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QUESTION AUTHORITY!!!! This was a bumper sticker from the late 1970’s. I recall seeing it around town, wondering why people would want to question authority. I was young enough that ,to me, authority was mostly Mom and Dad and teachers at school. But I was intrigued enough to ask some older friends in the neighborhood about why they were questioning authority, and who that was. For them it related to the politicians who had entered into the Vietnam war. Many were still reeling from the loss of friends and siblings and questioned why the USA had entered that war. The consensus that was shared is that we should question authority that has the power to change our lives, send us to war, and order the deployment of others to protect what they saw as corporate greed.

The concept of questioning authority is one that I have employed throughout my life. Sometimes it has made things harder, not all teachers or employers like to be questioned. My husband doesn’t always like to be questioned. But I have a desire to fully understand the whys and what-fors in life. As an avid reader I research and study topics that draw my interest. I love to engage not only people who think along the same lines as I do in conversation but enjoy listening to those who oppose my views to learn what brought them to their conclusions.

It wasn’t until I was in college and required to take a course in critical thinking that I realized that was what I was trying to do by questioning authority and researching to understand the how and why's in the world. According to the University of Louisville, critical thinking is the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from or generated by observation, experiences, reflection, reasoning or communication as a guide to belief or action.”

Lately I’ve been thinking about critical thinking. I know how many places I seek out information to form conclusions on what I believe is happening in our world. According to pewresearch.org about twenty-five percent of Americans currently get their news and information from podcasts. Another thirty-one percent get their news from Facebook, another twenty-five from YouTube, and from there, additional social media sources. I find this interesting as most of these resources are based on influencers who post their opinions, not necessarily the correct news. And cable news, liberal or conservative, is also mostly opinion-based and biased. How does one go about getting the information we need to utilize our critical thinking skills?

An out of state family member told me she gets all the news she needs from CNN. Each day CNN emails her the “five things she needs to know” for that day. I am glad she is interested in current events but challenged her lack of effort at seeing all that is happening in the world. If CNN doesn’t think she needs to know of it, she doesn’t know.

Have we lost our ability to see the big picture? To look beyond the obvious? To just accept and not question why? Why are gas prices rising? Is this due to no longer being fuel independent in our nation? Or due to OPEC price gouging? Why are food costs increasing? Are farmers greedy? I think not, but what other factors are used to make food costs rise? Same for housing costs? Vehicles? In so many arenas of our lives we should be asking questions. And not just on a national scale. In our county, why is waste management so expensive? What can be done to reel it in? Is the CSKT Water Compact real? Who will it impact and who will it benefit? There are so many areas we should be applying our critical thinking skills to, but it gets exhausting. There is no one place to go to get the full story and not everyone has hours to research every topic.

With technology at our fingertips to research anything around the world, I see less critical thinking occurring, not more. We have more information available but seem to engage less and less in topics that change how we live, pass laws, or move our society forward. This was demonstrated recently at an informational meeting on Convention of States. Many people sent messages questioning what they thought it may be. Several people came out to get information so they could engage their critical thinking skills and decide on how they would move forward once they had information. And yet the largest response was apathy.

Political apathy is large in our country today. Maybe the result of too much information. Of feeling overloaded to do anything about anything. Of being tired. Of not knowing who to question or where to turn for accurate information to decide. A lack of interest with the public in voting in elections, attending political meetings, and feeling alienated by the current political climate. And yet, perhaps this is just the time to re-engage. Question authority, keep asking questions and demanding answers. Let’s engage all those critical thinking skills that allow each of us to gather information and make the best decision we can to represent what we believe in and how we want our world to be.

Chelle is a recovering social worker who currently works as a licensed massage therapist at Cherry Creek Myotherapy. She moved to Montana with her husband David and two pups, Lucas and Turner, where they seek “the quiet life” amid new adventures.