© Numero Unoma
When people say “all die na die”, please ignore them, it is not true. Yes sure, you’ve got to die of something, but on the other hand, there are some things you really don’t have to die from at all. Certainly, the single biggest killer of Nigerians is something none of us should die from, even though it kills thousands of our people daily.
What might that be, you ask? Ignorance of course, what else? This has always been my opinion, but to be ‘democratic’ I asked others whose opinions I rate highly, and got answers like poverty, poverty of the mind, bad pre-natal care, malaria, health issues like diabetes and cancer, indoctrination, road accidents, contaminated foods, hunger, the list goes on, and most items on it are actually down to ignorance.
An Arab proverb says that:
“Men are four.
He that knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is stupid. Shun him.
He that knows not, and knows that he knows not, is good. Teach him.
He that knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Arouse him.
He that knows, and knows that he knows, is wise. Follow him.”
Too many of us fall into the first, category, and therefore should be shunned, if only for the threat that we pose to others.
My good father studied medicine at Heidelberg University. Now, studying either German or medicine alone is like top level difficulty in a video game. He then went on to Oxford University and did a DPhil (aka PhD) in haematology, a medical specialisation that is regularly described as ‘demanding’ and ‘challenging’. My father returned home to Nigeria to share with his people what he had learned, in his service both as a doctor and as an educator of doctors. Many decades before the Google search, which arms ignorance with arrogance, he constantly warned against the practice of truncating a course of prescribed medicine early, just because one was ‘feeling better’.
What makes you think you know better than someone who gave up ‘having a life’ as a young person – when everyone else was partying, experimenting with recreational drugs and having boyfriends or girlfriends – to study your anatomy, your musculoskeletal system, your nervous system, your cardiovascular system, your lymphatic system, your endocrine system, your digestive system, your urinary system, your reproductive system, and the epidemiology of all of these? They gave up the carefree hedonism of youth for the greater part of their own youth, just to become a doctor. Therefore, when they prescribe malaria medication or antibiotics for a week, who are you to stop taking them after four days just because you think you’re better already? Or did your clever Google search not tell you that in so doing, you are causing the pathogens, (aka germs) to develop a resistance to the medication, thereby giving them the superpowers to potentially kill off the rest of humanity, including yourself the next time you get the same illness?
Ignorance is not bliss, it is hazardous.
Decades ago, fresh out of university, I did my driving test in Germany. In order to pass the theory test, apart from the meanings of road and traffic signs, I had to learn about things like aquaplaning, which the Continental Tyres website refers to thus:
“When driving on wet roads at high speed, a wedge of water can build up between the tire and the road surface. The tire loses road contact, and the vehicle is no longer responsive to steering. This phenomenon is known as aquaplaning or hydroplaning.”
I also had to learn facts like the relationship between speed and risk of fatal injury. The difference between hitting a pedestrian at 50 km/h and 65km/h is the difference between injury and death. I mean, how many Nigerian drivers were taught at driving school, simple facts like the correlation between tyre pressure, the amount of weight they are carrying (as in persons or ‘load’ in the vehicle), their speed, and their braking distance?
My German mother died on the old Lagos-Ibadan Road aged 26, leaving behind three children under 3 years of age, of whom I am the eldest. Pardon me for being so presumptuous as to think that her driving skills were very likely superior to those of the person whose reckless driving killed her in that accident. He survived, btw.
Ignorance is not bliss, it is a menace to life. Ours and the lives of others.
For those of you partial to Bible scriptures, Hosea 4:6 says “My people perish from a lack of knowledge”. Alternatively, for my Muslim sistren and brethren, in Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 74, the Prophet Mohammed says: “The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim.”
Hey, but I am not here to preach. I am just remarking, and reflecting on the patterns I have observed in this my long short life. Like when I walk through the markets of Abuja with their generators buzzing every few metres. Traders sit comfortably in white plastic chairs, chatting and waiting for customers. I on the other hand, am very disturbed by the fumes. They see me choking, despite holding a bandana to cover my nose and mouth, and they laugh sympathetically at me, as though I were some strange alien from another planet. “We are used to it, it is nothing to us”, they brag. Try telling that to your organs and immune system, I feel like responding, but they seem so superior in their ignorance, that who am I to ruin it for them. I will leave that to one who is by far better qualified to do the job…like cancer…or the auto-immune connective tissue disease, and risk of permanent damage to brain and heart, with whom they so confidently flirt, by the constant inhalation of carbon monoxide.
Ignorance is not bliss, it is unhealthy, possibly fatal.
Many decades ago, a famous man is quoted to have said “If you want to hide something from a Black person, put it in a book” That has been bandied about endlessly, and attributed to all sorts of different people. It is a quote that doesn’t interest me much, as it sounds both racist or outdated, or both. A much better way to keep black people ignorant, I find, is to put out some sensationalised material on the internet. We are much too eager to gobble up any rubbish we read online, regardless how questionable it sounds, and much too quick to share all manner of random information without checking it out.
Let’s admit it, not enough of us do fact-checks on sites like Snopes et al, before forwarding ridiculous claims such as that a February like that of 2022, which has 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays, 4 Wednesdays, 4 Thursdays, 4 Fridays, 4 Saturdays and 4 Sundays, only comes once every 823 years. What a load of toss! Just a few seconds thought is all your brain should need to figure out that any February with 28 days (ergo 75% of all Februaries) will have 4 of every day of the week in it.
How about those weird warnings about links between COVID and 5G, that were spread around by so-called ‘Whatsapp Aunties’ without any scrutiny whatsoever? Granted, just yesterday, we learned via Reuters, and the (UK) Guardian that 5G will more than likely wreak havoc across the aviation industry, but at least that information had withstood the initial scrutiny of professionals who claim to (and are in a better position to) seek out the truth.
Ignorance is not bliss, it is a threat.
Though they have their place on the social landscape, both actually and virtually, in fact the Whatsapp Aunties are very much a vestige of the ignorant elders who still hold the African continent and youth to ransom, demanding respect based on the reverence our cultures place on age and experience. To be fair to the Aunties, they are not the same analog, dated and arrogant bigots as many African leaders.
At least their contribution to the spread of ignorance via social media can be attributed to a caring for others, misinformed as it may be. Our decrepit leaders on the other hand, shut down dialogue in the name of traditional respect for elders. Like the Millennials whom they accuse of entitlement, they too are misguided by a lack of understanding about the relationship between rights and responsibilities, and thereby end up victims of the very same malaise that they diagnose the youngsters as being afflicted by, namely entitlement. The thing is, one can be forgiven for writing off entitlement when it is misguided by youth and lack of world or life experience. But not when on top of education and personal life experience, elders also have the 20-20 vision of historical hindsight in their resource base.
Ignorance is not bliss, it jeopardises our progress and our very existence.
Go get you some knowledge!