Passion before thought

"The ability to learn how to actually Think.  Separate facts from opinion.  Analyze all facts.  Arrive at a conclusion.  And then be ready to adjust that conclusion if new facts are learned.

   There is a large difference between reaching a well thought out conclusion, and reacting.  A well thought out conclusion takes time.  Reaction does not.  One of the curses of the internet, the very net we must work through here, is the reactions, as opposed to conclusions, that all of us have a tendency to reach.

   Ironic, that unlike spoken word, the internet has safeguards against this very activity, and yet reactionary statements happen much more here.  The safeguard is the "enter" button.  When we write something here, we all must press "enter" for others to ever know we wrote it.  We have the chance, no, the opportunity, to go back and digest what we have written, to be sure it was thought out, that a conclusion had been reached, that we were not reactionary.

   The fact that we don't is because we are now in a society that no longer values thought.  Everything is a 15-second sound bite.  Everything is instant gratification.  The time required to actually Think is "wasted" time.  Action action action, all the time, and if you are sitting still, you ain't living.

   Part of becoming a Rifleman is to overcome this social conditioned part of ourselves.  To slow down.  To Think.

   Let it begin here, on this forum.  Think.  Ask yourself "is what I have to say relevant to the first post", "would this be more appropriate in a PM", "have I truly weighed the pros and cons well", "is this opinion or fact".
...
   So I challenge you.  Start Thinking.  Thinking here before posting.  Thinking elsewhere before speaking.  Thinking about how you can Improve, this forum, this Program, yourself."

- "The Guy" 

Appleseed forum

"Adding "thinking" to your box of tools is a big plus in making it happen."

- "Fred" (Jack Dailey)

Next post, same Appleseed forum

Yet, on many forums, the Appleseed Zombies do not think. So many of them do not even stop to read what has been written. I think Appleseed would do well to follow the example laid out by an original member (though "The Guy" is now gone, I understand), and its founder.