In these trying times, we need some help! There’s too much going on at one time and we’re off balance. Will the next crisis hit us like these last two?
Today I want you to consider taking a step back and letting some things go, so that you can embrace the long-form of information and regain/strengthen your capacity for critical thinking.
Think of this like gardening. If you trim the suckers off your tomato plant, you’ll achieve more awesome tomatoes.
So, dive in if you chose. Reduce your intake of small tidbits of news and dig in more deeply on one or two issues.
What is the long-form?
Long-form content is the antithesis of social media and news blurbs and quotes out of context. Reading a book. Reading an article. Watching or listening to an interview. The long-form occurs when the interviewee or author is given the time to fully express what they know and the surrounding context.
The best kind of long-form content comes from primary sources. Look for content where the author supports assertions and facts with links to primary documents or documents that are substantiated.
Do you want to be influenced? Do you want to be influenced without being aware that is happening? Instead, invest time in digesting long-form content, ideally from primary sources.
Why is it important?
Seeking long-form information is important because doing so can help you rebuild, retrain, or strengthen your critical thinking process!
Two types of thinking are described in this video (Watch it now on Facebook!). First, like-an-engineer: 1) gather data, 2) analyze, and 3) form conclusions. Second, like-a-defense-attorney: 1) form conclusions, 2) find data to support conclusions, 3) and reject data that contradicts conclusions.
The vlogger presents a challenge to his audience. He doesn’t address what he finds wrong in the popular, highly-shared video. Rather he points out the approach and asks his audience to evaluate the video based on the two types of thinking he shared.
Simply knowing that these two types of thinking exist helps us better understand our own thinking.
Whether you take the vlogger’s challenge with the “Holy Post - Race in America” video or not, I challenge you to (1) pick one of the items below and (2) see if you can set aside what you know or think you know and (3) digest the content fully from start to finish. Jot down questions that come to mind and further research you might do. What initial conclusions can you make from the content shared?
There’s a mix here of COVID-19 and George Floyd/BLM related material.
Examples
- Guard’s eye view of Seattle riots (blog post quoting a Facebook post)
- Facebook post source has been deleted or changed.
- Story seems plausible given the details shared about being a guardsman.
- Author of the article also wrote this encouraging readers to digest another view:
Of course, there are two sides to every story and it’s important to see both. Here’s an on-the-ground video of the CHAZ area. You do not have to be logged in to watch it.
- Whitney Davis…a Seattle resident and happens to live down the street from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (podcast)
- perspective from a local on CHAZ
- The (Undercover) Epicenter Nurse (video)
- powerful look inside one NYC hospital during the COVID-19 crisis
- worth every minute
- the interviewers give her time to share and ask her tough / clarifying questions
- Defund the Police Unions (video)
- not long-form
- worthy of more research
- presenting data we don’t hear in the popular narrative
- History of Slavery (video)
- tons of information shared
- information is straight forward to verify from other sources
- the presenter does share his opinions… Can you look past that to digest the info?
On Fact Checking sites
Are you tempted to rush off to a fact checking site? Feel free to do so, but ask yourself this? Who is checking the fact checkers? You can choose to outsource your thinking to others, if you wish. Fact checking sites, in my opinion, provide a false sense of security.
If you want to see fact checking sites in action, watch this: Fact Check: Polio Vaccines, Tetanus Vaccines, and the Gates Foundation