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[rio darro]

.pdf

[rio darro]

http://www.arabmediasociety.com/articles/downloads/20090209134326_AMS7_William_Rugh.pdf

[rio darro]

Consider me a cheerleader and unwavering advocate of critical thought in all its manifestations: be it in the purchase of cat food or the so-called "public diplomacy" described in the above article. There are frightening governmental/religious entities authoring texts in all our societies which are artfully designed to influence susceptible minds. Isn't critical thought a skill to be encouraged in order to understand the potential agendas of authors and provide us skills to challenge the blind consumption of dubious information?

[Sheikh N Bake]

Critical thought to me is the ability to analyze the more abstract issues and situations from multiple perspectives. Lack of critical thought is the inability to do that, an ability to think only in terms of good/bad, correct/incorrect, and we/they. On that level, all knowledge is known, the professor (or cleric, or other authority figure) has the correct answers and my job as student -- or lifelong learner -- is to learn the correct answers. I believe that the latter is universally a lower form of intellectual development than the former. I didn't say less intelligent--just lower in the stages of cognitive development. All people should strive, when given the opportunity, for more complex thought, even educated, well-traveled people, as there are more even higher stages than just analyzing: for example, making informed judgments and commitments within a context of being comfortable with ambiguity. Cleo's classification of judging which bottle of kosher pickles represents the better value is thus a low level of intellectual achievement, because the "correct answer" is right there on the two labels.

[Cleopatra]

[scot47]

Kosher pickles ? Can I have halal ones please ?

[007]

[johnslat]

Dear 007,

You wrote:
"Well, according to the above definition, can we say that Uncle Sam lacks �critical thought� skills in politics? Uncle Sam always thinks in terms of �us� and �them�, in other words, you are either with us, or against us!
Do you think this reflects lack of critical thinking in politics?

May be Uncle Sam was imitating, as a conservative Evangelical believer, the following quotation from Mathew 12:30, 'He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.' "

The Sheik wrote:
"Lack of critical thought is the inability to do that, an ability to think only in terms of good/bad, correct/incorrect, and we/they."

One aspect of critical thinking is the ability to recognize that most generalizations are the result of faulty logic.
By the way, the "Uncle Sam" you seem to be referring to in your post left office last month.

Regards,
John

[bje]

[Sheikh N Bake]

The nature of cognitive development is universal. If people progress like they should, they progress from simplistic to complex thought. Harvard's ground-breaking William Perry developed an intellectual developmental theory that picks up where Piaget left off (i.e., at age 18. Perry in 1970 studied Harvard freshmen, and for decades after that, researchers of the Perry theory studied college students all over the place, and designed content courses based on principles from the Perry scheme). Perry found that even many Harvard freshmen, articulate though they were, entered the hallowed halls with the misconception that all knowledge is known, the professors have all the correct answers in their respective fields, and the job of students is to accumulate correct answers. Since they're bright and in an excellent environment, by the end of their first year they are already starting to make the transition to complex thought...development of which should continue throughout life, because there are even higher stages than just being able to analyze an issue from different perspectives and then taking a stand.

[trapezius]

Of course times are achanging... after all, Jeddah will get its own "Jeddah Eye", which will be even bigger than the London Eye!

http://www.eyeofdubai.com/v1/news/newsdetail-26504.htm

[Neil McBeath]

There is a very good article in the latest issue of The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies called Women and the Media in Saudi Arabia; Reductionism and Realities, which refers to a number of issues that have been raised in this thread.

The article suggests that the Saudi government clamped down on women's rights after the seige of the Holy Mosque in Mecca back in 1979. This was a political protest couched in religious terms, and the regime r4esponded by shoaring up its religious credentials.

With the rise of Islamicism, this policy backfired. The schools became places of indoctrination rather than education, and at the time of the Kuwait War, the Saudi government was faced with opposition from the "ultras" who were opposed to the presence of foreign troops on the sacred soil of the Kingdom. Once Saddam Hussein had actually moved his troops over the Saudi-Kuwait border into Kafji, and when Iraq Scud missiles started to land near Riyadh, that line of opposition was stilled.

Since then, the fire in the girls' school in Mecca (2002) was a turning point. The Chairman of the Presidency for Female Education made the mistake of complacently saying that he was answerable only to the King, and he did not have to explain why so many girls had died.

Within a week, he was out of a job; female education had handed over to the Ministry of Education and, at the same time, the religious content of male and female education was reduced - not by much, but it was reduced.

In 2004, a woman called Rania Al-Baz was almost beaten to death by her husband because she dared to answer the telephone. This case attracted a lot of publicity; photographs showing the extent of her facial injuries were published, and she was visited in hospital by the wife of His Highness the Governor of Mecca.

Since then, the attempt to prosecute the novel Girls of Riyadh fasiled in the Saudi courts, which decided that it was NOT "an outrage to the norms of Saudi society", and when I was working in KSA, the Saudi Gazette(?) - the paper known as "the Green Truth" - was running almost weekly articles about the excesses of the SPVPV.

What a lot of commentators on this thread have failed to notice (lack of critical awareness?) is that all of this information is out there in the media. In more repressive times, none of this would have been known. None of it would have been reported. The very fact that women's rights, female participation in public affairs and domestic abuse are matters open to debate means that change is in the air.

[scot47]

"The Green Truth" is the Arab News. The Saudi Gazette is a different colour altogether and is also more Taliban-friendly.

[trapezius]

now let's wait for the only known western female member of the CPVPV to come here and say that women here have it very good. (because all the women she comes across in the kingdom of humanity happen to be privileged and lead luxurious lives)

[Cleopatra]

Actually, 'trapezius', in order for readers to obtain a truly sophisticated and in-depth knowledge of "Saudi women's lives" what they really need to hear about is all the hundreds of Saudi women you come across.