I want to inspire you to think -- CC3

I am asked that my speech to you today have a general and a specific purpose…..that what I say today not only capture your attention in some way but that it also gives you something to think about even after I have given you the five to seven minutes of my thoughts I am about to give….

But five to seven minutes is not a long time to inspire you and to leave you a message that will not only be remembered but that will also provide fodder for your thoughts for some time going forward…but I am willing to take the challenge. I will do what I can to inspire you to think for your selves, to be critical, and to question….I want to take five to seven minutes of your time to inspire you to be skeptical

But why should you be skeptical you may ask ...and my friend, my answer will be

• -        As long as people just like you and I are fooled by charlatans every day to give up their life-savings for an unobtainable goal, you need to think for yourself
• -        As long as there are people out there willing to lie to you and to offer you an easy way out in exchange for your money, you need to think critically
• -        As long as media and journalism today is more driven by profit and greed than of an urge to tell the truth, you need to question what you hear
• -        Since some lies has gained a foothold so solid in the mind of most Canadians that we every year, collectively we spend billions of dollars on a lie, you need to be skeptical even about claims you take for granted are true
• -        Because it is getting accepted that people are using emotional addresses rather than facts to sway you from one position or another, you need to critically examine everything you hear
• -        When companies are using simple rhetorical devices to persuade you to change your mind…. when banks tell you they have only you in mind….when a casino let you know only about the people who won but will not tell you about all those who lost……when someone is willing to give you the secret to earn millions without doing anything but handing them money in exchange for a book or a kit that will do nothing for you but getting rid of that awful lump in your wallet, that my friend is when you need to think clearly

And I will not stop asking you to think critically until these purveyors of creative lies for their own profit are no longer considered pillars of our society, not until they are branded for the thieves they are will I stop asking you to be skeptical of their claims.

I will not stop asking you to think for yourself and to question what you hear or read until these thieves can no longer can hide behind their lies and live on the sick, the lonely and the most vulnerable of our society…..as long as that goes on I have no right to stop trying to inspire you to think, to question, and be critical….I simply do not have the right

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends, all is not lost….we can all learn how to be better at thinking critically

And even if getting good at critical thinking means that we must study and be vigilant every day of our lives I think the payback for both us personally and for society as a whole is immeasurable

It is my hope, that when you leave here today you will feel inspired to learn about critical thinking

It is my hope, that when you leave here today you will want to learn about not only about how others are fooling us but also about how we are fooling ourselves

It is my hope, that when you leave here today you are inspired to challenge what many of us see as self-evident, that you will challenge yourself by looking up and try to learn also about the counter argument to some of your strongest held truths

It is my hope, as you leave here today that you will think harder and that you will be inspired to critically and systematically evaluate facts that are presented to you using consistent logic

It is my hope, that as you leave here today I have inspired you to not take anything for granted just because it is presented by an authority or read in a book

It is my hope, that as you leave here today I have managed to inspire you to think for yourself, to be critical, and to question……that is I hope I have inspired you to be skeptical

If I have manage to inspire at least one of you to challenge and think more critically about at least one aspect of your life, if I have inspired even one of you to critically examine one part of your life then these five to seven minutes was not a waste of my time nor of your……if I manage to inspire even one of you to challenge your personal biases than these five to seven minutes was worth all the time and all the effort…..and if I manage to inspire at least one of you to look up and read about critical thinking when you get home…then my friends this was a victory not only for me but also for you