Critical Masses

     I am trying to develop my critical thinking skills.  Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information to form rational opinions and make good decisions.  My natural tendency is to agree with the bias of the person speaking as long as I respect them, at least until the next compelling speaker comes along.  I have not had the advantage of formal logic training but can usually spot obvious fallacies. That is the extent of my critical thinking ability.
     What I am a natural at, however, is thinking critically--about people, ideas etc.  The default setting of my brain is tuned to the "What Other People Should Do" channel, even though it is mostly reruns.  I don't need formal training in being critical, I could be an instructor.  Even though I know what other people should do to fix their lives, I am an optimist by nature, so being surrounded by misguided people doesn't depress me.  Remember those "What's wrong with this picture?" exercises in school.  I could do them, but with no great skill, partly because I am not particularly observant and partly because I am more likely to see the "wrong" thing as a good idea.  The kids who were good at "What's wrong with this picture?" were pessimists long before they could spell the word.
     Current American culture is majoring in criticism and conflict. No longer limited to food and entertainment industries, professional critics are spreading like mold through every media and the masses are welcoming into their homes as entertainment, behavior that would be considered unacceptably rude in real life.  Though blogging is often the computerized soap box of the critical masses, I am hoping to make mine more than a pedantic parade of personal pet peeves.  Anyone can find what's wrong with this picture, I want to find what's right--or, at least, what's light.