The Reason for America’s Problem

In a previous post I described what I think is America’s Problem.  In this post I describe why I think that problem exists.

Disciplined thinking requires a crisp definition of what constitutes a “problem.”

Most political debate proceeds without that understanding.

Therefore the definition of what constitutes a “problem” defaults to anything and everything a person or group happens to dislike.

In other words, a negative flash of affect becomes, by definition, a “problem.”

And so solving problems becomes a matter of making my negative flashes go away.

This explains trigger warnings, microaggressions, and cultural appropriation.

It explains the cognitively distorted thinking of The Coddling of the American Mind.

It explains the acting out of the unhinged left after the presidential election.

These things would go away if the education system merely, and simply, did its job of teaching not WHAT to think, but HOW to think; a critical, essential, element of which is understanding what constitutes a “problem.”

But the education system does NOT do its job.

So here we are.