Critical thinking

is an underutilized and undervalued skill in this country.

I won't elaborate right now, but I'm more than a little frustrated.

For instance, race. We should think about race. And when we think about race we should think about racism. But we need to reconceptualize racism. Racism doesn't happen when a person hates another person because of the color of her skin. Or, I should say, doesn't just happen then. It is an institutional, systemic process. It is built into the structure of our society and ignoring it and saying we're all equal now doesn't do anything about the previous structures, even if we all decide we're happy and love each other.

When we think about race we also have to think about privilege. But no one likes to admit privilege because we are quite fond of the American Ideal of individualism. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! You know the line. Too bad it is simply, simply not true. Privilege is a difficult concept. I wish I knew a better way to make people think about it.

Sorry for the vague ranting. I'll possibly elaborate further later.