When Critical Evaluation Goes Too Far
W. Ian O'Byrne,
Oct 31, 2020
I've seen this argument before: it's the idea that conspiracy theories wouldn't exist if people weren't so critically literate. After all, the theories develop as a result of people finding what they perceive to be holes or inconsistencies in mainstream news coverage. It doesn't help that any discussion of conspiracy theories gives them air; people who had never heard of them before now begin to believe them. But even if there is a grain of truth to some conspiracy theories, they are ultimately the result of poor critical thinking - jumping to conclusions, unwarranted inferences, inductive errors, and everything in between. They flourish because people are not critically literate. Educators and journalists need to adopt a stance whereby they not only tell us what is true, they are clear about how they know what is true.
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