Blog Week 2 - Critical Thinking

Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart might not be considered critical thinkers by everyday right wing conservatives but to their massive audiences they are very much so just that. They are able to use critical thinking to convey ideas about politics and other news worthy items while bringing a level of sarcasm that people truly enjoy. As mentioned in the article “Sarcastic Times” people like them are needed to keep the sanity in news and they are able to do this with their comical critical thinking. They do this by identifying key elements and bringing those to light along with the satire of the situation. They are able to evaluate arguments and make inferences that people enjoy and relate to.
In “The Rage is Not about Healthcare” the article talks about how people like Barney Frank and John Lewis only hate on healthcare because they themselves do not approve of Obama and his presidency. If not for healthcare I’m sure they would find something else to try and bring him down for. Frank and Lewis both have traits that would make them critical thinkers but they are not on the same level as Maddow and Stewart when it comes to attracting an audience with their opinions on politics. While Frank and Lewis are able to critically think their evaluations of arguments tend to make people more aggravated - probably more so in California as we are a mostly democratic state. What Maddow and Stewart do is judge the credibility and acceptability of arguments while Frank and Lewis make the arguments that they seem to be picking apart.