Critical thinking is dead, or at least it’s on feeding tube style life support.

Why do I think this? Because I’ve watched it die a slow, painful, gurgling death.

We live in one of the coolest cities in the world. We live in a place that is supposed to be full of innovation, global power and decision making. And yet recently, it was over run by a lack of thought, a lack of consideration and all out stupidity.

Case in point #1: Resorting Honor Rally.

I know I’m late for the party on this one, but I wanted to think really hard about what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. You see, this is the first step in critical thinking….THINKING.

Connor and I decided to attend the “rally” for two reasons; 1) This was a unique experience we wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else, and 2) We needed to see for ourselves if what we heard was true.

Leading up to the event, we decided it would be smart to know what exactly we were in for. First step was to look at the Restoring Honor website. And from there we learned that this was going to be a “non-political event that pays tribute to America’s service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.”

Um, okay that doesn’t really say much, if anything at all. Integrity, Truth and Honor are great things, but what exactly would that mean to the people at the rally? To make things even more difficult here is another piece of information from the website: “Our freedom is possible only if we remain virtuous. Help us restore the values that founded this great nation.” Virtuous? And if you need to restore the values that founded the nation, you’re also saying their gone – where did they go exactly?

Still confused about what was actually the point to this all, we turned to the blogs, the people who supported this event. And here are some little pieces of advice from people who were there to “restore honour”. (and yes, I added that U on purpose)

From the Maine Re-Founders/Tea Party website, about attending the rally (my translations and comments will be in brackets):

Safety and Mores

DC’s population includes refugees from every country, as the families of embassy staffs of third world countries tend to stay in DC whenever a revolution in their homeland means that anyone in their family would be in danger if they went back. Most taxi drivers and many waiters/waitresses (especially in local coffee shops like the Bread and Chocolate chain) are immigrants, frequently from east Africa or Arab countries. As a rule, African immigrants do not like for you to assume they are African Americans and especially do not like for you to guess they are from a neighboring country (e.g. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia) with whom they may have political or military tensions. It’s rare to meet anyone who gets really offended, but you can still be aware of the issue.

(Beware, people who are not JUST like you might be there. Don’t run, don’t make any sudden movements and for the good Lord’s sake…don’t engage them in conversation. Oh and I’m curious, what about asking a Russian immigrant if their Ukrainian? Is that okay?)

Many parts of DC are safe beyond the areas I will list here, but why chance it if you don’t know where you are?

If you are on the subway stay on the Red line between Union Station and Shady Grove, Maryland. If you are on the Blue or Orange line do not go past Eastern Market (Capitol Hill) toward the Potomac Avenue stop and beyond; stay in NW DC and points in Virginia. Do not use the Green line or the Yellow line. These rules are even more important at night. There is of course nothing wrong with many other areas; but you don’t know where you are, so you should not explore them.

(Um, just for the record, the yellow line goes to many of the same places as the blue line. So on the one hand, thank you for the tip because we didn’t have to fight to get on the train. It was a real pleasure to watch the train behind us pull up packed to the rim with people who were too afraid to take the same stops just on a different coloured train. Ooppss there I go again adding a U to words. I’d also like to know why you shouldn’t explore new things, would that be because you might just find out that it’s not a scary world or is it because you haven’t been able to profile every street for it’s suitability. Why are you so afraid of your own shadow?)

If on foot or in a cab or bus, stay in Bethesda, Arlington (preferably north Arlington), Crystal City, Falls Church, Annandale, or Alexandria, or in DC only in northwest DC west …

(Okay let me stop there. What exactly is wrong with south Arlington? And where exactly is the dividing line between north and south? I live in what you might refer to as south Arlington and I just can’t see what’s so scary about me. Actually you’re right, there is no telling what an educated graduate student will do to you. And heaven forbid you might run into someone who doesn’t look JUST like you. My bad, this is good advice.)

If any of what was said above doesn’t scare you, this just might. From the Restoring Honor Facebook page, I give you excerpts from Becky Todiza’s genius musings on “leftists”:

I am NOT one to “alarm” people by any means. I cant stand those that try to scare others from attending any of these types of event but people should be aware of what will happen at these events.

There WILL be lots of leftists/progressives, activists, socialists, unions, environmentalists, feminists, code pink, and all other Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin haters at this rally.

(Note to self: apparently there is an alarm to sound and apparently leftists are the problem. Is Code Pink a euphemism for people with personal hygiene and great taste in shoes? Why would anyone be afraid of a group of women who don’t like war?)

They will have signs and be yelling things that arent very nice. It’s what the hate of the left does.Try not to take it too personally and by ALL means DO NOT REACT to them. It’s exactly what they want.

(I’m confused here, because the people we saw yelling “not very nice” things, were in fact the rally supporters. One women even looked at a protester – who stood there silently with a sign – and yelled for everyone else to kick his ass. Becky, I think that supports also have ‘the hate’.)

If you see a good hearted Patriot being filmed and questioned…..kindly mention to them that they are probably being filmed by leftists. Ive seen them act all innocent and ask people questions, filming them…and then walk away laughing and mocking them. DONT think it wont happen.

(Last time I checked, camera equipment didn’t have a political philosophy. EVERYONE there had a camera of some sort, it’s the age of digital photography. If you don’t want to be filmed saying something you’ll regret, don’t stand there in the first place and don’t assume that everyone with a camera is out to get you.)

We learned a lot that weekend. We learned that a substantial amount of people are afraid of the “other”. And the scary thing is that there was a large group of American’s that didn’t understand the terms they used to describe their own President. (Click here for some of the best examples.) They think he’s a racists and a bigot when in fact their the ones afraid of immigrants and alternative lifestyles. Most people we saw also believed that the term socialism is synonymous with dictatorship. A quick google search will tell you that’s not true, but that would involve taking a moment to think it it out.

The people we met were afraid of their own shadow. They hate what they don’t know and they don’t know anything but their own up bringing and race. As one of my god friends asked: “Exactly when was the US at it’s full capacity of honor and virtuousness? Because then we’d know what we were striving for” This whole event seemed to me to be nothing but an ego trip for Beck and Palin. It was meant to show just how many people they can influence and to show what kind of power they have over a flock of misguided, uniformed sheep. There was no restoring honour there, they were just restoring their bank accounts and egos.

I’m a little scared for the future.