Emotional Thinkers
Several sayings or beliefs have resurfaced from antiquity. Remember hearing, “A chip off the old block,” or, “An apple does not fall far from the tree”?
Well here is proof that both statements are true. This column is from the pen of Bill, Jr. (Will as he is commonly known).
The thoughts were provoked by our discussion of the illogical calls to stop enforcing the law and abolish ICE. The words between here and “So here’s the perspective” are Will’s.
Many on the left have fallen into an emotional thought pattern in how they form their opinions.
“Emotional Thought Arguments” are evidenced by positions taken based on a singular point within a complex situation. The individual looks at this singular point without consideration of what came before, and the potential outcomes of the position taken.
Examples:
An unarmed man is shot by a police officer. To both critical and emotional thinkers, this is a sad event. The rational or critical thinker carefully considers what led to the event, including the contributing behaviors of the parties involved. The rational or critical thinker, however, considers what possible outcomes may have occurred had the officer not pulled the trigger.
The emotional thinker looks exclusively at the singular fact that an unarmed man was shot by a cop. This makes him/her feel bad. It also feels like an unfair fight. Not fair that the cop used a gun when the deceased did not have one. No analytical thought is given as to what might have happened if the cop had not shot.
The event made the emotional thinker feel bad. Therefore it was wrong and should not have happened. By taking this position the emotional thinker feels good about herself. It proves that they care.
On healthcare, it is not fair that not everyone gets the same quality of healthcare. The rational or critical thinker considers why this is. They understand that healthcare is a finite resource and always will be. The critical thinker recognizes this is a very complex issue and that, because healthcare is and always will be a finite resource, difficult choices must be made to ensure an appropriate and equitable allocation of those resources across all of society.
The fact that healthcare is a limited resource makes the emotional thinker feel bad. The emotional thinker hears a story about an individual who could not afford cancer treatments. This is wrong. The solution then is free healthcare for all. Problem solved and the emotional thinker feels compassionate and caring.
On immigration, the emotional thinker sees a young child crying and is told the child has been ripped from his mother’s arms. This is terrible. This cannot be tolerated. Again, consideration of the complex environment that led to the issue, or consideration of the possible/probable outcome of the larger picture are not to be considered. Any position other than to keep the family together, and, by the way, do not detain them, is cruel and uncaring. Moreover, because the child was ripped from the arms of the poor mother by an ICE agent, we should eliminate ICE.
On mass shootings, the emotional thinker believes, “We must do something!” He does not want to consider whether an action will make a difference but firmly believes that, “We must do something!”
He advocates, therefore, doing something even when presented with evidence that the suggested actions will not prevent future mass shootings.
A strong indicator of an emotional thinker is “virtue signaling.” This is the practice of taking a very simple, easy action which changes nothing, and using that to show how much you care. The emotional thinker then feels that he or she has done something and they move on feeling good about themselves.
The best example of this was the kidnapping of the over 100 girls by the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2014. Michelle Obama, married to the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, decided to “Virtue Signal” to show how much she cared. She tweeted a photo of herself holding a sign that read simply, “# Bring back our girls.”
This started an entire virtue signaling movement with millions of emotional thinkers repeating Obama’s actions to show how much they cared. This allowed them to feel as though they were good people and that they had done something. Their actions actually accomplished nothing except emboldening Boco Haram leaders who enjoyed and prospered off of their notoriety.
Virtue Signaling removes the emotional thinker from ever having to suggest a solution. It’s all about feeling good about themselves because of how much they care.
So here’s the perspective.
When emotional thinkers begin suggesting practical solutions instead of protesting with signs like “# Bring back our girls,” they might see some changes.
It’s worth a try.
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