RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moderator's Caution

KO may need to read Toyin Falola's (forum moderator) "moderation caution" post of this morning. He reminds participants that this forum provides participants information, education, and enlightenment. It provides participants a platform to share and exchange well thought-through opinions and views while being respectful of every participant. I am particularly pleased that he made the important point that exchanges on this forum are not intended to produce winners but edify participants.

Wole Soyinka without question is great man. He is a literary giant with an indefatigable moral conscience. This is however, not to say that he is perfect in every way and therefore above criticism. No one is. No one should be. Soyinka knows that he has critics. This is one more reason why he is a very fair and thoughtful man.

Soyinka's literary style is however his choice as it should be. That, we must all respect. I personal wish that he wrote is simpler English language because there is so much that more people could learn from reading him. When I express this wish publicly, it is not my intention to criticize him. I should not be misunderstood to be criticizing him.

Is it not the case though that scholarship is more true, valuable, and useable because of criticism and disagreement? Criticism makes it possible for all who are concerned and animated enough to bring something to the table of discourse and inquiry. Criticism purifies ideas, opinion, and thought. In a more practical sense, products and services become better and deliver greater value over time, because of user feedback.

Ikhide for me, has become a valuable forum participant. I do not believe that he is anti or pro Yoruba, Igbo, or any other world ethnic group, or individual. He has expectations, standards, and strong views. He should have them. He makes his calls as they should be- honestly and fairly. He should be respected, commended and emulated for his hard work and sincerity. More forum participants should try to be as open-minded and less ethnocentric as Ikhide tries to be.

The Yoruba as Toyin Falola has observed find it necessary to say that "even God is not wise enough". You just look at life and world.  

 

oa    

 

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kolawole Onifade [kol_onif@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2012 9:52 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moderator's Caution

Moderator:   What is not elevating in my opinion that Ikhide is decidedly anti-Yoruba? In what way is that observation insultive if I may ask?   Unless you are telling me that I must deny my "feeling", personal observation and conclusions based on a well-defined pattern over time! I bet, you will soon start telling us that to even vent our ethnic sentiment is not elevating!   Ikhide clapped excitedly for Achebe; he openly denigrated Awo (PBUH), now he lampoons Soyinka and dropped the clincher by comparing his book to a muck raker's. Is a trend not established here? Must we all sleep in one direction? Must our view of the world be monochromatic? To be sure, even ethnic-based contributions have inherent scholarly value.   Ikhide has vented pro-Biafran sentiments on this forum. And, that was in the heat of the debate against Yorubas action and /or inaction. That at a time when Biafrans called Yorubas cowards, treacherous and other unsavoury names.     Kola/ --- On Sat, 11/3/12, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote: From: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Moderator's Caution To: "dialogue" <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com> Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012, 6:45 AM To remind contributors to focus on debates and not insults. That someone does not like Soyinka's book does not make him anti-Yoruba; and if you do not like Achebe's book this should not make you anti-Igbo. Were I to say that both Achebe and Soyinka are not my favorite authors, am I anti-Nigeria? I do not like Things Fall Apart, but I like Arrow of God. I can give you my reasons, but am I anti-Okonkwo?  I have read the eight essays in Soyinka's Of Africa, but it is both a waste of my money and time, as I have come across six of the essays before in the collections released by Bookcrafts. Am I anti-Soyinka for saying that it is a waste of my time? It is a work of introspection, and it should not be compared with Achebe's There was a Country, a definitive book that marks a moment in history and which has an immediate entry into the canons of that moment. No question, There was a Country will be with us for ever; Of Africa will head to the shelves to be rescued in footnotes and endnotes. In expressing my own conclusion on both books, you can disagree with me and reach a different conclusion, but am I pro-Igbo and anti-Yoruba? When Ikhide said that Nigerian universities are sub-standard, when did he tell you that he is excluding the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from his observation? When Bangura says that he wants Romney to win, people tend to forget that he is a card-carrying member of the democratic party and once served on the executive of its branch. Bangura is not even a Republican, and responses of hatred, collecting money, etc. are made in ways that rubbish a person's preference and opinion. That Bangura wants Romney to win does not mean that he hates Obama, unless you want to say that the minimum of 45% of the country's population who will vote for one candidate or the other do so on the basis of hatred. Were I to say that I prefer Buhari to have won the last presidential election in Nigeria, do I hate Ijo people? Let us exercise maturity. Some people do not have a particularized frame of mind. My best friends are Igbo, and the person I want to see everyday is Gozie Ifesinachukwu. No Hausa person has ever made a single unkind statement about me. The historian who I now respect the most is an Idoma by the name of Moses Ochonu. He writes so well, and I told Professor Nimi Wariboko yesterday that God created him and Moses on a special day. Nimi and Moses are now Africa's treasures. Where a society is well ordered, Nimi Wariboko would be the one to have received the honorary doctorate at the University of Port Harcourt where he graduated and not Mrs Patience Goodluck. I know Professor Aluko, the great teacher of blessed memory, and his son Professor Bolaji Aluko. I have had meals with both of them. They enjoy good arguments, see themselves as reformers, and they just want you to give them evidence whenever you make a point. Professor Aluko, the late economist, could have a vigorous debate with you for 3 hours non-stop. Both the father and son will not let you get away with an unsubstantiated statement.  If you see injustice, a struggling person, the poor, the victimized, and you wait and pause to ask where the person comes from, your humanity is in question. As the site has become a major reference one, be aware that all messages are archived, and they not only represent individual opinions but the collective intellectual orientation of an entire generation. 1. Do please generate debates that elevate, and not personal attacks. 2. Rationality--supply evidence, and use the evidence to make cogent arguments. For instance, I could argue that cholera killed more people in a war than guns. Then, you could now say what caused the cholera? And I can reply, and we generate a thread. 3. Debates are not to be won, but to extend the frontiers of knowledge. 4. Wisdom has no boundaries, no beginning, no end. 5. All humans make mistakes. In noticing the propensity to make mistakes, a Yoruba proverb resigns with an anti-climax: "Even God is not wise enough!" -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin. 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