Dolly Parton and Critical Thinking

[Mole]

This is the perfect example of critical thinking. We start off with popular culture and Dolly Parton, and as we apply critical thinking, we find that popular culture is simply wrong about the background of Dolly Parton in the Appalachian Mountains, and completely wrong about Dolly Parton herself.

This would suggest that popular culture is taken in uncritically like mother's milk and is immensely misleading.

Click on Dolly Parton Inspires College Class 'Dolly Parton's America' - Rolling Stone

 

[Typh0n]

Dolly Parton and her boobs...mother's milk?

 

[Mole]

Dolly Parton and her boobs...mother's milk?

Both Dolly Parton and Marilyn Monroe are both icons of popular culture, but if we do our due diligence, we find neither Dolly Parton nor Marilyn Monroe are anything like their image in popular culture.

The University of Tennessee had applied critical thinking, i.e. due diligence, to Dolly Parton and her myth in popular culture, and enlightened the students in the course at the University of Tennessee. This is in the tradition of the Western Enlightenment of the 17th century.

And what this suggests is that popular culture is accepted uncritically by most of us. And we are inclined to defend popular culture against criticism because we identify with popular culture, and we are proud of our identity with all the pride of obedient children.

 

[highlander]

I like the part about how she was voted least likely to succeed in high school.

 

[FemMecha]

The link I clicked on didn't say very much. I'd be curious to read more about her. I remembered seeing an interview where she explained why she created her visual image of herself as she did. When she was a little girl, she saw a couple of women in her home town with the bleached hair and boob jobs, and she thought they were the most beautiful women she had ever seen. I don't know 100% if I'm remembering that correctly, but her image is so archetypal that it would be interesting to hear about the real person.