In the evolution from childhood to
adulthood, there are many different ways that society views the bridge from one
stage of development to the next. For some, a sign of adulthood is a getting a
tattoo, for others a bat mitzvah, and for others, receiving their driver’s
license or going through puberty or loosing their virginity. However, even those things, when analyzed,
can in actuality prove our immaturity just as much as it proves our maturity.
Though “adult” is defined on Dictionary.com as “a person who is fully grown or
developed or of age,” it is more than a physical change for one to truly claim
the title of adult. As young souls in the world, we want to grow up so that we
can achieve adulthood; but it is only when we have the ability to think
critically that we can truly claim that title. Aldous Huxley (1958), Neil
Postman (1984), Elouise Bell(1991), and Elder David A. Bednar (2008) will
assist us as we explore the outcomes of thinking critically can have on us.
Without the ability to think critically, we can, even unknowingly, allow
ourselves to be pulled into potentially dangerous situations we would otherwise
avoid.
Aldous Huxley (1958), who graduated from
Oxford with a degree in English literature and is also the author of the
controversial book Brave New World (1932),
gave a speech entitled “Propaganda under a Dictatorship” wherein he mentions
some of these dangers. Huxley summarizes the thoughts of that once greatly influential,
but evil, man Hitler, who had the ability to move the masses, those of whom he
viewed as “subhuman” or underdeveloped. Huxley writes:
Assembled
in a crowd, people lose their powers of reasoning and their capacity for moral
choice. Their suggestibility is increased to the point where they cease to have
any judgment or will of their own. They become very excitable, they lose all
sense of individual or collective responsibility, they are subject to sudden
accesses of rage, enthusiasm and panic. In a word, a man in a
crowd behaves as though he had swallowed a large dose of some powerful
intoxicant. He is a victim of what I have called “herd-poisoning.” (p. 165)
If we are unable to think for ourselves in a
crowd, or otherwise, we become subject to the wills of others, regardless of
right or wrong; while we, being undecided and unable to think for ourselves,
have not yet determined what that is. As our minds mature with experience and
knowledge we can decipher between those rights and wrongs. There are, however,
more subtle and friendly ways of achieving mass obedience. This is mostly
achieved through things that we enjoy, for example a favorite TV show, book, or
artist.
Neil Postman (1994), chairman of the
Department of Culture and Communication at NYU, wrote a speech entitled
“Amusing Ourselves to Death,” wherein he recognizes those other dangers
resulting from the absence of thinking critically. He explains:
In
America, Orwell’s prophecies are of small relevance but Huxley’s are well
underway toward being realized. I speak to you of America not only because I
know its situation better than any other but also because America is engaged in
the world’s most ambitious experiment to accommodate itself to the
technological distractions made possible by the electric plug. This is an
experiment that began slowly and modestly in the mid-nineteenth century with
the invention of the telegraph, and has now, in the latter half of the
twentieth, reached a perverse maturity in America’s consuming love affair with
television. As nowhere else in the world, Americans have moved far and fast in
bringing to a close the age of the slow-moving printed word, and have granted
to television sovereignty over all of their institutions. By ushering in the
age of television, America has given the world the clearest available glimpse
of the Huxleyan future, 2000. (p. 382)
America
is one of few the countries that subsist in danger of living out the horrors
described in Huxley’s Brave New World.
Most of the world lives in fear of dictators who will have their way regardless
of the well-being of the people. America is one of the few that uses our so-called well-being as a tool to pacify us into submission. Regardless of what country we
come from, we must be aware that conformity can come upon us without
recognition. Unless we are prepared for it when it tries to sneak in, we could
fall into the decisions others have made for us.
We need to carefully decide how we can avoid
these atrocities. Elouise Bell (1994), a retired English professor who has
taught at several different universities, including BYU, and authored several
books, explains how in her essay “The Better for my Foes: The role of
Opposition”. She quotes the clown from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night when he speaks to the Duke. ‘“Truly the better for my
foes and the worse for my friends. . .”’ the clown further explains ‘“Marry,
sir, they praise me and make an ass of me. Now my foes tell me plainly I am an
ass, so that by my foes, sir, I may profit in the knowledge of myself, and by
my friends I am abused. . .”’ (p. 37). This essay explains the value that our
enemies can be to us. Friends, if only in the intent of being nice and behaving
as they should, can truly do us a disservice. We are blinded
by the compliments that we receive from them, and it inhibits our progress in
finding truth. “Yet many of us today think of ourselves as enlightened because
we are willing to ‘let others have their say’ without seriously considering
their say” (Bell, 1994, p.39). Even this attitude inhibits us from truth; we
must be willing to analyze ourselves, which builds confidence in our own
understanding. Pride in a critical situation can only harm us.
Furthermore, we can find what is true through
the counsel of Elder David A. Bednar, who graduated from BYU with an MA in organizational
communication with a PhD in organizational behavior from Purdue University. He
is now one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. In his talk entitled “Learning to Love Learning,” Elder Bednar reminds
us that intelligence is the glory of God, and that “the overreaching purpose of
Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness is to provide His spirit children
with opportunities to learn” (p. 32). We must not forget that in the search for
truth, Heavenly Father and His plan must always be a steadying force. When in
doubt, ask Him in faith, for attaining Godhood is the ultimate level of
knowledge. Elder Bednar further explains that “learning to love learning is vital
to our ongoing spiritual and personal development” (p. 33). Development is the
key word; becoming an adult requires learning that which is true and loving it;
we can discover those truths through critical thinking as well as revelation. But
even in the search for revelation, study is often a required step. There will
always be those who don’t have that thirst for knowledge and truth, and how sad
for them that they might never be enlightened. A thirst for knowledge comes
with mental maturity.
Avoiding the dangers of conformity
through critical thinking proves that we have matured beyond the point of
herd-ship (without our consent). As adults, we must learn to see the world as
it is, not how society tells us it is. We must learn to value our own opinions
as well as appreciate others. When we forget our convictions to correct
principles, we become subject to those who would herd us into conformity. As adults,
it is our responsibility to be non-conformists; in other words, it is our duty
to decide for ourselves, through careful study, what we are going to believe or
not, and to not allow the emotional pressures of others to sway our opinions.
References
Bednar,
D.A. (2010) Learning to love learning. In W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M. K.
Hartvigsen, A. Papworth, & R. Seamons (Eds.), The Way of Wisdom (2011).
Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 21, 2012, from http://ilearn.byui.edu.
Bell,
E. (1991). The better for my foes: the role of opposition. In W. Brugger, D.
Hammond, M. K. Hartvigsen, A. Papworth, & R. Seamons (Eds.), The Way of
Wisdom (2011). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 13, 2012, from
http://ilearn.byui.edu.
Huxley A. (1958). Propaganda under a dictatorship,
In W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M. K. Hartvigsen, A. Papworth, & R. Seamons
(Eds.), The Way of Wisdom (2011). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 13,
2012, from http://ilearn.byui.edu
Postman,
N. (1984). Amusing ourselves to death. In W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M.K.
Hartvigsen, A. Papworth, & R. Seamons (Eds.), The Way of Wisdom (2011).
Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 13, 2012, from http://ilearn.byui.edu.
