Trading critical thinking for entertainment, spectacle and ignorance: Nigeria is trading the pursuit of knowledge for digital and other distractions. The cost goes beyond the individual, and the damage may soon be irreversible. It is time to revive the culture of critical thinking, and reclaim education beyond certification and spectacle. It is time to see education as a necessary tool for mental liberation. What I know for sure is, this erosion of enlightenment, and its replacement with entertainment is a dangerous compromise that will deliver the final blow to Nigeria. It is time to refocus on what is important, and, in Eddie Iroh’s lingo, stop ‘chasing shadows of spectacle, entertainment and ignorance.’
By Elsie-Bernadette Onubogu
In a world increasingly driven by spectacle, sleaze and show, intentionally or otherwise, Nigeria is quietly trading and replacing enlightenment with entertainment, spectacle and show; critical thinking with mediocrity; substance with shallowness and mere titles; merit with sycophancy; truth with lies, fake news and alternate realities; morality with false moral equivalencies; and humanity with greed. The nation is gradually mortgaging our collective future and those of succeeding generations.
In some instance, journalism is reduced to the spectacle of politicians, the vagabonds (and clowns) in power, and a majority whose belly is set out for display and embellishment. Indeed, many public officials see Nigeria as a theatrical stage. Some excel in viewing and turning governance and serious thematic issues into props, singing songs, issuing empty threats with a pitiful display and boast of intellect, as if expecting a national applause!
The list of the earlier substitutes (distractions) is rising in the world, too. And, Nigeria, is never left out particularly with the worst negatives. The current trend reflects a deep crisis: the decline of a reading culture and a growing apathy toward critical thinking. One is left to ask, what’s fueling this alarming shift? Yes, the phenomenon is global. But unlike in Nigeria, other countries still manage to carry along the discipline of critical thought, even as they follow trends.
Nigeria, instead, seems to have surrendered both substance, probing and scrutiny altogether. And, this might explain why the nation’s leadership and public office is filled with certificate forgers – or ‘certificateless’ persons!
The result is the unfortunate erosion of deep thought, and a societal culture whose prevailing value currency can be measured in spectacle, entertainment and sometimes, ignorance. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but, the norm is a value currency of show that ought to worry and shame us. While some complain about the length of write ups, others, audaciously question how reading will translate to Naira. It is now rare to see a child going to the library where it exists in Nigeria. This is wrong! Yet, it is present day reality for Nigeria.
Indeed, some may argue that there is gain in these ‘distractions.’ While that may be true, this writer believes that over time, this rise in the currency of show and ignorance will drown purported benefits.
By chance, which I do not take for granted, I found an opportunity to escape the Nigerian environment that is perfecting this art of shameful show. So, in search of knowledge and a place for critical thinking, I quit my job to attend the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy in Boston, USA. My reason for referencing Fletcher is two-fold. First, it was at Fletcher that I had an epiphany about the rising trend and the danger of substituting enlightenment with entertainment, and, I will return to this later. The second reason I chose Fletcher was to resist what I call Nigeria’s obsession – a near addiction with spectacle, i.e., whenever Harvard is mentioned.
Regrettably, many Nigerians are denied or lured away from opportunities and access to critical thinking. Consequently, many now find reading analytical write ups and conducting research tedious and wearisome. The average Gen Z or Millennial is drawn more to soundbites, memes, and influencers on social media, and not scholarship or depth. Some in my generation are not left out.
Paradoxically, the same Nigerians who find reading difficult, are willing, and do in fact, spend hours watching Nollywood movies, glued to the TV for Big Brother Nigeria (BBN). Yet, they complain if asked to read a two-page article or listen to a ten-fifteen-minute read. I wonder if the preference can be attributed to priority or lack of alternative. Indeed, times have changed!
As I pondered and complained to a classmate Charlie, he said to me, Ms. E., there are at least two groups in our society. Some are born with little or no drive for intellect or critical thinking. Intuitively, these will look to entertainment and spectacle to fill the void. The other – those genuinely interested in learning, will explore, and that applies to readers, too.
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Hypocrisy cloaked in the garb of ‘anointing’ (1)
Analogous to the above categorization is the fact that, in writing articles, this writer is aware that there are at least two possible audience of readers. First, are those who fall squarely into the initial sub category of the first group (those who lack the belly for critical thinking), and those hungry for enlightenment. As the cliché goes, “to each their own.” Everything else is embellishment!
While the piece will explore the reasons behind the lethargy, I can surmise as follows: we are trading the pursuit of knowledge for digital, other distractions and utter spectacle. And this has a cost both for the individual and the nation, and the damage may be irreversible if urgent action is not taken.
In my time, the inclination was a generation that spent weekends, summer months (sometimes, at night before lights out – unless cut by a parent or senior at a boarding school) debating the latest ‘James Hadley Chase, Nick Carter, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, or, the romance genre of Mills & Boon’, Denise Robins, etc. On the home front, we were spoilt for choice between literary giants like Chinua Achebe, Flora Nwapa, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngugi wa Thiongo, and not forgetting one of our most local novels, ‘Coal City’ by Ogali A. Ogali.
That desire, penchant and trend has almost disappeared, replaced with electronic gadgets, unsupervised shallow entertainment and the chase for quick and easy money. So, my journey to Fletcher was to choose a side. I digress here. To the average Nigerian observer, shaped by a culture that prizes appearances, my choice and decision to attend Fletcher may seem misguided — after all, Harvard was just next door. This is because, in Nigeria, attending Harvard (sometimes even for a 1-day conference or seminar) seems sufficient to confer an aura (albeit false) of intelligence or class. Sadly, for many, Harvard is less about learning and more about labeling. Apologies to real Harvard alumni scholars.
From my vantage point, I have come to believe (I may be wrong) that for scores in Nigeria, attending Harvard is simply about certification and title – it is not substance – it is mere spectacle – the reigning culture. It’s a label, a status badge worn and affixed to names, a false assumption of intelligence. This viewpoint is by no means a criticism of the institution itself. Rather, it is to express how a unique institution is gradually being dragged into the arena of spectacle in Nigeria by a cross section of title chasers and show buzzers.
At the risk of sounding like a ‘Mary White House’, title chasing has never been my priority. Yes, I do not belong to the pen of ‘title chasing flock’ of Nigeria. Thus, the Fletcher school offered me a space for multidisciplinary thinking, authenticity, originality and rigorous dialogue.
As I noted earlier, it was at Fletcher that I first encountered what I now refer to as the crisis of enlightenment — a rising global shift from intellectual rigor to ‘shallowness’ iced up in titles, and the value currency of embellishment. The experience was truly epiphanic. A shift from mind enriching intellectualization – to a profit induced entertainment that manifests in bank accounts and ostentatious living.
The Fletcher School provided me with a unique lens to understand the scale, and the dangerous dive into entertainment, disinformation, and its cost to the human mind and its influence on a nation. It also revealed a culture that confers expertise on ‘African Policy’ on a “person” (majority – whites) following a 2-week vacation to the Safari in Kenya or elsewhere in Africa. It was this type of ‘claimed expertise on Nigeria’ that I discuss below in the context of entertainment.
That epiphanic moment reaffirmed the proverb that, “until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” From then on, I learnt to document so I can tell the story. That experience will be narrated below. But for now, let me delve back to the challenge of entertainment and show in Nigeria.
The phenomenon of entertainment is not confined to pop culture. In Nigeria, it seems to have taken over the national psyche. It is infecting even serious spaces, universities, international conferences, and print media, where facts are easily sacrificed on the altar of entertainment in exchange for adverts, applause or patronage.
It is glaring in the current attitude of the average Nigerian – particularly, a majority of young people, who exhibit the gravest apathy, indifference and reluctance to critical thinking. As noted earlier, public office holders don’t seem to behave any better. Several factors may be behind this attitude, chief of which is the state of education, or lack thereof – with the ‘epileptic chasms and spasms’ that have replaced semesters in our tertiary institutions. But, it is also prevalent at kindergarten and primary levels. Libraries have become like dinosaurs – almost extinct in many parts of Nigeria. While the government must shoulder much of the blame, parents have a great share, too.
For instance, an average Nigerian child would rather go to a party to dance to ‘Flavour or Davido’s music than be caught at a library reading. I recall with nostalgia, at a time, how, you find children (sometimes four-year-old kids) swaying, singing and gesticulating to that popular tune by the twins P-Square – “Chop your Money – I don’t Care.”
Sadly, that money culture has now graduated to the new lingo: ‘money na water.’ This chase for money (materialism) is yet another reason for this shameful trend. At the adult level, it is translated into ‘stomach infrastructure’ – sometimes, a substitute or moniker for mediocrity, forgery and criminality.
The reading culture that some of us had in our early days (when we had marathons of who will be the first to read the latest ‘Chase, Carter, Achebe, Nwapa, or, the romance novels) is entirely eroding, replaced by reluctance, rejection and unwillingness to explore – read.
As mentioned earlier, my learned colleague, Charlie, expanded on his two categories of people: First is a scenario where some people are born with little or no drive for intellect or critical thinking. Naturally, these will delve into entertainment to fill the void; The other – those who were genuinely interested in intellectualism, have been brow beaten by a combination of factors, to wit: the ‘global rise in sleaze, lies, fake news entertainment that sells’, and the Nigerian factor, where education has been relegated as irrelevant, indeed, not a prerequisite to make Aso-Rock, intervene in the unhallowed chambers or to find ‘hope’ in a Governor’s house.
To support the assertion of the nation’s apparent preference, he shared the same example of the BBN winner versus the best graduating Computer Engineering student. It reaffirms why in the current clime, neither the ‘Chicago State’ University sheep nor the University of Nigeria Nsukka’s sacrificial lamb’s bell will ring hollow. Secondly, as a buffer against the hardships, frustrations and stress in Nigeria, many individuals have opted for entertainment rather than engage in critical thinking or the habit of reading.
The result is a growing number of graduates – rich in the tripartite currencies of Naira, spectacle and ignorance. Truth be told, yes, libraries may be hard to find, but, Charlie said to me, wake up and smell the coffee, ‘sleaze sells’ – that’s entertainment, and that’s the world we live in. And, whether for good or bad, Nigeria/ns are cued in. So, “to each their own.”
Sadly, Nigeria, like much of the world, is caught in the web of entertainment over enlightenment, and the younger generation bears the brunt of this precarious paradigm shift. The difference though is, while many of the countries of the West and some in Africa (like South Africa, Rwanda) still have established educational systems with pedagogical direction (Nigeria had before now), she has allowed it to erode at her peril. While that Fletcher epiphanic moment was a rude awakening to the rise of entertainment, it also gave me the opportunity to hone my skills of identifying it.
The Fletcher encounter
As a mid-career person, I spent one academic year at Fletcher, but, one particular incident remains etched in my memory. This was an encounter at a panel discussion in which a visiting professor from Georgetown University presented what I felt was a skewed, inaccurate portrayal of Nigeria’s peacekeeping interventions in the world. At the time, Nigeria had served in nearly 85 percent of all global peacekeeping missions – more than 180 countries of the world.
His remarks (a tangent off the question posed) largely focused on the ‘character’ rather than the sacrifices of Nigerian soldiers to international peacekeeping. Delivered as an ‘expert’, it was met with thunderous applause — largely because they fit into a convenient narrative depicting Africa and Nigeria in particular as a dysfunctional place, run by sub-humans.
To the reader, remember this was decades ago – things were far much better than they are now. An inconvenient truth is, Nigeria has/had credibly led and contributed much to international peacekeeping – even with imperfections.
Sitting across, stunned in utter disbelief, yet seething with anger, I thought to myself, I was not only a Nigerian, but, one who had recently served in peacekeeping missions around the world. I viewed the applause as a marked tradition that follows a presentation. But, I refused to allow the applause be a representation of what I knew to be inaccurate narratives. There was no other way to describe what the Professor had just done. It was entertainment, pure and simple.
Unable to remain silent, I joined the queue to respond. As soon as I took the microphone, I offered three verifiable corrections:
1. Peacekeeping: From Liberia to Sierra Leone, Nigeria had played a central leadership role in African peacekeeping missions. As at the time, Nigeria had participated in at least three-quarters of entire peacekeeping missions – a feat less than 10 nations of the world could claim.
2. Misconduct: Yes, some Nigerian soldiers had been involved in sexual misconduct in Liberia. But so too had American troops (e.g., in Somalia under General Aideed – he was American) and 34 Canadian soldiers (e.g., at the Bakovići mental hospital in Bosnia scandal). As a trained lawyer and gender specialist, in no way could I justify misconduct. But to focus on Nigeria alone, was at best mischievous and entertaining.
3. Moral lapses and leadership: President Clinton’s moral lapse and scandal with Monica Lewinsky — does not erase contributions to national progress, such as the economic boom under his presidency. This was in response to the Nigerian President’s action at the time.
The room fell silent. The applause that followed compelled the moderator to call for a short break. It was clear that I had challenged the comfort of an entertainment narrative. In fact, I took the opportunity to remind the audience that Fletcher was a place of enlightenment where serious intellectual engagement was expected, and not entertainment.
During the break, my classmate and friend from Zimbabwe, SG, walked up and introduced me to a man I consider one of the great moral voices of Africa – Justice Albie Sachs, the South African jurist and anti-apartheid hero – few know about. A man who (though white) lost an arm and sight in one eye from a car bomb attack fighting against the apartheid in SA and southern Africa. Justice Albie said to me, “Listening to you, I could not have been prouder to be African today. I just wish you had made your points with a little less emotion.” I have never forgotten those words.
Amongst other great attributes, Justice Albie Sachs, a former SA Constitutional Court Judge, is an intelligent, unapologetic Pan Africanist, a historian, a teacher, a human rights activist and a fighter for equality and justice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albie_Sachs
Mostly adorned in his favourite Salvi Dali cravat, he is arguably one of South Africa’s best Constitutional Lawyers/teacher of the history and the defeat of Apartheid in South(ern) Africa, a class I could not resist when he offered it at the Kennedy School of Government.
To return to the challenge of entertainment, increasingly, Nigerians (mostly young people) find reading – in particular, analytical write-ups tedious. As noted earlier, most are drawn to soundbites, memes, and influencers on social media, watching Nollywood movies, rather than pursue scholarship and depth. And, we are reaping the negative consequences, but, this will get worse unless something is done urgently. This intellectual apathy makes fertile ground for entertainment. And, where critical thinking is shunned, sleaze and entertainment thrives.
I will say it again, Nigeria is trading the pursuit of knowledge for digital and other distractions. The cost goes beyond the individual, and the damage may soon be irreversible. It is time to revive the culture of critical thinking, and reclaim education beyond certification and spectacle. It is time to see education as a necessary tool for mental liberation.
What I know for sure is, this erosion of enlightenment, and its replacement with entertainment is a dangerous compromise that will deliver the final blow to Nigeria. It is time to refocus on what is important, and, in Eddie Iroh’s lingo, stop ‘chasing shadows of spectacle, entertainment and ignorance.’
