How To Think For Yourself

No one is holding a gun to their head. The human mind can hold the arguments of one position without jumping to a conclusion and forming an invalid and uninformed opinion. The best answer would be: "Good point. Let me get back to you on that." Then take the next few days or weeks analyzing the issue from both sides. NOT five minutes for one side and one hour for the other side. Problem is, when their ego is their god, and they feel personally attacked when someone points out how they are wrong, they simply lash out and spew out any insulting and ridiculous point that immediately comes to mind.  

One can also bluntly and frankly say: "I don't know, and I don't care." Or, to begin the process of being properly informed, they could ask the other person what the opposing arguments are! The other person may know them, or they may be just as ignorant of the opposing points! 

It's a moral issue. It's about honesty and integrity. Many people have no interest in truth, facts or reality. Only with getting along with and not being unfriended and expunged by social media "friends". And enjoying the deceptive mental high and ego thrill of being "right", when an honest analysis would reveal the opposite. Below is the text and Aperture 3-minute video (over 330,000 views) that gives an excellent overview.  

"To think for yourself is a skill that you must learn, else you become a puppet of someone else’s programming.  

"To think for yourself is to challenge your existing ideas, beliefs, and decisions. Ask yourself, are my thoughts mine? Or are they simply influenced by everyone around me? My friends, my parents, society, influencers, and so on? 

"To think for yourself is to look at the evidence, to investigate and to use thoughtful analysis. Understand that all of us battle with confirmation bias, we all want to seem to 'fit in,' and so remember to not shy away from ideas that might negate your existing bias. 

"To think for yourself is to battle with your mind. Go out there and find the root of the ideas you support, and then find opposing arguments. Look at your newfound beliefs as diamonds encased in a rock. Before you get to the fine jewel, you must break through the rock with a lot of force, but carefully and diligently. Before you fully accept a new way of thinking, make sure that you’ve broken through the rock by wrestling with these new ideas in a way that might take you out of your comfort zone.  

"To think for yourself is to go out there in search of information. Don’t wait for the algorithm to keep echoing the things you already know. Acquire new knowledge. Feed your mind continuously by reading, listening, and discussing these big new ideas with a view from both sides. Break your pattern of thought and view everything the world has to say through your own lenses. 

"To think for yourself is to be humble in your knowledge. One of the reasons people fall into the trap of confirmation bias is that they don’t want to be wrong. We’ve built this idea for some reason that we have to protect ourselves from being wrong. People seem to pride themselves as intellectuals and knowledgeable, and disconfirming evidence goes against that notion. So, they shy away from it, keeping themselves in the dark about the truth, simply because they want to keep up the façade of being right.  

"Don’t be scared of being wrong, there’s literally nothing wrong with it. Remember, we used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that everything revolved around us. We’re egocentric. We enjoy feeling important, and being right gives us that sense of superiority. But, in my mind, I feel as if you should be more concerned about finding out what’s right and not craving the state of 'being right.' 

"To think for yourself is to be courageous. To not buckle under fear, pressure, or guilt. To stand up for what you believe in, as long as you have come to see it as the truth for yourself. To think for yourself is standing out and not going along with the crowd simply for the sake of keeping the so-called 'peace' and avoiding confrontation." 

9 minutes 10 seconds - 11 minutes 52 seconds