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---- "If my idol wears it, then I should wear it too."
You end up maxing your high-interest credit card and work extra hours to keep up with your spending. You discard the old shoes and pants, which could be used many more times. As a bonus, you help the manufacturers and distributors add more CO2 gas to the atmosphere.
---- "Identity theft has claimed millions of victims. Be responsible and guard your privacy."
---- "Yes, I am responsible for this crime. So, I need to spend years to get my identity back. I deserve this."
You suffer because of the reckless conduct of greedy banks that lend money to strangers in your name and you end up wasting your days and months cleaning up their mess. You trust their hired experts and vote for the politicians who point at you as the culprit.
---- "Rev. Hollier Than You fixes ear-infection, cancer and Alzheimer's by just knocking on your forehead."
---- "Hallelujah; we should take our son, mom and grandma to him."
Now, your son is deaf, your mom is losing her breasts, and your grandma does not remember your name. And you are thankful to the clergyman for saving you from leprosy and black magic. You donate more money to the church.
---- "That country has weapon of mass destruction. Its dictator supports terrorists. They are evil. We need to preemptively strike them."
---- "I fully trust my government. We must go and destroy those evil countries and free their people."
Despite many signs of deliberate lies and exaggerated claims, you swallowed the official propaganda which took advantage of your fear and gullibility. As a result, lose thousands of your young men and women. Those who manage to come back mostly are injured and traumatized; they will fill hospitals, homeless shelters, and prisons. You end up with footing the bill for the direct or indirect killing of one million people. Those you wished to save, now has now either become "collateral" for freedom or your enemy! You sing peace songs, talk about golden rule and love your enemy, and yet at the same time you demand increase in military spending for pre-emptive strikes, that is the iron rule. As a result, your country loses its credibility. People around the world hate you. Terrorists get more recruits. Your taxes are transferred to arms dealers, contractors, mercenaries, and oil companies, as obscene profits. Your children and grand children each end up owing 30,000 dollars to the government which ended up funding the war with borrowed money from foreign countries and banks.
Before putting anything in our mouths we observe the color, sniff its smell. If it looks rotten, or smells bad we do not touch it. If a food passes the eye and nose tests, then our taste buds will be the judge. If a harmful bit fools all those examinations, our stomach come to rescue, it revolts and throws them up. There are many other organs that function as stations for testing, examination, and modification of imported material into our bodies. They ultimately meet our smart and vigilant nano-guards: white cells. Sure, there are many harmful or potentially harmful foods that pass all the way through our digestive system into our blood, such as alcohol and fat. Nevertheless, without much using our reasoning faculty, we have a innate system that protects our body from harmful substances. Then, it is a mystery how we put information and assertions, especially the most bizarre ones, into our brains without subjecting them to rigorous test of critical thinking. We should not turn our brains into trashcans of false ideas, holy viruses, unexamined dogmas and superstitions! We should be wise!
Then, what about our minds or brains? Do we have an innate system that protects us from harmful or junk ideas, especially dogmas or jingoism that could turn us into zombies or self-righteous evil people? Yes: our logic is the program that detects and protects us against the most harmful viruses, which usually find their way when we are hypnotized by crowds, salespeople, politicians or clergymen.
Indeed, our brain comes with a pre-installed virus-protection program, called reasoning, logic or inference. The program uses 19 rules of inferences.
Unfortunately, this program is constantly attacked by false ideas, prejudices, dogmas, and stories. We are fed lies all the time, from fairy tales in cradles to holy-silly stories in places of worship. Fiction books are the best-selling books. Actors whose entire profession is based on faking other characters are treated like gods and goddesses. They are meteorites that are called stars! Similarly, we reward liars in politics and in our relationship. We prefer to walk around with ketchup on our nose, since we do not expect our friends to be truthful as a mirror.
It is imperative to educate our children about how to use their logic. We should train them so that they gain skills to apply critical thinking in early age. We know that the majority of clergymen, politicians, salesmen, military recruiters, and con men love morons. But, we know that this planet can no more handle so many morons.So, let's correct the title: No more morons are needed!
