Brainwashed?

Last night I went to the St. Louis Blues versus the Vancouver Canucks hockey game. I came out of the game extremely over-stimulated and still dancing a little from the Canucks win. As I was walking down the stairs of GM Place with what seemed like a permanent smile plastered on my face, the smile slowly turns upside-down and I notice a good ten homeless people out front of the building. They were waiting on the drunk, rowdy Canuck fans who most likely purchased something or another that night and would have change to drop into their hats. This may not seem like a very significant moment in time because of the growing number of homeless people in Vancouver, but I had the realization that these men are actually quite smart. One homeless person had the wise idea that a lot of the people coming out of GM Place would be in possession of some pesky change, so others followed in the hopes for some as well. This situation reminded me of education. Are any of the ideas we come up with in university individual and unique to our own thought processes and innovation, or are they simply ideas that belong to others? When listening to Professor Ogden I think that I am independently thinking and that ideas I take away from class are my own. However, those ideas had to be sparked and prodded and were a lead off from what he has either implicitly or explicitly pointed out to me. Without anyone else are we truly intelligent? I think that was why Professor Ogden was stressing the importance of belief and doubt. It’s important to have belief in something in life, but if you do not doubt it and question it, how solid of a belief could it truly be. The extreme of what is brought up is probably categorised as brainwashing. Brainwashing is a belief inflicted upon someone that has no critical thought or argumentative doubt behind it. Independent thought is very far and few between today because of the overwhelming influences and teaching that is inflicted upon us. This blog is probably a by-product of something I have read, heard, or been told previous to today. That is what makes doubt and critical questioning so important. Questioning what you believe in only helps to solidify it. It’s like when we write essays. You have to write a counterargument to your argument and then prove that false. Covering all misconceptions and wavering thoughts helps only to make your belief stronger or to start again and re-think your initial conception.
To be aware of ignorance can help to overcome it.

Sydney Boucher