Why Are We So Daft?

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People are permitted to be daft. It becomes a crime, however, when your daftness forms a tumour in your brain, and you can't tell the distinction between white and black.

This was the condition of my friend, Johnson. Among our peers, Johnson was known as the boy with the pride of one hundred men.

He had that intimidating swag that makes one beg for the ground to open and swallow him. He was always ready to impose his supposed wisdom on you in arguments. This is because he read opinion pieces and articles written by extremists, who parade themselves as intellectuals, online.

Once, I had a fracas with Johnson. Initially, we had an argument about the political events in Nigeria. Obviously, Johnson argued with the political sentiments one could find in the opinion essays written by ethnic bigots online. However, I challenged him with my knowledge acquired through years of reading, research, and observing patterns in Nigerian politics.

It is very funny and quite unfortunate that Johnson has never read a real book or an essay from a reputable source without bias. This was the same energy he brought into our argument and expected to win. Very ridiculous and quite unfortunate. He was as guilty as charged.

When it was clear that I won the argument, Johnson broke into yet another argument about the supremacy of Science over Arts and Humanities.

This was always Johnson's strategy for winning arguments. Whenever he was losing a genuine conversation driven by facts and numbers, he would divert everyone's attention to issues of little or no interest.

This was his strategy today.

"I don't blame all of you wey dey do Arts. Ndi 'I can work anywhere.' Pesin go do History and Fine Arts finish, come become sales girl for FESTAC," he said carelessly.

In defence, I reminded him that Njideka Akunyili Crosby, the woman who drew a joint portrait of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, is a graduate of this same Arts and Humanities that he chose to condemn.

This only provoked him further because he raised his voice, poised to give me a resounding slap if I continued to spill rubbish.

"Ewu, didn't you see the name? Akunyili, the daughter of the former NAFDAC boss, Dr Dora Akunyili. She is connected. She is from an influential family. But you, your mother is in one of those schools in Onitsha, and you want to be a globally acclaimed writer? Don't be silly, man. Jiri uche gi mee ihe, use your common sense for once," Johnson ranted.

At that moment, I knew there was no point arguing with him. Johnson was submerged in self-glorification that he failed to notice his own foolishness.

However, that experience opened my brain to different lessons.

In this present generation, all of us are subdued by our own claim of intellect, that we fail to realize how arrogant we are. Unfortunately, this is not our fault. Social media has contributed to the decline in growth and moral standards.

A few days ago, a friend asked me who Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was. He doesn't know she was a former Nigerian Minister of Finance. Neither does he know that she is currently the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

What shocked me wasn't his ignorance. It was the fact that he was among those who condemned Nigerian content creator, Peller, and called him a potential olodo. On his WhatsApp status, he posted images of the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his failures. However, he failed to realize that leaders are a reflection of their people.

The government will never own up to their mistakes because they understand that their subjects are fools; people who don't know and don't know that they don't know.

This is the level of our own ignorance and hypocrisy.

How do we change it? How do we become the difference we want to see?

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