I believe the course was called Introduction to Critical Thinking. The professor could have been a clone of the country singer Sammy Kershaw and I wisely fought back the urge to ask him if he had a “Queen in his double-wide trailer.”
This professor didn’t mess around (and rarely smiled) as he started in on what was expected of us, while outlines of the class, were passed around the room. Five minutes later we were into something called the “Gambler’s Fallacy”.
The easiest way to explain this (and most common) is a coin flip.
If a coin is flipped multiple times and comes up heads on every occasion “gamblers” tend to believe that the odds of tails happening on the next flip are greater. They aren’t. When a coin is flipped it has the same odds every time regardless of previous outcomes.
Hence those that believe the odds change with each flip are gambling on a “fallacy”.
Of course try to tell that to those who like(d) to gamble and they will argue with you until the cows come home.
I know this to be true, because before this teacher, I was one of those people, and let’s just say I wasn’t flipping coins.
I’m sure I’ll cover that eventually in my sequel to Late Bird titled Falcon Sane crash lands in Vegas, Tahoe, Reno, and a river boat in Kentucky.
It’s humor liberals.
The professor continued to explain the Gambler’s Fallacy, and due to my youth and ego, felt like a direct challenge to me. The more I listened the more I was convinced I should be teaching this class, and even though the University was paying for it (baseball), I still felt like I wanted my money back.
After five more minutes I couldn’t take it anymore. When he supplied a scenario and opportunity to comment I leaped into the conversation and challenged virtually everything he had just said.
I did it with passion and fire in my belly, or as one of my more memorable coaches used to say,”show me some piss and vinegar!”
Professor Kershaw honed in on me like a hungry lion that had just spotted a wounded gazelle. The never smiling man spent thirty seconds dissecting my statement and then, thankfully for me, moved on to a new subject.
I sat there like a fighter, who had just awakened on his stool after taking two jabs to the body and a crushing haymaker to the chin asking, “what happened?”
Okay, it wasn’t thirty seconds.
It was probably fifteen and I’m pretty sure they were all haymakers.
It wasn’t the arguing or debating that took me down. I’ve always enjoyed that. It wasn’t the stares coming from the rest of the class either. I’ve been in front of people my entire life.
It was that moment, that millisecond, when you realize…you are wrong.
That blink of an eye that allows us to learn, as long as we get out of our own way.
I sat there quietly thinking about what had just happened. That’s when the embarrassment set in.
Fortunately I’ve always been a quick healer, physically and mentally, and after a few minutes I really tuned into what the professor was saying.
In front of me was someone I could learn from.
Someone who would, and did, make me question and provide support for my own beliefs.
That “moment” when the light turns on is sorely needed in our country and it isn’t just needed by the kids.
What do we do?
We stop flipping the coin “hoping” for a better outcome.
Americans don’t “hope”. Hoping for something removes the power of the Individual.
We work hard, save our money and are beneficial to others.
That’s why our lives matter.
Continuing to “care” for people who do not care for or about themselves is not only hopeless but destructive as well.
Continuing to allow millions of people to live here illegally while providing them water, food, shelter, employment, medical care and schooling and sending billions of dollars around the world in “foreign aid” while we continue to borrow trillions of dollars is economically destructive and let us be honest…stupid.
All things economically destructive lessen Freedom and enable those who mean to do us harm.
It’s as simple as that.
Of course in regards to our political process we need a dramatically different choice and frankly a different coin. The one we’ve been flipping for the last three decades has liberal stamped on both sides.
Inserting a Clinton, Bush or Obama is irrelevant.
Debt, drugs, sexual dysfunction, never ending wars, social unrest, lies, corruption, etc.
Sound familiar?
It was called the Sixties and the Me Generation liked it so much they’ve never stopped.
Heroin is back. STD’s are rampant among the 50 plus crowd. Lies are commonplace. Governmental corruption is the norm. The abuse once piled on our heroic Vietnam Vets is now aimed at Law Enforcement.
Tonight millions will watch a debate between two individuals.
One took down the Republican Establishment. The other is corrupt to the core.
One who has earned billions of dollars and created thousands of jobs.
The other has somehow gathered hundreds of millions of dollars while people around her plead the fifth or take immunity deals.
One whose obnoxious statements hurt peoples feelings.
The other makes decisions that get people killed.
One has stated he will remove Common Core, repeal Obamacare, attack human trafficking by closing the border and stop the number of “refugees” known as followers of Mohammed into these United States.
The other says she will give America four more years of Obama.
I’m not voting for Trump because I need a role model.
I’m not voting for Donald Trump because I need someone to lead me.
I’m voting for Trump because I’m done flipping the coin.
Both Parties are corrupt to their very core.
The Donald smoked the Republican Establishment.
Now it’s time to fry the Democrats and free a Nation.
Jason Kraus
www.aleadernotapolitician.com
