Don't you see the way Nigerians treat anti-comformists? Nigerians are not fond of their own people who think outside the box. It's a cultural thing.

thoth:
Your post does not make sense at all, if you had tried reading the post for which that reply was meant for you would have found out that it was him that was trying to tie slavery to africans as a consequence of their religious belief therefore implying that christianity stopped them from continuing and i was stating that the act of slavery does not have anything to do with religion thereof.
There are VERY few(less than 4) towns in the WHOLE of Igboland where there were kings and they still maintained a quasi democratic(making the kings merely ceremonial) form of goverment as opposed to autocratic,dictatorial demigods you have in the western and Northern parts of Nigeria at that time, so his attempt at depicting the rulers as barbarous does not hold.
Looking at posts like yours leaves one to wonder how right the OP would have been with the word "REGURGITATION"
I still fail to understand why people think i am defending a certain religion or criticizing another,my whole post is not about religion but it happens to come up as one of the areas which the OP's point can be properly treated.

I didn't need to read the conversation from the beginning since the correction I had to make was to the statements in your last post.

You made statements which were wrong and I simply corrected you. That you now consider there may have been 4 or 5 kings, does not change the fact that your initial statement was wrong.

On slavery, again, you are still wrong. Slavery had NOTHING to do with religion, especially when you consider it is still practiced to this day, by people of all religions in Africa. I know many people think that slavery only happened in America, or the white-mans world but that is not true. Slaves where traded by pagans, christians, muslims, nons , ibos, hausas, yorubas, spanish, europeans, america, arabs indians, chinese, . .etc. So again, your assertion that there was or is some religious link to the practice remains baseless.

Now again note, this is not about your whole post but specific statements which you have made, many more than once now. I am just trying to correct some of the misinformation is all.

thoth:
It is really stressful,regretful and toturing holding a debate with someone whom could not hold a line of thought and whose blind urge to win an argurment totally eclipses his ability to be consistent.
A pattern which you and your likes has always displayed is trying to gain acceptance by puting forward a totally different and unrelated problem and applying a solution given by an opponent on it and wish such to be accepted as discreditation. If you keep jumping around randomly like a tennis ball instead being consistent and supporting CLEAR COMPREHENSIBLE STANCE with reason and logic then am afraid i might loose taste for this exercise.
1: I am talking about CIVILLIZATIONS which is where critical thinking capability can be measured and referenced with established methods in social sciences and psychology but you left our debate and created a new one based on EMPIRES, The later which cannot be ascociated with any form of thinking.
2: You should have know if you understood what you are saying that EMPIRES by definition cannot be eternaly sustained since it involves forcefully almagamating DIFFERENT NATION,EXPLOITING THEM AND DENYING THEM OF THEIR SOVEREIGN FREEDOM. This every student of history knows very well. Maybe you yourself can tell me one empire which has been eternally sustained african,european or asian for that matter.
3: I have a good reason to believe that you in particular does not understand what the term to "think critically" means from the way you relate or equate(i don't know which you are trying to ) Superior Knowledge,i would advise you seek the definition of the term in order to assist you in forming better arguments next time.

I would not acuse you of making GENERALISED STATEMENTS since you never showed the capability of correctly making one neither would i mention the LACK of any form of REFERENCE while observing ALL your posts since your arguments does not share a cohesive BASE rather i would acuse you of not Thinking Critically on the problem which you and i are making efforts at solving.
Xiexie ni.

I will no longer join issues on this topic with you. I wonder what is my incentive to gain so-called acceptance and for what purpose and benefit. You will do well to keep your opinionized judgements to yourself. Your idea of an open mind is pretty vague if it is only as you faultily define it with the impression that every threader comes pre-set as you do on this thread.

1. What is your definition of civilization? You fail to be consistent on what you refer to. If you check at least Wiki you will know that civilization is controversial enough to sometimes be interchanged with empires, so the means of survival of even civilizations (check wiki again) is not entirely found on just critical thinking.

2.If you follow the trail of our exchange (and you understand the concept of critical thinking) consistently you will realise that I changed word nation to empires in response to your argument, not to empires from civilizations. Empires could survive longer than nations, and African kingdoms in history sustained their existence subsuming other nations as was done by most empires. At what point did I claim that empires can be eternally sustained. I said that a culture of knowledge and value system makes the difference how long they can last.

3. Critical thinking is done continuum. The knowledge that helped make a great civilization may not help guarantee its survival. My use of the word "superior knowledge" was to buttress that the knowledge of the moment may become mediocre in the next. And this is where a culture of critical thinking is, well, critical. (See at least, wiki, again)

Threads such as this definitely require a fair enough assumption of background knowledge and a less presumptuous mindset, and possibly, in the light of the thread, a willingness to accommodate opinions without judging context or the pedigree of the person proposing it.

Kobojunkie:

I didn't need to read the conversation from the beginning since the correction I had to make was to the statements in your last post.

You made statements which were wrong and I simply corrected you. That you now consider there may have been 4 or 5 kings, does not change the fact that your initial statement was wrong.

On slavery, again, you are still wrong. Slavery had NOTHING to do with religion, especially when you consider it is still practiced to this day, by people of all religions in Africa. I know many people think that slavery only happened in America, or the white-mans world but that is not true. Slaves where traded by pagans, christians, muslims, nons , ibos, hausas, yorubas, spanish, europeans, america, arabs indians, chinese, . .etc. So again, your assertion that there was or is some religious link to the practice remains baseless.

Now again note, this is not about your whole post but specific statements which you have made, many more than once now. I am just trying to correct some of the misinformation is all.

I don't know anymore what is your problem whether that of lacking BASIC COMPREHENSION or an urge to make a post which may be giving you same pleasure as an o.r.g.a.s.m.
How can an educated individual make such an arrogant statement as "don't have to read the post" before correcting, how can you dissect what you don't understand ?
The MOST SHAMEFUL part of your post is that you went on to make the same mistake again even after wasting my energy to INFORM YOU that i was "stating that slavery has nothing to do with religion " which goes on to show that you actually don't read the posts at all.
REGURGITATION!! REGURGITATION!! People that regurgitates does not offer any value to the debate and generally considered a nusciance.
I believe that the OP would be greatly amused at this EMBODIMENT of his subject.

mayoroflag:

I will no longer join issues on this topic with you. I wonder what is my incentive to gain so-called acceptance and for what purpose and benefit. You will do well to keep your opinionized judgements to yourself. Your idea of an open mind is pretty vague if it is only as you faultily define it with the impression that every threader comes pre-set as you do on this thread.

1. What is your definition of civilization? You fail to be consistent on what you refer to. If you check at least Wiki you will know that civilization is controversial enough to sometimes be interchanged with empires, so the means of survival of even civilizations (check wiki again) is not entirely found on just critical thinking.

2.If you follow the trail of our exchange (and you understand the concept of critical thinking) consistently you will realise that I changed word nation to empires in response to your argument, not to empires from civilizations. Empires could survive longer than nations, and African kingdoms in history sustained their existence subsuming other nations as was done by most empires. At what point did I claim that empires can be eternally sustained. I said that a culture of knowledge and value system makes the difference how long they can last.

3. Critical thinking is done continuum. The knowledge that helped make a great civilization may not help guarantee its survival. My use of the word "superior knowledge" was to buttress that the knowledge of the moment may become mediocre in the next. And this is where a culture of critical thinking is, well, critical. (See at least, wiki, again)

Threads such as this definitely require a fair enough assumption of background knowledge and a less presumptuous mindset, and possibly, in the light of the thread, a willingness to accommodate opinions without judging context or the pedigree of the person proposing it.

Your posts are now bodering extreme haphazardness, You are just hitting many walls and bouncing back like a tennis ball and becoming more confusing each time, i can no longer pinpoint the actual subject which you are trying to put forward rather you sound more like trying to DEFEND YOURSELF than a CLEAR AND CONSISTENT point.
I have met a lot of your type and if you think you can draw me into the type of argument most nigerians are used to which involves hoping around topics and reducing an argument to mere linguistic platform then having all party leave less informed,confused and tired then you will be dissapointed.
I have put forward several questions which serves as an experiential procedure(also experiencial evidence) that is able to stand or fall on its own and none of you have tried to answer or even think about it.
If you have tried to answer my questions or even think(assuming you can) about it i believe you will find it profoundly illuminating but you didn't.
I commend you on your efforts so far and wish you rethink on the notion which you held so as not to make this experience a waste of time and energy.

@mayoroflag,

You have displayed civility and a better critical thinking skill than its proponents on this thread. I must confess I've been educated by your exchange.

thoth:
I don't know anymore what is your problem whether that of lacking BASIC COMPREHENSION or an urge to make a post which may be giving you same pleasure as an o.r.g.a.s.m.
How can an educated individual make such an arrogant statement as "don't have to read the post" before correcting, how can you dissect what you don't understand ?
The MOST SHAMEFUL part of your post is that you went on to make the same mistake again even after wasting my energy to INFORM YOU that i was "stating that slavery has nothing to do with religion " which goes on to show that you actually don't read the posts at all.
REGURGITATION!! REGURGITATION!! People that regurgitates does not offer any value to the debate and generally considered a nusciance.
I believe that the OP would be greatly amused at this EMBODIMENT of his subject.

Surprise surprise. Kubojunkie pops up on a topic and proceeds to denigrate black people. Read through this person's post history and you will see a common thread running through literally ALL his/her posts - Africans/Black people are human waste. I don't actually think anyone could genuinely be this racist, or at least expend so much energy promoting their self-reductionist racism on what is probably the largest Black forum on the internet. Kubojunkie is in fact, a troll. A very dedicated one at that. One is best served ignoring this individual's rantings on any topic, as you can be sure that what he/she has to say will generally boil down to - White man is higher life form and Black man should worship him. Not even in this city filled with pathetic Little-Englanders have I ever come across anyone who displays such toxic racialism mixed with dogma and circular reasoning. This character is not real.
Ignore.

Ignore.

Ignore.

That is all.

irohadis: Let us not reproduce the same thing that we criticise. To make such general assumption on Nigerians and black people is less than critical. So it is, also, to suggest that it is a "black thing."

It is true that the universities as spaces of learning and thinking are failing our youths. But there is a lot of innovation and creative (critical) thinking operating at the popular level in Nigerian society. It is absolutely not possible to survive in Nigeria without the ability to think creatively. It is creative to figure out that the traffic snarls on third mainland bridge and Maryland can be converted into market places. It is also creative to figure out what can sell under such conditions. Even the yahoo boys can be viewed as most creative in the strategies they deploy. Nigerians do not borrow completely from the west, we transform western cultures and infuse them with strong vernacular accents. Our vibrant contemporary music is a case in point. Political discuss is vibrant and operates in bars, homes and communal gatherings. If you are present in any of these, you will realise that contributors advance their arguments critically.

Religion is a belief system and incompatible with logic. This is the case anywhere in the world. If not, tell me why states in the south of the US advance creationism in schools even when there is scientific evidence against it? With religion, the "dumbness" is universal.

It is patronising, myopic and uncritical to project such condescending notions about Nigerian thinking. The problem lies in spaces of formal education where knowledge is imparted rather than interrogated. At the level of everyday life, Nigerians are naturally creative. This is why some cultures answer questions with questions - probing.

This is a clearly thought through argument unlike the OP's myopic and baseless argument.
@OP you need to go back and think through your Points before drawing baseless conclusion.

2sd:


This is a clearly thought through argument unlike the OP's myopic and baseless argument.
@OP you need to go back and think through your Points before drawing baseless conclusion.

If you have read carefully the OP and the post you quoted you would have noticed that the OP is talking about thinking critically as in asking oneself unbiased questions, thinking for oneself instead of blindly accepting the prevaling/popular stance, analysing said stance in absence of preconcieved conclusions or sentiments WHILE the person you quoted centers on CREATIVITY as a result of thinking critically. The former requires you to challenge an EXISTING NOTION/condition(a very hard thing for most nigerians) and the later requires you to BRING INTO EXISTENCE a condition. The former which is a good thing is quite lacking; the later which is equally good is aboundant in Nigeria.
I must also say that i have not seen any nation where its citizens are so creative,so adept at averting poverty and surviving not wisthanding the destructive policies of their leaders as Nigeria and that we should rightly be very proud of.

Iolo:
The problem with Nigerians and Africans I believe isn't the ability or inability to reason critically or make use of logic but that we are to EGOTISTIC to allow for such.

You go into many arguments here on Nairaland knowing you have a strong point from the logical point of view but the average Nigerian would never admit wrong doing in his line of reasoning.

Dis is our major problem - EGO, Emotions. Take away the "I am Right and You are Wrong attitutde" from us and we'd have a better country.

Case study, how many times do you see Nigerians apologizing for wrongdopng. We hardly say "sorry" except when we are under threat. People drive recklessly and abuse u for correcting them, they make mistakes @ work and hate you for highlighting their mistakes.

Nigerians just NEVER admit wrong doing. It's not a tribal thing.

You got strong points there