₦airaland Forum

Layi,

I'll come back to you later this evening to refute each and every one of the arguments you put forth against evolution. You are putting up a strawman and galantly charging him to smithe him to the ground.
Your characterisation of the Theory of Evolution is completely off the mark. Apparently you did not understand one iota of the fundamental forces underlying evolution. I'm a bit saddened that an intelligent man like you is fighting an unwinnable fight in a true Don Quichote manner.

Why didn't you give me anything susbstantial to make me believe in you?

This has been discussed at length in the following thread:
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-2149.0.html

Whether or not you call abortion murder depends on:
* what exactly do you consider a human being?
* when can you talk about killing (when do you consider the fetus to be an independent lifeform)?
* when can you label killing as murder?

Seun:
Oh dear. The way this thread is going, we would have to move it to new racism section.

Why? The debate on the extent to which power can be used to obtain political objectives has very little to do with racism. It is one of the core elements of politics.

Ajisafe:
But the remark was not meant for you. Why did you insult me, anyway?

Who then was that insult meant for? It came immediately after my post, so I naturally assumed that you directed it to me.

@ Hnd-holder
I don't really understand what you're asking me

Ajisafe:
Did you leave your neocortex on the mantlepiece at home after you woke up? What kind of statement is this?

Nferyn, how dare you? Are you nuts?

I was actually replying to your insultive remark here:

Ajisafe:
You're now qualified to be called an idiot.

but you posted a reply in between

Ajisafe:
I hope you're not into that type of antisemitic bullshit.

First, I am not an antiSemite. Second, the Jews are not the only Semitic people -- in fact, the Arabs are more Semitic than the Jews. Don't follow the American media's ignorance of associating antiSemitism to the Jews only.

Ah, I see, the famous cop out by definition.

1. I am not American and I have no intention of following any of the American ways of thinking about anti-semitism, anti-semitism is historically a distinctly European phenomenon, closely tied to the Catholic Church. The American and sometimes Israeli abuse of the term in defense of the State of Israel has absolutely nothing to do with my understanding of anti-semitism.
2. Antisemitism is prejudice and/or hostility against the Jews, either as religious or as an ethnic group. The fact that the Arabs are semitic people as well does not change the ethymological roots of the term anti-semitism
3. Your statement Believe me, Nferyn. The Jews are so crafty -- masters of disguises. is a posterchild of anti-semitic prejudice, especially in reply to my statement I didn't know there were any Jewish people on this board. That's why I was wondering if you've got that idea from the infamous forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion?

Ajisafe:
You're now qualified to be called an idiot.

Did you leave your neocortex on the mantlepiece at home after you woke up? What kind of statement is this?

Ajisafe:
I didn't know there were any Jewish people on this board

Believe me, Nferyn. The Jews are so crafty -- masters of disguises.

I hope you're not into that type of antisemitic bullshit. Why not bring in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the great Jew conspiracy to rule the world?

charlisco:
Where in the bible are we instructed to say a rosary prayer?

Where in the Bible are you instructed to drive a car?

Ajisafe:
they get 80 studs! aqua, where r u?

I really don't want to respond to any of these Jewish and Christian ignoramuses on this particular thread, but Deji Olowe, whose article on nairaland and Seun made me to regard him as an intellectual has now joined the likes of these idiots.

I didn't know there were any Jewish people on this board

@ treize
As far as I know, our sun is too small a star to become a black hole. Maybe you can ask a physicist. Chrisd is our resident physicist

@ obong

Thanks for your insightful reply. I'll answer you some time tomorrow

obong:
There is a strong correlation between the level of women representation and women's rights and the human development index. Of course you are confronted with the chicken-or-the egg problem, but there are strong indications that investments in women are far more beneficial from an overall development point of view than in men

nferyn, you have to understand there is a world of difference between correlation and causation. how then do you explain the fact that africa leads the world in women representation in political power but is behind in its development index?. i think its best we leave these false ideas of women and focus on what makes peopel good. afterall from my understanding, women have fought to have these features you attribute to them removed, so they are not stereotypes as mothers and wives.

You really don't need to tell me that I don't understand the difference between correlation and causation. I am very much aware of that fact.

If you point out that Africa leads the world in women representation in politics, what timescales are you talking about? This is a relatively recent phenomenon and the impact of that is difficult to gauge currently (if ever).
A much more important element is to look at the development differences between women and men in a given society. In that regard women in Africa are not leading the pack. The literacy level of women in e.g. Nigeria is far behind that of men (74.4% for men versus 59.4% for women). Attitutudes and e.g. inheritance laws and customs do not favor women either.

Please do refrain from accusing me of attributing stereotypical roles to women, I do nothing of that sort

I find it rather troubling to notice that some of you are saying that ideologies don't matter. When a large majority of the population is living in abysmal conditions, the need for social reform and a left wing representation of their interests seems to be quite obvious. These interests cuts through ethnic divides

This is the kind of platform that Lumumba ran under after the independence of Congo from Belgium. Unfortunately, the cold war did not make the conditions for such a political arrangement favorable (to say the least). In the current global socio-political constellation, there is far more chance of success.
In South-America, this seems to be the way most countries are heading.

@ owo
thx for the articles. Although I think that Marxist analysis can be very useful in finding out the underlying power divisions in world politics, I do not think that abolishing market economics altogether would prove to be useful. It's more a question of bringing in the value externalities into the economic analysis and the faulty assumption that freedom just is and that markets tend to evolve to more freedom because of competitive pressures.

Society should regulate markets - that evolve into oligopolistic structures - into freedom, rather than just assume they are.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that, otherwise I might derail the thread.

The minimum wage in Belgium is €1163 monthly (third highest in Europe after Luxemburg and the Netherlands)
This would translate to 182.364 Naira monthly or 2.188.368 naira yearly.

Mind you, for all those not aware of it, the cost of living in Europe is far higher as well. A decent family house (like the one we have with 3 bedrooms) costs between €150.000 and €250.000 depending on the location. Basic utilities (water & electricity) cost between€100 and €150 per month. And then you need food, clothes, transportation, medical costs, furniture, insurances (for our family around €275/month), ...

if you're looking to the future instead of the past, is it still possible to build up grass-roots political organisations without immediately aspiring to obtain political power.
Maybe it's an inappropriate example, but the the way the Vietnamese could fight military and political oppression under the french and americans was by building up self-support organisations at the village level.

What's your take on this?

See this thread about free will vs; God's all-knowing nature
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-4360.0.html
there's a discussion at length there about this very subject

Thinking must never submit itself, neither to a dogma, nor to a party, nor to a passion, nor to an interest, nor to a preconceived idea, nor to whatever it may be, if not to facts themselves, because, for it, to submit would be to cease to be - Henri Poincaré