₦airaland Forum

skima:
If i understand this thread it means "what to change about nigerians" . Though its very good to pursue education to eradicate this corruption; but i would say... its 30% way to solving the problem.

Recently a professor was arrested over corruption. hun? Didnt this man educated enough? I think he should know all laws or science and the likes. But he failed morally.

Education as such is not sufficient to develop a sense of critical thinking. There are several scholary subjects though that lend themselves better to develop these techniques. And yes, science does not equal morality. Science only explains the world, it does not provide meaning or purpose in itself, but it is the best possible foundation to start from.

Humans are social animals and morality arises from their interactions. The system, together with socialisation and inate abilities determine the outcome, change one of the elements and you will have a different result. The unbalanced political and social system in Nigeria is the problem and that's where you should work on. In a population, there is always undesired behavior. The proportion of undesired behavior is mostly determined by the system (e.g. you'll always have sociopathic killers, but during wartime and lawlessness, these behaviors are no longer surpressed and come out in full

skima:
If we can improve our moral standard... change our think and our personality will change... because he makes up the entity. So, as I said earlier... personal development matters... what I will offer is personal development to help as much as possibile to help people develop their thinking and believe in themselves.

What else will I do for Nigeria.....?

Working on your personal morality is laudable, but on a societal scale it is futile. Change conditions to encourage desirable behavior, that's the key

Let me give you an outsider's perspective (a little over the top):

[list]
[li]Nigerians do talk a lot[/li]
[li]they are very loud - why all that shouting on the telephone?[/li]
[li]everybody is talking aloud at the same time during a group conversation, the one talking the loudest is leading the conversation[/li]
[li]friendly words are a waste of your breath, you need all your breath to talk louder, they may not hear you[/li]
[li][variations on the same theme][/li]
[/list]

Now on a serious note: this was the one cultural difference that took me most time to adjust to.

No she's not angry at me, no she's not giving me orders, it's just her manner of speach

Bibi:
[ISNIP]

@nferyn; It would be nice to know how white babes are reacting to white guys with black babes.

I don't see any particular hostility, but then again, it's not like they're fighting over a scarce resource. If there is hostility - and there is - then it's more driven by backward racist attitudes than a sense of competition. It wouldn't be that they particularly target black men because they're men.

On the other hand, my social environment is probably not representative. I have a very open minded family, I work at the EMEA headquarters of a large multi-national company and my circle of friends consists mainly out of people that were socially and politically active at university. Hardly a cross section of society

WesleyanA:
i guess one just can't stop saying what he/she is proud of.

I don't disagree although do like showing off with my kids as well... guess it's time to post some more pics tomorrow

My wife - you know, the one I'm always talking about - is visiting Nigeria next week, so I'll be lonely at home
I finally managed to get her to look at my PC, now if only she'd use the bloody thing... she's a little technophobic
Think I'll be using calling cards instead of chatting

WesleyanA:
my wife's nigerian - nferyn
(as long as your posts are very analytical and comes with good sense of humor at times, you can imitate nferyn )

Well thanks, now you caught me with my pants down.

Do I actually say it that much?

You don't notice your own 'tics'

Obviously, I shouldn't have answered this as I do not believe conscienceness is immaterial anyway. I do not believe anything to be immaterial or without material source

ajsalako:
I would make philosophy a mandatory subject in all education systems, so all people are fully aware of the laws of causation, to the point where it completely influences their every decision.
I would do this in every country on this earth.

You are wise, o master (just kidding - sort of).
There is indeed a very pressing need to teach people proper logical thinking skills. An introduction to the scientific method (not the results of science) would go a long way as well and of course some basic knowledge of probability would help as well

This would people help to make informed decisions about every aspect of their life., instead of them relying on hearsay, fear, witchcraft and other [b]magical [/b]thinking

Consiousness is material. It is a product of neurological action in the brain. It is something unique to few species. We only know for certain that humans develop consciousness. Maybe chimpanzees and dolphins have it to a certain extent as well, but we're the only certainty.

Unfortunately, once the brain dies, there is no longer any consciousness

WesleyanA:
are they for real . . . i thought it was some kind of joke.
we'll still kick them into the garbage! . we outnumber them 101 to 010.

Actually they are a joke and at the same time not a joke. They set up this satirical parody of the Intelligent Design movement in the US to show, using exactly the same arguments, just how empty the Intelligent Desing movement is scientifically

I just hope we won't outnumber them 666 to 010 that would be a bad omen

May the alimighty coconut be with you and do not forget to drink her blood (juice) and eat her flesh.
The symbolised representation of the body of the One and Only Holy Coconut is the Bounty Candy bar. May you consume many

PS: the joint body representing the Church of the Holy Coconut has just bought a substantial number of shares in Masterfood, but don't tell anyone

WesleyanA:
yes. at least while they are still young, it's better to close off all conflicting info. when they're old enough (i don't think age 7 or anything around that qualifies a child as being "intelelctually capable".) it's better to create a space for creativity and let their imaginations to run wild while they are still innocent and little. when they get older, philosophical talks and whatnots can come in. i just think that's healthy.

Fully agree. Sound parenting advice, I admire your insight.
It also varies greatly between children, but in general, they are capable of understanding much more than you would imagine, you only need to break it down to their level, which is much more difficult than it sounds;

WesleyanA:
Gosh. were a new establishment and we already have rivals .
WE'LL BEAT THEM TO IT!!! watch out for the Temple of the Sacred Coconut!!! you flying spaghetti monsters!

I'm personally more of a coconut person myself, especially since those Spaghettians are full of Design and all.
Take care though, according to the Spaghetti Doctrine, there is only one Monster to worship, the Wholy Pasta Dish. they can get outright nasty if they defend their religion. They even want equal time in science classes, can you imagine the audacity

WesleyanA:
i don't agree with this especially if the child(ren) is/are little. you can't bring them up with two contrasting faiths/religions at the same time. it's only going to confuse them or make them think a little bit differently from how you what them to.
(an extreme example) a friend of mine has a christian mom and a muslim dad. he goes to church on sudays and has arabic/islamic classes on saturdays. now he just doesn't care about either.
true the children will be exposed to different ideas but these ideas won't fit together and will only confuse or distort a child's views on religion.

So you're saying that only propaganda style education, closing off all conflicting info is the way to go?
Maybe it would be better to give the child comparative religion classes and let him/her make up his/her mind when they're intellectually capable of doing so.

Anyway, my wife is taking our children to church on sunday and I teach my son (7) about science (as much as possible) and philosophy (when he will be capable enough to have abstract thought) to the best of my abilities; My daughter is too young to understand any of this yet anyway. I have no problem that my children are exposed to my wife's religion even though I don't share her beliefs.

Ka,

I'm affraid someone beat you already in edible food religions category. The only true religion is that of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. And rest assured, flying spaghtti is more nutritious than coconut, but of course coconut is more natural than spaghetti, so who's to judge?

http://www.venganza.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_spaghetti_monster

Beware: SATIRE

onore:
my name is ruth,i studied microbiology,uniben.but i love to work in the bank

Hi,

Good to see that there are people interested in the life sciences. Not that I'm uniquely qualified to judge, but what was your curriculum (just personal interest)

obong:
AIDS didn't come from Congo. Don't buy that

It did. It's originally a retro virus that was common in monkeys in the Congo bassin, but it mutated. It is assumed that it jumped species because it's very common in Congo to eat monkey meat and that creates a lot of opportunity for the virus to infect humans

Please visit http://www.who.int/hiv/en/ and http://www.unaids.org/EN/default.asp for more info
These are reputable sources concerning HIV/AIDS. Please do not follow the advice of the conspiracy theory advocates

ocho:
IT IS NEVER OKAY TO CHEAT. and saying to cheat is okay so long as you're not in love with the person(you're cheating with)? oh please!what has become of the true meaning of love and relationships? your partner is bound to get hurt so why risk it if u really love your partner and supposedly do not love the person you're cheating with?

Then you're not really cheating. promiscuous yes, but not cheating

It's never OK to cheat on your partner.
The question is: What is cheating? What do you consider cheating?

There is actually a sort of Euro English in existence.

I was once involved in a project for the European Commission DG16 and an Italian sub-contractor told me the following(true story):
- English is the de facto working language in the EU, even though all documents must be translated into the main languages and official documents into all languages (including regional languages, such as Catalan), everybody uses English in meetings, conferences, etc
- All EU public servants are perfectly proficient in English and there is no problem for people from different countries to understand what the others say in English
- The problem arises when UK and/or Irish public servants join the debate. From that moment onward, nobody else can understand what's going on anymore
- The main cause for this phenomenon is that most UK public servants for the EU (and to a lesser degree also the Irish) are usually from an upper-class background and that their usage of the English language is very different from what is commonly spoken in the UK

Conclusion: There is a Euro English, but no Brits in the EU administration speak the language

Hi Vexxy,

Let me first tell you that I am in no postion to judge you on your spiritual position. I do not share the view that the Bible is the literal word of God because of the many contradictions, both within the text as with known science and history. For me the Bible (especially the old testament)is a product of fallible men, ignorant herders that tried to make sense of their world as best as they could, in a time that morality was very different from our times. I do have more respect for the new testament though, as the moral values of love and forgiveness that you may find there are closer to my heart, but it is still a product of men.

As a token of respect for your point of view, I wish not to enter a debate on the merits of the Bible as a guide for one's life, unless you explicitly want to do that, but in that case harsh criticism could cloud our cordial on line encounters, and I would hate that to happen, so I propose to leave it at that (that's what my wife and I do, we hold roughly the same moral values, but the sources for our morality differ and we leave it at that)

I do have some remarks though on your scientific view

vexxy:
[SNIP]

Scientific View:

Just 18 days after conception, the baby's heart begins to beat.

Meaning before that it does not yet have a metabolism separate from the mother

vexxy:
At six weeks, brain waves can be measured.

Meaning that there is neurological activity. Hardly a surprise, all tetrapods have this, even for fish and squids you could measure brainwaves

vexxy:
At eight weeks the vital organs are functioning and fingerprints have formed.

OK, and what does that mean?

vexxy:
At nine weeks, the unborn baby is able to feel pain.

Is he? This really surprises me. What is your source for this information?

The Journal of The American Medical Association states:
Pain perception requires conscious recognition or awareness of a noxious stimulus. Neither withdrawal reflexes nor hormonal stress responses to invasive procedures prove the existence of fetal pain, because they can be elicited by nonpainful stimuli and occur without conscious cortical processing. Fetal awareness of noxious stimuli requires functional thalamocortical connections. Thalamocortical fibers begin appearing between 23 to 30 weeks’ gestational age, while electroencephalography suggests the capacity for functional pain perception in preterm neonates probably does not exist before 29 or 30 weeks.

source: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/294/8/947

clearly a refutation of your point

vexxy:
Over 700,000 abortions each year are performed after this point in the pregnancy. By the beginning of the second month, the unborn child, small as it is, has begun to look distinctly human, though the mother may not even be aware that she is pregnant! By the time the baby is eleven weeks old, he or she breaths (fluid), swallows, digests, sleeps, dreams, wakes, tastes, hears, and feels pain.

This is again clearly contradicted by the source I gave (well, at least the part of dreams and feels pain

vexxy:
Babies born prematurely can survive outside the womb as young as 20-25 weeks old. Yet, all that is necessary to make the baby a grown human being is already there from the moment of conception. All it needs is time to mature.

Possibly, but really, can you give me some examples of a premature baby of 20-25 weeks that grew up to be a healthy child? And what are the chances for that happening?

vexxy:
Former Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop stated "We now know when life begins because the test-tube baby proves that life begins with conception. What do you have in the dish? An egg and a sperm. What do you add to it to get a baby? Nothing."

Well apart from a mother giving nutrition and thus allowing the fetus to grow into a baby nothing, indeed, nothing. Leave the test tube alone and you will get a baby?
This is pure rhetoric

Let's all be aware of the following facts:
[list]
[li]In The US, the Surgeon General is a political appointee, someone with a medical background chosen primarily because of his political affiliation[/li]
[li]The former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, was appointed by former US President Roland Reagan, precisely and primarily because they shared the same anti abortion stance[/li]
[li]The former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop has been involved in less than ethical conduct (e.g. http://www.urielw.com/deception1.htm )[/li]
[/list]
Of course that does not mean the man did not give a lot of positive contributions to society, but he is certainly not to be considered the spokesperson or the representative of the medical profession

vexxy:
Though it is wee, it is still a real person, just as a crumb of bread is still real bread. No one who has been given the gift of life should dare despise the day of small beginnings.

Based on what do you decide that a fertilised egg is a person, What are your criteria?
Analogy is not really appropriate in this case, it might lead to tasteless comparisons

vexxy:
[center]Have we forgotten so quickly that we were once as small? [/center]

I certainly don't remember, I was not yet sentient

lioness:
Y mi? Are you ready and willing to convert because if your not, where do the kids go to on sundays?

Why not alternate every sunday? the more different ideas you children are exposed to the better.

Eddy Tells:
Seems like i bit some bad bone in ya.

Y mi should stick with what she knows. And religion does matter. So it didnt matter to you doesnt mean it wont matter in her marriage. Christainity is a way of life, it aint just what you believe in. Its you, everything about you.

Really? I do not define myself by my being not religious. There's more to myself than my belief system. If you define yourself only by the group you belong to, I feel sorry for you. That's tribal to the extreme

And to speak from personal experience: it does not matter for your marriage as long as you both have got your priorities straight.

Eddy Tells:
We are supposed to transfer what ethics and religious belief we have to our kids or don't you think?
Tolerance..huh how long will you tolerant his Holy Mary incarntations and how long will he tolerant your "fire of the holyghost" Tolerance huh. Are you prepared to have your kids having names like St angelo and St whatever? or you wanmt to give them the true hebrew name like Joshua etc. Do you want to have Mother Mary angel status in your house and pray to it in repitition of some bla bla bla You better think Gurl. You may to hang that chain on your neck or wear 'em crucifix rings like thats what makes them righteous.

I find this forcing any kind of religion on young children a form of child abuse, their minds are not ready to deal with these issues. Of course you can introduce them to your faith and teach them about it, but it's ultimately to them to make up their minds and choose - at an age they are capable of doing so

And for the rest.. why not, as long as you're not forced into it?

Eddy Tells:
Can you guys have a discussion about both religions and not end up arguing or quarreling
Catholics say pentecostal are fanatic but now who really is the fanatic
As little and insignificant as it may seem, it does matter.

You can have a civilised discussion as long as you're not trying to proselitise and force your views on your partner. A willingness to listen to the other and hear them out is all it takes

And then you can agree to disagree

Eddy Tells:
For you Nferyn.............. that joke of yours, see y its import. That guy should have waited for a 1898


once again, Pentecostal till i die .[rimagrattata rasturukokumayayayrima

You really didn't get the joke, did you?

Eddy Tells:
Y mi? Its a real pity girl.

Am not going to act like its no big deal because this s***t is tight

It's as big a deal as you want it to be. Tolerance goes a long way

Eddy Tells:
First of all, why aint ya hangin with 'em pentecostal brothers.
Why are you going all the way to catholic girl, it aint right.
Stick with the religon u've known except that love of yours is willing to move over to the Holyspirit filled church.

Why?

Eddy Tells:
Who said religion in marriage aint that important?? huhhhh who? Will your catholic sweetheart stand it when you speak in tongues or start goin wild with the anointing of the holyspirit??
okay so tell me. Do Catholics worship Jesus or Mary?

Again it's as important as you want it to be. You'd better look at the roots, messages and morality of your religion than at the exact way they want to express themselves. It's what's in your hear that's important

Eddy Tells:
As for me, Penterascal till i die bro................rimashabaraabatusu rumnplefeelleelleel [alittle tongue talking there]

Speaking in tongues is a specif neuroligical condition that is usually caused by intense concentration and can be induced by fasting (which changes the chemical balance in your brain)


here's a little joke to lighten up this chanrged subject:

A man is walking across a bridge, when he sees another guy about to jump off.
"Hey, man" he says, "you don't have to do that."
"Why not?" the other guy says, "I've got nothing to live for. I lost my job, I'm bankrupt, my wife left me and took the kids, my car threw a rod, and my dog just died. My life totally sucks."
"But God still loves you," the man says, "you believe in God, don't you?"
"Well, I guess so," the guy says.
"Tell me, are you a Christian?"
"Yes" the guy answers.
"Well, so am I!" the man says. "Catholic or Protestant?"
"I'm Protestant"
"Well, so am I!" "Methodist, or Baptist, or Presbyterian?"
"I'm Baptist."
Well, so am I!" "Northern or Southern Baptist?"
"Northern Baptist."
"Well so am I!" "Northern fundamentalist, liberal, or reformed?"
"Northern fundamentalist."
"Well, so am I!" "Northern fundamentalist eastern region, or Great Lakes region?"
"Northern fundamentalist, eastern region."
"Well, so am I!" "Northern fundamentalist, eastern region conference of 1898, or conference of 1912?"
"Northern fundamentalist, eastern region, conference of 1912."
"Die, heretic!" the man says, and pushes him off the bridge.

[quote author=y mi? link=topic=2286.msg69344#msg69344 date=1129222885]I know its not just me, If everyone is sincere, it happens to 4 of every 10 male or female.

Whats this big deal about catholics marrying pentecostals or pentecostal marrying catholics?

Can someone make me see reason why i shdnt marry the love of mi life just because he is catholic.
Am already 31 and still single. All the pentecostal brothers aint coming to me even though am sincere in my service to God. Now i have someone i truely love and who loves me too and people are givin me the "y catholic" look.

Wetin I go do, abeg? [/quote]Never let any of these pety differences of doctrine get in the way of true love. Never

My wife used to go to a pentecostal church when she was in Nigeria. Now she goes to a non denominational African church (mostly Nigerian) in Brussels. I myself do not believe and we get along very well. We've been married for more than seven years now. Still going strong. If these differences are that important to oyu, than your priorities are all mixed up and you're probably not fit to marry

And for your so called brothers that shun you for this? These bigots are not even worth being your friends

alter ego:
Cure her with fire.

And what's that supposed to mean? <SARCASM>[/b]Are you into the ancient catholic practice of the auto-da-fe?[b]</SARCASM>

@ all of those who would run before even looking into the situation:

Do you know that HIV/AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease. You won't get it by talking or shaking hands and certainly not by listening. Check your attitude, listen and make up your mind AFTER you know all the facts, don't let any bigotry get in the way of your humanity and compassion

bagoma:
nferyn, i just checked out your pics. i think your whole family look great too. mixed blessing. i'm happy for you.(Nigeria women are the best, abi?)

Well, for me at least

bagoma:
[SNIP]

@nferyn, are you white? hot angel and co were just kidding. besides it takes courage and great strength of character to want to stay together in the face of such, so its a plus for whites! no offence please.

Yes I plead guilty , but my wife is Nigerian.

You can see us here:
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-637.512.html

Anyway, people are people. race is a meaningless concept biologically. Why not divide up the world between the tall and short races That would be something