Thinking Objectively

I am sure people have noticed that what I talk about is often across a wide subject area.

There is no fixed thinking to something, as my mind is always open and mostly objective.

Because I have associative thinking, I will always weave back and forth between different areas of thought.

I get that not everyone has this ability, but you can still train your own mind towards something close to that by sidelining whatever you are reading temporarily and reading from others sources; those inline with your narratives and those not inline, outside your scope.

Once you weigh them up and look for the most plausible outcome free of bias by looking at the correlation between the sources; what's the same and what's not? Then you can form a more clearer picture of the truth.

Often in such cases where the narratives are vastly twisted beyond the original story from one side of a way of thinking to another. Then, you have to look for a neutral source to gain a better perspective and then ascertain the most logical outcome, not what you are learning towards; you always have to challenge that.

For example: Country A reports that Country C has a military dictatorship where they have tortured innocent people. Whereas Country B reports that a terrorist organisation initiated attacks on a government building and were arrested and interrogated.

Looking at this example we can't get a clear view as to what is true; what is the correct perspective?

To answer this you look for a neutral source. Though it's not always easy as often there might not be any neutral sources.

If there was it would be something like this example: Country C initated a policy that violated the rights to privacy for their citizens. The citizens protested and marched against the government to reverse the policy. The police of country C acted in an aggressive manner with how they handled the protestors outside a government building. After the protest several arrests were made and people were taken away for questioning regarding their involvement and motivations.

From this example, you can see there is more detail to the story, that does not favour the police/government or the protesters of Country C.

What I then do is look for information about Country C over time to build more of a clear picture about that country. But, it's important to note that I don't immediately look for information from Country A or B about country C. I look for information from other countries and Country C. When I have this information I then look at the information from Countries A and B and look for a correlation.

Then I see a distorted timeline of events. Such as this example: Country A reports that a diplomat was arrested in Country C who was from Country B. That diplomat was then tortured for information. Whereas, Country B reports that a spy from country A was caught in Country C and arrested, later interrogated for information.

In another example, a woman from country C ruthlessly attacks people in a government building, as reported by country A. Whereas, Country B labels her as a terrorist.

Looking at these examples from two different points in time with a completely different events. We can see how Countries A and B have spliced together 3 completely different events in history for Country C to create their bias narratives; it's easier to fuel hatred towards a target to sell a story.

Look at the key words over time through different events in history for country C as reported by Countries A and B:

Country C: Attacks + Terrorist + Government Building + Arrests + Torture + Interrogation + Innocent People = NEWS STORY

Whereas: Government Policy + Right to Privacy + Protests + Arrests + Questioning = Not so interesting story that likely does not make it to the news.

...

It's extremely important for people to remain critical and objective when forming views to ascertain the most logical and true outcome.

Sadly, most people can't get past their First Point of Reference (FpoR) problem and litterally take the first piece of information they come across as fact! This is a huge problem with both those on the left and right of the political spectrum. I am a centrist, so I have to keep encouraging people to be more open minded and analysis whatever they come across to make sure it's correct.