Over Under Sideways Through

Google lists 334,000 websites that use the term "over analyzing" (or "overanalyzing").

Meanwhile, only 997 websites use the term "under analyzing" (or "underanalyzing" -- on this one, Google asked if I meant "internalizing." Umm, sorta?).

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So there's plenty more people who feel we (or they, or you) are thinking too much than there are people who feel we aren't thinking enough.

In fact, since "under analyzing" also brings up phrases like "read pages 17-23 under 'Analyzing,'" there are even fewer instances of underanalysis than the numbers above indicate. Even a smarty-pants Seattle-type term for under-thinking like "insufficient analysis" appears via Google only 39,100 times, about 9 times less often than over-/overanalyzing. (And likewise, "Too much analysis" appears 41,700 times.)

This avoidance of analysis seems to me to be exactly matched to the times we live in. Fundamentalists -- those who feel that words don't require interpretation -- are on the rise, distinctions and explanations are political suicide, and our president feels that the "jury is still out" on science.

Of course, analysis and thoughtfulness are internal processes and we live in an era where the image is everything. As almost any screenwriter can tell you, you can't see thinking. It is command and action we want! Decisiveness, antagonism, the bold move -- these are things we can see.