Dream No. 11: To Deny Mistakes Is To Postpone The Solution "This fallacy is often heard in government as well: “You know, we are still a young nation,” or “Even in America they make mistakes!” 25 August 2016
By Alfred Sebit Lokuji It is human nature to seek recognition and high esteem. However, most people hate individuals who crave attention, appearing to be vain. It is the rare Donald Trumps of this world, who might be allowed to boast of their successes. A South Sudanese tried that repetitive boast and he became known as “Shufuni”! It is far more devastating when institutions of state resort to excessive boasting, followed by its twin brother: denial of mistakes - the most deadly enemy of success. Socrates comes to mind: if someone says you are wrong, and you are NOT, simply ignore if the facts you have do not persuade him! BUT, if indeed you ARE wrong, why not just accept it! That is, try to remain objective – without resorting to “Do you know me?” or “Yakhi, man I am also a graduate – after all who are you? You finished after me!” This is a fallacy in logic known as “Argumentum ad hominem”! - to jump from facts at hand to the person presenting the facts. This fallacy is often heard in government as well: “You know, we are still a young nation,” or “Even in America they make mistakes!” The issue is not how old you are or whether the same mistake occurs in America: have you failed to protect citizens or not? It gets complicated when other people, TV, Newspapers, Radio, make claims about individuals or government. These claims might be right or wrong. If wrong, individuals can resort to libel suits – but what does government do? In the case of government, if the claims are wrong, the party in power will go to all lengths to SHOW the falsehood of the claim to its citizens. And if the claims are right, such a government will make strenuous efforts to correct the wrong, to please voters (if they have the power to vote freely)! There is much room to dream about becoming better individuals in a better country. Personal denials of negative observations can be attributable to personal vanity. Can a government also be vain? Too often, when confronted with an unflattering claim, the great sin in logic is committed –– that is to begin to focus on the person that makes the claim rather than staying on the facts about the veracity of the claim. In universities, the ability to absorb criticism is attained through seminars, paper presentations, debates, etc so that students learn to focus on the facts presented, and not on the person presenting the paper. It is tough but highly rewarding after a long practice. Do you know about “logic”? “ukef yakhi! Posted in: Opinions <http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/24/Opinions.aspx> - See more at: http://gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ID/19806/Default.aspx#sthash.JrdWhxxH.dpuf -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14ooqMkFerMiOJRwJzxo7mreyK2vw5X1MiGRzUGtbT6vpBQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
