-the-moment casual sex are
often tied to alcohol use just as automobile crashes, recreational
accidents, on-the-job accidents, and the likelihood of homicide and suicide.
Harm also is health related. Not only does heavy drinking increase the risk
of cancer of the liver, esophagus, throat, and larynx, also it can cause
liver cirrhosis, immune system problems, brain damage, and injury to the
fetus during pregnancy.
All of these instances of alcohol overuse are widespread, common, and well
known. It goes without saying, of course, that much alcohol is consumed as a
pleasant accompaniment to social activities. But with alcoholism and alcohol
abuse costing our nation over $150 billion a year, you would think citizens
would complain loudly about the way it is glamorized and promoted as the
“cool” thing to do.
The health hazards are known, fatalities counted, and the destructive
consequences often noted. But alcohol is not only available, it is heavily
advertised, and widely promoted. Outraged citizens could demand more
advertisements, commercials, and public service messages that emphasize
healthy and safe alcohol-free activities and lifestyles. But they won’t, and
they don’t.
An argument could be made for freedom. That is, that everyone has the right
to consume whatever they want wherever they want. After all, this is a free
society. It certainly comes as no surprise that our society is at the state
we are considering the widespread overuse and abuse of alcohol. Look, for
example, how the use of alcohol has effectively socialized our citizens.
Beer advertisements and commercials on television may be the front line of
promotion. Some of the most memorable, funny, and best commercials on
television are those associated with drinking beer. Madison avenue has taken
every desirable aspect of life and tied it to beer: close and loving
relationships, bonding with your friends, great sex, having attractive
girlfriends and boyfriends, a glamorous lifestyle, good health, rugged
outdoor lives, sports and athletics, and cool cars. The liquor industry
spends billions of dollars each year to lasso young viewers.
Closely associated with these advertisements and commercials, of course, are
the professional athletes and movie stars who, by their actions and
advertisements, reinforce how “cool” it is to drink.
A second level of promotion may operate on a less obvious base of influence.
Look at where alcoholic beverages are regularly served. First, there are the
thousands of bars and taverns. It might not be so bad if it stopped there,
but look, second, at the restaurants, night clubs, sporting events,
festivals, state fairs, hotels, casinos, carnivals, and cruise ships. Third,
to this list add the grocery stores, liquor stores, beverage stores, 7/11
stores, and state stores where bottles, cans, and cases can be purchased.
Because alcohol is an adult drug permitted in our society, youth and
students think that makes it okay to drink — and drink as soon as possible.
A third level of socialization, and one even more subtle than the previous
areas of influence, are the religious rituals, cultural traditions, special
events, and holidays associated with drinking alcohol. You can even add the
alcohol added to food designed to enhance its flavor. On this level,
socialization is clearly understated, and because of how subdued, it could
be argued that its influence is enhanced.
Alcohol is deeply ingrained in our society. When people are surrounded with
it — bombarded with advertisements and commercials, impacted by events,
traditions, and holidays, and exposed to people drinking in every social
situation — is it any wonder that its acceptability is part of their
socialization process? Is it any wonder that people feel they need to drink
alcohol to fit in? Is it any wonder that drinking alcohol is part and parcel
of membership in this society?
Under these conditions, is it any wonder that the youth of our nation —
including college students, I might add (the primary target of advertising
is 16 - 25 year old young men) — do not see anything destructive, unhealthy,
or fatal in the use, overuse, or abuse of alcohol? And why would they? They,
too, are victims of subliminal programming that is both blatant and
sophisticated.
Why is it that the citizens of this nation allow the alcohol industry to
subliminally program our young people? Why is the industry allowed to
advertise to our children? It all comes down to money, of course. Greed! The
alcohol industry, just like the National Rifle Association, is rich and
powerful, and they do not want anyone interfering with them. Legislators in
Washington accept alcohol industry money, and with politicians in their
pocket, they have the control and leverage they want. As long as you believe
that alcohol is doing something positive for all of us, that alcohol is the
solution to awkward, uncomfortable feelings, and that alcohol is the
lubricant that oils the machinery of social interactions, the alcohol
industry has you exactly where they want you.
The following verse, written anonymously, reveals the power of this
“innocent” social refreshment:
I am more powerful than the combined armies of the world;
I have destroyed more men than all the wars of all the nations;
I have caused millions of accidents and wrecked more homes than all the
floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes put together.
I am the worlds’ slickest thief.
I steal billions of dollars each year;
I find my victims among the rich and poor alike, I am relentless, insidious,
unpredictable;
I bring sickness, poverty, and death;
I give nothing and take all;
I am your worst enemy;
I am alcohol.
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>
A "thinking" environment should be at the core of any true democracy
>
The "feel good" pattern
>
We Get What We Deserve When It Comes to Alcohol Overuse and Abuse
