What is critical thinking? From Wikipedia its the process of thinking that questions assumptions.
Growing up in a tradition African setting most of the time you were never allowed to question from beliefs to traditions to culture.However when i joined university ,i was given the opportunity to question and share my opinion that i was afraid to do in my childhood.This gave the guts to not give into blind faith that tends to surround me when i’m at home.
Recently an aunt of mine purchased something known as the ‘bio disc’ in hopes to improve her health and “earn cash” .Apparently this ‘bio disc’ is a natural energy generating device,all you need to do is rinse all the water you drinking through it and also wear it 24/7,and the best part is you only need to purchase only one for the rest of your life.This ‘bio disc’ costs about 500 dollars.My aunt tried to convince me to purchase one to better my health. However this ‘bio disc’ sounded dodgy to me so i turned down the offer but my aunt was insistent and convinced me to attend one of their training or meetings(still not sure what it is).
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The meetings are held in a fancy hotel where a very convincing salesman/woman gives a demo of how the ‘bio disc’ works and shows a cheesy video of how to secure your finical future through the “bio disc’.The salesman starts by telling you his own personal life story of how this opportunity came to them when he/she had a mid life crisis and the miraculous made a tonne of money by joining the program .The salesman goes ahead to show a binary tree of how your investment of 500 dollars will miraculous multiply if you get all your family members and friends to buy this ‘bio disc’.Besides ‘bio disc’, on sale was ‘holiday packages “worth 15000 dollars and also precious stones worth 10,000 dollars or more.At the end of the meeting the salesman asked who not like to be part of this dream,I raised up my hand.The salesman went ahead to say I was a fool looking at gold.
On the drive back home with my aunt,I explained why i couldnt be part of scheme like that.One,the demo was ridiculous,placing the disc made you apparently stronger in a second or less. Two the bio disc costs 500 dollars!! Three,this binary tree turns to be a pyramid scheme which is illegal and a form of a ponzi scheme .Four ,the creator of the bio disc has no scientific research published and the scientific community hasn’t embraced it at all!! I could sense my aunt getting very uncomfortable as a 20 something was speaking to an elder of over 50 .She asked where i got all my information from and the answer was “google”.
Overall this scheme pissed me off as the people being taken advantage of were very poor people who used their savings and think they are making an investment,This is an example of blind faith that most times associated with Africans.
Twitter: ethnicsupplies
says:
WOW! Good for you for you for walking away and I hope that your Auntie did not join this scheme either. I actually was not aware how much these types of schemes have infiltrated Africa until a week ago when we had the second Villages in Action. One of the people we had on the business panel was certainly pushing one such idea
ethnicsupplies recently posted..Villages in Action – I would like to hear more of these conversations
Twitter: myburntorange
says:
Good one. Ponzi schemes like this and other ones I do not wish to mention get even the most intelligent people to join, I was one of them. They can be quite soul destroying, a form of brainwashing. It is difficult to get people hooked on them to see the light. What is worse is they attack your confidence and try to get you to believe it is them or nothing. When I quit mine, some guy actually dared to “prophesy” I would amount to nothing!
Freedes ( recently posted..My Burnt Orange Rooibos Syrup
Whilst I think I appreciate the main message in the story, — which is that people should not be quick to expose themselves to schemes, I would shy away from applying a whole continent’s ability to think critically based on this one incident. I know just as many Africans that are skeptical of just about anything. This for me, is more about individual experiences — basically, exposure to street smarts and/or capitalist schemes in the global North (if thats where she lives). If your aunt hasn’t been exposed to the cruel world out there as much as another person, then she is more likely to be trapped by Ponzi schemes. But this is not something in inherent to Africans or the ability for African critical thinking – We may not be taught to question, but one never knows what another person is really thinking, weather they articulate it or not. These types of things have been happening in many capitalist societies in the global North ( Berny Murdoch’s case as an example) to people that have been exposed to the money world (people that have been investing, small business managers etc…, celebrities etc… no one is completely immune). I agree that blind faith is not good for anyone, amongst Africans I would argue that the area where we really need to be concerned about blind faith is not in the business institutions, but in religious ones.
MsTinga recently posted..Miss Fufu Strikes Back: Decoding How Jay-Z and Eddie Murphy (Re)invented An African Archetype
Twitter: lynn_Asiimwe
says:
This is one of my many examples moving from religion to culture to education to life generally!! I grew up in a very African setting.Well my business example does start all the way from religion.For the people who i interacted with involved in such schemes most’s religious faith or tradition culture is very blind.Even our Ugandan education is blind faith(got chased out of class for questioning a teacher).Even almost all our political leaders in Uganda lack that and act only in the moment and not in the future.On mention of evolution ,i’m deemed evil!!
Twitter: lynn_Asiimwe
says:
Unfortunately my aunt is a member of the scheme and doesn’t believe my findings on google or even ‘google’ at all.Her faith in this scheme is outrageous .Unfortunately even professionals and intellectuals in Uganda are victims to these schemes as they are pressured into them by friends and family.