Critical Thinking

I certainly believe that people like John Stewart and Rachel Maddow are critical thinkers. They have found ways to get people to engage in politics and become concerned in a desensitized world. They use sarcasm and comedy to make the news more appealing to apathetic people. In my opinion, any way to get apathetic people to be engaged or concerned is a positive thing. Not only is it a positive thing, but they are thinking critically. People respond to sarcasm and comedy. It is an aloof approach to news that makes it seem less serious, and thus more appealing. Also, the use of comedy helps people to believe that they aren't being tricked, like they feel they might be when watching Fox News. On the other hand, the epithets shouted out to Barney Frank and John Lewis were not examples of critical thinking. Rash statements with no evidence of intellectual understanding make a person seem ignorant, and it loses them respect on both sides of the argument. Using epithets or insults only furthers the two camps and makes arguments or discussions seem futile. That is the most harmful thing that can happen in a political debate, and therefore using epithets is the opposite of thinking critically.