“Critical thinking”

[genesis92]

I’m so sick of hearing this phrase used on here to somehow patronise anyone who’s on the right of politics.

Anyone right wing doesn’t haven’t critical thinking skills apparently. Seems odd to me?

I’d really like to hear your examples of what it is they’re lacking in abundance. And yes I know the definition of it, I want concrete examples in context.

Well, for example, you could detail your convincing evidence here. I don't think mnhq would delete it.

What do you mean by ‘sham’?

I often find that things have an element of truth which then may be distorted to suit whichever narrative the individual wishes to promote. I try to find information from a variety of sources to dig out the truth. However, mainstream sources (Google, BBC, YouTube etc.) are controlled as to their content, so sometimes you have to dig further and then don't always get a satisfactory answer.

There was a study done showing that research done by uninformed people doesn't help.
Because they type into Google something like "King Charles is a pedophile" or "Trump was sent by God" or "Macron's wife is a man" and it pulls up fringe articles confirming that kind of crap.

Yes, exactly! Asking questions that presuppose the answer is classic uncritical thinking. When I saw the Brigitte Macron rumours, the first thing I did was to search for "Brigitte Macron children". This got me photos of her with her kids at various ages, her first wedding and some articles about her childhood as a girl. A girl born in 1953, who had three children, is definitely not a man 🙄

AI might be a fickle friend, but they're generally pretty good at debunking these rumours and explaining what the facts are.
... Now waiting for someone to come and tell us AI engines are all owned by the devil, Putin, Bill Gates and/or the WEF ...

Sadly, the 'BBC' are very much on the bandwagon when it comes to oversimplification of the 'news', I read it was because they are trying to not lose Viewers/Listeners to GB news so many of us who don't see politics as entertainment, have stopped tuning in.

Having dogmatic opinions, a lazy approach to 'debating' that puts all the onus on the person who doesn't agree with your 'opinion', to prove them wrong.

I just feel like scoffing at the idea of critical thinking is like slagging people off for learning to read. It's just about finding things out for yourself or needing evidence to you know you're not just accepting something somebody's telling you for their own purposes. Apparently up to 73% of people on chat forums just make facts up to argue with so asking people to support their points with evidence before you believe them is just basic sense.

Like that old journalism quote, not sure who said it, 'if someone says it's raining and someone says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both, it's your job to look out the fucking window'.

You're slagging people off for wanting to look out of the window before they dash to bring their washing in because you said so.

In short it’s people parroting what appear to be ludicrous claims, but refuse to provide evidence to back them up.

They then get annoyed when they’re accused of looking stupid and uneducated and say that the opposing side wants to stifle debate and ‘shut them down’.

If I may get slightly tangential:
1.In my experience, right-wing Americans have some weird sexual hang-ups that often lead them to suggest women are really men. They did it with Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, too. The default reaction should be to dismiss it as bunk.
2.I urge everyone to steer clear of A.I., but are you familiar with Snopes?
https://www.snopes.com/