No Bull Mom

Are You a Kool-Aid Drinker?

So perhaps you've heard the term "kool aid drinker." A kool-aid drinker is someone who believes what they are told without thinking for themselves. Boy, do I know a lot of kool-aid drinkers. I bet you do, too.

Be careful not to make the assumption that kool-aid drinkers are dumb. More often than not, kool aid drinkers are perfectly intelligent people. The problem they have is twofold: they don't take the time to do their own research and are thus dependent on others to tell them what's going on the world (a huge mistake since the bulk of this information comes from biased sources), or they want to be part of the crowd. Either way, they're doomed to be part of the status quo. Which means their intellect will be permanently stunted.

Here's how you can avoid such a fate: When you hear something in the news, don't assume it's true. If you care enough about a particular issue, refrain from making a judgment call -- and, whatever you do, don't repeat what you simply heard on television; that's precisely how misinformation gets spread -- and do your research. Read periodicals instead of mainstream magazines. Search the Internet. (But beware of sites that attack people personally. If they do, they're biased.) Visit your local library; you'll find a plethora of unbiased information there. Listen to NPR as well as FOX. (Or FOX as well as NPR.) In short, take the time to gather all the information -- and then decide what you think. Then, when you speak about it in public, you'll know what you're talking about.

Of course, if you're too darn busy to do any of this, just click on No Bull Mom each day. I'm happy to do it for you.