Help! I have started having serious doubts about my capacity to reason logically.
I am sure some people (especially my friends) may find it offensive to say that I tend to understand bigots who claim that black people are less intelligent than white although I do not necessarily agree with such chauvinists. In 2007, one of the world’s most eminent scientists caused a stir by asserting that black people were less intelligent than white people. Mr. James Watson’s assertion reopened the explosive debate about race and science and almost all black empowerment movements called for his head. I am one of those who found his statement very insolent, though I chose to hear him out by reading what he had to say in full. Apparently he had given a newspaper interview where he had made these comments. Dr Watson told The Sunday Times that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really". He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true". He further explained that Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the contrary. "There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so." (The Sunday Times). I cannot use the same words like ‘less intelligent’ and that is why I find his statement audacious but there is behaviour amongst us that makes me believe that our level of reason (generally as Africans) is lower than that of white people. On the one hand, I try to justify this by suggesting that it is probably due to our level of exposure and education that sometimes we do things beyond comprehension but then I hold my breath at the same excuse when people who we call leaders (usually educated and much more exposed through their travels) do things that I find inexplicable.
While talking to a friend recently in Accra we mulled over the fact that roads in Accra do not have signs. He explained that the residents of this good city have in the past ‘vandalised the signs’. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, ‘a vandal is a person who deliberately destroys or damages property’, The Collins Easy Learning English Study Dictionary also describes a vandal as ‘someone who deliberately destroys things particularly public properties’ It is therefore likely that by choosing the word ‘vandalise’ my friend was by inference pointing out that the folks who remove these signs do not do it out of need but rather ‘for an interest to destroy public goods’. It is arguable that a brother doing this does not understand the need to have roads named and signposted and to him, to remove that plate and hang it in his house or use it to make a jiko (charcoal stove) makes more sense. To an exposed and educated person like me, it makes more sense to have the sign because firstly, emergency vehicles will find my home easily in case of an emergency, but most importantly when I host a party my friends will not spend a lot of airtime calling me to find out which turns to make and where and for us that would directly translate into more mchomo and bevvies.
Last year, a group of good natured citizens from where I live came together after being let down by our city council and took the initiative to name and signpost all roads in our neighbourhood. After a few months of this well-intentioned exercise, I noticed that the signpost at the beginning of the road to my house was blocked by a small portion of a maize garden that had been cultivated in the road reserve around it. I thought that this was defeating the very aim of the exercise we embarked on and decided to approach the chap who owned the maize shamba to explain to him that the sign had to be left visible for so many good reasons. I told him that all that would be required would be to remove one or two plants to clear the sign. To my surprise, the fellow refused, was unwavering and even suggested that I pay for his two plants if I wanted them moved, or better still he offered an improved solution ‘why don’t you move your sign elsewhere?’ I explained that this was a road reserve, in effect a public good and it was unfair for him to use it for his own benefit (and probably his family) without due regard for the rest of the public. He countered my assertion by explaining that it is exactly for the same reason (that it is a public good) that he was free to do whatever he wanted with it and no one is going to direct him on how to use it. It is then that I conceded the battle and for fear of letting this become a spectacle, I withdrew and left the road sign blocked. However, as I retired to my nest, I pondered over the following:
• How could he not see the importance of having a clear road sign vis-à-vis his two maize plants.
• Is this actually corruption at it lowest level, does this man believe that because it’s a public good, he is free to use it for his benefit as an individual at the detriment of others. Isn’t this the same mentality our political leaders and public servants have?
• And finally, is this generally an African mentality? Would I have had the same trouble explaining the importance of a clear road sign to someone in London, New York or Paris?
I enumerated and compared the so many different things that we do as Africans and came to a conclusion that it is probably our low level of reason. Irrespective of whether one is exposed or not chances are you are most likely to find an African doing unfathomable things. From my little experience around the cities of Europe, I cant recall having seen a man openly dangling his male organ to take a pee by the street side. On the other hand, a drive around most African cities seems to suggest that this is acceptable conduct. Speaking of urinating by the roadside, this is a subject I intend to write about in great detail especially with my experience in Accra, but I will hold off my pen and ink for now. It is true that our leaders come from amidst us and there is no reason why we should expect their capacity to reason logically to be better than ours. I no longer shout my voice hoarse about our leaders who leave poor kids to die of preventable diseases as they fly members of their families abroad on private jets to be treated for the smallest of ailments. We probably all think the same and chances are likely that I will do the same if elected – what an indictment!
While talking to a friend recently in Accra we mulled over the fact that roads in Accra do not have signs. He explained that the residents of this good city have in the past ‘vandalised the signs’. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, ‘a vandal is a person who deliberately destroys or damages property’, The Collins Easy Learning English Study Dictionary also describes a vandal as ‘someone who deliberately destroys things particularly public properties’ It is therefore likely that by choosing the word ‘vandalise’ my friend was by inference pointing out that the folks who remove these signs do not do it out of need but rather ‘for an interest to destroy public goods’. It is arguable that a brother doing this does not understand the need to have roads named and signposted and to him, to remove that plate and hang it in his house or use it to make a jiko (charcoal stove) makes more sense. To an exposed and educated person like me, it makes more sense to have the sign because firstly, emergency vehicles will find my home easily in case of an emergency, but most importantly when I host a party my friends will not spend a lot of airtime calling me to find out which turns to make and where and for us that would directly translate into more mchomo and bevvies.
Last year, a group of good natured citizens from where I live came together after being let down by our city council and took the initiative to name and signpost all roads in our neighbourhood. After a few months of this well-intentioned exercise, I noticed that the signpost at the beginning of the road to my house was blocked by a small portion of a maize garden that had been cultivated in the road reserve around it. I thought that this was defeating the very aim of the exercise we embarked on and decided to approach the chap who owned the maize shamba to explain to him that the sign had to be left visible for so many good reasons. I told him that all that would be required would be to remove one or two plants to clear the sign. To my surprise, the fellow refused, was unwavering and even suggested that I pay for his two plants if I wanted them moved, or better still he offered an improved solution ‘why don’t you move your sign elsewhere?’ I explained that this was a road reserve, in effect a public good and it was unfair for him to use it for his own benefit (and probably his family) without due regard for the rest of the public. He countered my assertion by explaining that it is exactly for the same reason (that it is a public good) that he was free to do whatever he wanted with it and no one is going to direct him on how to use it. It is then that I conceded the battle and for fear of letting this become a spectacle, I withdrew and left the road sign blocked. However, as I retired to my nest, I pondered over the following:
• How could he not see the importance of having a clear road sign vis-à-vis his two maize plants.
• Is this actually corruption at it lowest level, does this man believe that because it’s a public good, he is free to use it for his benefit as an individual at the detriment of others. Isn’t this the same mentality our political leaders and public servants have?
• And finally, is this generally an African mentality? Would I have had the same trouble explaining the importance of a clear road sign to someone in London, New York or Paris?
I enumerated and compared the so many different things that we do as Africans and came to a conclusion that it is probably our low level of reason. Irrespective of whether one is exposed or not chances are you are most likely to find an African doing unfathomable things. From my little experience around the cities of Europe, I cant recall having seen a man openly dangling his male organ to take a pee by the street side. On the other hand, a drive around most African cities seems to suggest that this is acceptable conduct. Speaking of urinating by the roadside, this is a subject I intend to write about in great detail especially with my experience in Accra, but I will hold off my pen and ink for now. It is true that our leaders come from amidst us and there is no reason why we should expect their capacity to reason logically to be better than ours. I no longer shout my voice hoarse about our leaders who leave poor kids to die of preventable diseases as they fly members of their families abroad on private jets to be treated for the smallest of ailments. We probably all think the same and chances are likely that I will do the same if elected – what an indictment!
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