Critical Thinking Capstone Essay

I Am My Own Gate Keeper

They Were My Gate Keepers
I am an information junkie. I always have been and assume I always will be. I can remember as a kid spending hours in the library scouring the shelves of books mainly in the pursuit of information on rocks, cats, horses and dogs. This was at a time when information sources were limited (compared to today):

• Three television channels
• AM Radio
• Local Newspapers
• National Newspapers (Wall Street Journal)
• Public Libraries (brick and mortar)
• Magazines (limited)

For most of us (in my community), the early to mid 1960s were peaceful times when we consumed information without questioning the content for validity, bias or accuracy. We believed the veracity of anyone in “authority” including news anchors, elected officials, school principals, and yes even the president of the United States. Information was easily controlled in terms of content and number of distributors. It was crafted, edited and distributed by and through a limited number of channels.

The media were still the “watch dogs” of freedom, but they also came from a time when reputation and propriety in a conservative sense was the norm, not the exception. This contributed to a “code of silence” that protected public figures (in particular elected officials). Therefore “all things known” were not necessarily published. An example of this was the image of John F Kennedy (JFK) and his wife Jackie. Outwardly they appeared to be a glamorous and happy couple yet beneath the surface life wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. JFK’s affairs were well known by insiders and the press but were kept from the public’s knowledge. As suggested by Lewis L. Gould, this image was shaped by “doses of fakery and falsehoods..” (Gould 2001).

In addition to the sense of propriety and code of silence, it would be nice to think that saving the nation from embarrassment was more important than the potential gains by media outlets to publish this information. Or even better would be that the press didn't have facts, only speculation and gossip so they didn't publish the stories. But for whatever reason this protection further served the purpose of having a “figure head” that was infallible and untoppled from the pedestal that we put him on. As humans, we want to believe the face value of things. We don’t want to have to think matters through.

Not So Kind and Gentle
In the last couple of decades I have seen a change in the way information is disseminated and content has certainly gone beyond the previously established constraints of propriety. No details are sacred. Public people's personal lives are no longer protected by the media. Rather their private lives are now fodder for the masses. Sensationalism sells. Fox News actually has a timeline of US political sex scandals (Fox News 2009). A published timeline is a quantum leap from the "code of silence." Curiously enough there appears to be an increase in the events per decade since the 1970s. The following data are from this unsubstantiated Fox News timeline:

• 1970s – 2 events
• 1980s – 5 events
• 1990s – 5 events
• 2000s – 8 events
  

Does this rise suggest a change in human behavior? Or is it suggestive of a wide-open media who will dig, discover and divulge through an enormous amount of media channels?

The Wild West
With the advent of the Internet, media have become like the wild west. No rules, limitations nor boundaries. People with camera-enabled phones are instant reporters able to snap and publish information almost instantaneously (as it happens). We now live in a time of “citizen reporters” who publish information without a formal review process that would verify the facts of the information. There are no checks and balances.

I Am My Gate Keeper
I recognize that because of the new structure of media, I have to be skeptical of the content, source, bias and agenda as I now know I should have been in that kinder and gentler time.
Learning about critical thinking has made me remind myself to look beneath that potential surface of “fakery and falsehoods” but more importantly it has taught me to also be cognizant of how I think about information that is presented to me. I have to question both the presented information and if I am approaching it with a preconceived bias or agenda. I have to be my own gate keeper.

As a consumer (and a marketer) I realize advertising displayed on a website that I am looking at isn’t coincidental. It is relevant to who the advertisers know is looking at that page at that moment. It is my job as my gate keeper to recognize why it is there and decide to pursue it or ignore it.

As my gate keeper, I recognize product placements, influencers and other tools to divert my attention as I travel through my day. I now use my first exposure to a piece of information only as a starting point. I use various sources in an attempt to substantiate it. As part of my profession, I refer to user behaviour data to build a strategy and tactics to execute that strategy. Learning critical thinking has made me question data even if it is from a reliable source. I prefer to verify it from a different source before I consider it to be sound data.

Ask "Who, What, Why and When?"
Critical thinking is essential to successfully navigate the onslaught of daily information and situations at a personal and professional level but absolutely required for scholarly work. As my time in the Media Psychology doctoral program at Fielding progresses, I will improve my critical thinking skills by questioning facts as they are presented to me. As I begin looking at information, I will ask myself what is the core posit, who is the source, why is this posit being presented and when was it written. To continue I will always refer to the "Elements and Standards Model" of critical thinking (Paul) which I think is an excellent tool to use to assess information thoroughly through critical thinking.

I will also depend upon my own experiences and listen to them when something doesn’t seem quite right. I will be a detective leaving no stone unturned, never settling for the obvious, always looking for verifiable truth.

Gould, Lewis L (2001). JFK: Celebrity in the White House. World Wars The Cold War. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_celebrity_01.shtml

Author unknown. (June 24, 2009). Raw Data: Timeline of U.S. Political Sex Scandals. Political News. On Fox News Online. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/24/raw-data-timeline-political-sex-scandals/

Paul, Richard (2009). The Elements and Standards Model. The Elements of Reasoning and Intellectual Standards. The Critical Thinking Community. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://www.criticalthinking.org/starting/Begin-CTModel.cfm