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In 1979 I had the fortune to attend the Governor's School of NC. This was a 6-week summer program for "gifted and talented" whose sole purpose was to open minds and actually teach the concept of questioning assumptions. Time has taught me that what I learned during that 6 week period was more valuable than every hour of college I had in the decades since.
It has long been my belief that the single biggest failure of the American education system is that we actually TEACH blind acceptance of authority from earliest age - and even in our university settings, the tendency is to elevate the professor to almost godlike status in regards to being the ultimate authority on his expertise.
While we must have beliefs to function in the world and we must accept facts as facts, the basic concept of how one resolves challenges to ones beliefs is either ignored or actively discouraged. (I recently heard of legislation in Texas specifically banning the teaching of critical thinking in public schools). In a world where there were only three TV networks and mostly one local paper, there was little daily need for resolving conflicting inputs. But, in the modern world, when there a hundred different highly biased sources of mass media pumping their version of Truth into households each day - and seemingly infinite amount of data available on the internet - critical thinking is no longer a luxury for the few -- it is a necessity for all.
Instead, the forces that profit (literally) from people ill equipped to question anything, actively lobby to maintain the status quo.
SSI is one of the glowing beacons of reasonable discourse where true dialog happens and contrary positions are not just squashed out of hand, (so long as the debate remains fixed on topic and doesn't devolve into name calling as is too often the case on other blogs).
It is no easy thing challenging ones beliefs. The natural emotional response is no different than any other form of conflict - fight or flight. It's truly a pleasure to have a venue to come where I *CAN* have my beliefs challenged. That's where real learning begins.
Thanks for all you do, Doc.