Peace be upon all of you With a 3.972 GPA, Khalid graduated from high school. He belonged to a middle-class family. A mother, a father, and 5 siblings In all his years in our public schools, he was able to prove his success And his high ability to reach the charts Khalid is someone who enjoys documentary films and TV shows and he is also an extrovert close to his father, and keen on attending the different social events Khalid is a reader, reading at least a book per month He is also aware of global news There isn’t an event that takes place that he hasn’t read and thought about, researched, and established a strong the base of knowledge in So, what’s Khalid’s problem? There isn’t one, actually, Khalid is an educated, social public speaker and debater, with wonderful, and sometimes deep, ideas The problem is that Khalid is not the original Khalid Khalid’s opinions, ideas, and principles have been formulated, written, and organized by others Khalid isn’t aware that the essence of his being and the entirety of his thoughts has been tailored for him just like how slime gets shaped, sometimes with and sometimes without foundation Khalid is one of the many examples of the people who’s opinions, thoughts, and perspectives have been shaped for them, without global conspiracies or plans made in dark rooms However, it’s just the weak learning ability and analytical skills It’s the scarcity of critical thinking, and most importantly, the presence of the capacity for being indoctrinated This capacity is the formulation of one’s thoughts, opinions, perspectives, character, principles, and values, based on the direction of thought and benefit of external agencies, without the person’s conscious awareness or care Eventually, that person accepts those lines that have been drawn for them and accepts the presence of these readymade guidelines and restrictions so they only think in between them, creates their character based on them, and never dares exceed them and instead, defends desperately those lines that have been drawn for them as time passes, they believe that their beliefs, thoughts, opinions, perspectives, values, and principles are based on their thoughts beliefs, debate, and deep comparison. But the reality is that this person is nothing but a collection of ideologies in the form of a human The capacity to be indoctrinated and easily affected by others shows most when you stop being skeptical skeptical about a piece of information, its source, its timing, the channel that provides it, the way it was delivered to you and questioning the choice of it all of this doesn’t only apply to pieces of information, but also the storyline, length, explanation, detail, and other ways of delivering a message This capacity isn’t characteristic to those with lower IQs or those with low academic performance. There isn’t a category of people lacking it: readers, intellectuals, and even the elite. It’s more like a cover that surrounds one’s heart so that they see nothing but it, and see everything through it To be molded and easily affected by others is found in all realms In the intellectual realm, for instance, when someone surrounds themselves with people with the same way of thinking and justifying, then that person reads books that supports their position and reads about the opposite position through the enemy, without considering the biases or historical context or the presence of many circumstances and variables. As a result, that person adopts a ready-made, weak, and vague opinions. When someone reads a book by a historian or an author, or even a modern author without considering that the author’s background and biases religious, political, and ideological backgrounds and the general frame of the writing, then they must tend toward one school of thought over the other. so, they get easily manipulated and they formulate weak, readymade opinions This occurs in all fields: cultural artistic, ideological, and philosophical also in the field of civilization and heritage, and even in the simplest matters In the field of personal interactions, the indoctrinated person isn’t aware that the person in front of them, regardless, has personal biases, judgments, presumptions and unchangeable beliefs so that speaking to them about any topic lacks neutrality and objectivity, even if they were talking about yesterday’s meal That person doesn’t do that deliberately. Rather, it’s the nature of the human being and their subconscious must prove its presence in one’s thoughts and suggestions in presenting others So what’s the solution? when faced with a problem this big, when everyone seems to possess this capacity to be indoctrinated what’s the solution? How do we reduce, and not eliminate, this ability of ours? There are several factors to be taken into consideration but the most important one is to understand the idea of being skeptical, and I don’t mean doubting others’ intentions, but being skeptical about them having biases, being skeptical about their beliefs makes talking about any topic lack neutrality and objectivity so, we treat it that way As time passes, being skeptical becomes a skill, so when an opinion is voiced or an idea is suggested, its looked at with a skeptical, questioning eye an eye that looks at several variables that changes the level, value, objectivity, and neutrality of that idea. and as neutrality is impossible so is the purity of the idea It’s important when considering any content, regardless of its type, be it elitist or personal, it’s important to consider the different factors, such as the current circumstances the context, the personal considerations, the personal biases the different perspectives, the presumed beliefs, the intrinsic goals, that may not be intentional In fact, they are mostly spontaneous and involuntary. To end, I can only thank you very much for listening And I’ll end by saying this: don’t be like Khalid Thank you very much (Applause)
