Criticism Of Critical Critique

I can’t sleep.
Just as well as I’m not in bed yet but, meanwhile, I’ve been thinking that if critical thinking is the 'thinking about thinking' then what about the criticism of critical thinking? Would that be the thinking about the thinking about thinking? And if I’m thinking about it, does it then mean that I’m thinking about the thinking about the thinking about thinking?
I mean, critical thinking is all well and good but one should be free to criticise it. In fact, I would argue that one must criticise critical thinking otherwise it isn’t critical thinking. But, thinking about it, if without criticism it then becomes simply thinking and I’m thinking about it then I’m back to thinking about thinking which is critical thinking…
The more I think about it, the more I think critical thinking is a bad thing, which is a good thing to come out of my critical thinking.
I’m going to bed.

Opinion Piece

"Well, that's just my opinion."
"Is it?"
"Is it what?"
"Is it really your opinion? I mean, are you an expert on the matter or did you just read or hear the opinion somewhere and agree with it? Did you apply original and critical thought to the issue based on knowledge and experience? Or did you just feel that you should have an opinion and so picked one out of a few simplified alternatives?"
"Harumph! Well, what's your opinion then?"
"I don't know. It's far too complex an issue. It's not black and white. And besides, I don't see why I should have an opinion anyway, I don't see why I should have to limit my thinking..."
"Well..."
"Well what?"
"Well, that's just your opinion."

You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense Part II

My stomach is cramping.
I think I may have eaten something bad.
Sometimes, I have a knot in my belly caused by a gaping sensation of being alone. That damned feeling has nothing to do with company, it also hits me when I’m with people, friends and lovers. It hits me during those moments when I’m trying to pretend that maybe I’m not alone. It reminds me that my experiences are my own and aren’t shared. It’s a feeling that won’t leave me alone.
But in this case, I think I may have eaten something bad.

The Flower That Smiles Today

The flower that smiles today
Tomorrow dies;
All that we wish to stay
Tempts and then flies;
What is this world's delight?
Lightning, that mocks the night,
Brief even as bright.

Virtue, how frail it is!
Friendship, how rare!
Love, how it sells poor bliss
For proud despair!
But these, though soon they fall,
Survive their joy, and all
Which ours we call.

Whilst skies are blue and bright,
Whilst flowers are gay,
Whilst eyes that change ere night
Make glad the day;
Whilst yet the calm hours creep,
Dream thou - and from thy sleep
Then wake to weep.

-Shelley

Why Is The Sky Blue?

The sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter other colours of the visible spectrum. At sunset, the light path is so long through the atmosphere that red is the stronger colour.
Antonio Gramsci put forward the idea that the values of a ruling class come to be seen as the norm. That over time, these values become accepted as normal and, as a result, people are born into a society in which they do not question the status quo but adopt these values even if they cause conflict within themselves.
But normal doesn't mean natural. The colour of the sky is only the colour we see.

The History Of The Present

‘Hey Seb.’
‘Hey Seb.’
‘What have you been up to?’
‘I’ve been wondering how knowledge is acquired.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Exactly that.’
‘Exactly what?’
‘That. You just asked a question. Because you want to acquire knowledge.’
‘No, I don’t. You just said something I didn’t understand.’
‘So you want to acquire knowledge.’
‘No, I don’t.’ I glared at me. ‘And it’s not knowledge if you’re talking crap.’
‘How do you know it’s crap?’
‘Because it usually is.’
‘But how did you acquire that knowledge?’
‘I’m going to hit you. I have knowledge that that hurts.’
‘And besides if my knowledge is crap then it means that your knowledge about it is crap too so maybe it isn't crap after all...’
I hit me.

The Eye Of The Beholder

The funny thing about your image is that it isn’t yours.
You meet someone over brief moments and the way you look, the way you dress, and the way you act creates an image in that person which then escapes beyond your control. You then become branded someone nice or smart or funny or intense or some other reductive adjective which they use to describe you.
Sometimes your image has nothing to do with you, it just depends on the other person’s mood.
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but what the hell is going on behind that eye?