Capatone Checkpoint

CRT 205 Capstone Checkpoint

Information is thrown at us from all angles all day long, and for the most part we take it in and accept it without even realizing what we're doing. If you are not thinking critically when you read an article, you are not questioning the articles validity. You for the most part believe what the author is telling you. Thinking critically means examining that information; being aware of it and its context and reading between the lines, thinking about what the article is actually talking about, and becoming part of the articles meaning, as opposed to just reading what the article says.

Let us consider that you are reading a newspaper, or watching the news on television. While reading an article about the government and the deepening economic crisis, you also read that companies that paid bonuses greater than $100,000 to executives after receiving government rescue funds last year. However, you are a smart person, and can think critically about these things, and so you are able to weigh the information and make your own conclusion about whether it is in fact good for the economy. A critical thinker might point out that bail out money is good for the economy, but the large business are taking advantage to the relaxed regulations on how they can use this money. Therefore, in this case, bail out money is not going to be as great for the economy as it is for the corporate world, as the article would lead you to believe.

Critical thinking is decisive when you are looking at articles, studies, and other items of the media. Consider this; we are going to pick on the Bailout money. While standing in line at your local grocery store, you notice on the shelf to your right a magazine with an article entitled “Stimulus bill seeks to recover Wall Street bonuses" and on the shelf to your left there is a magazine with an article entitled "Senate Passes $838 Billion Stimulus Plan". So which article is right? Which is wrong? Both articles claim to be...