AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu Ralph Waldo Emerson probably didn’t have church folks in mind when, in his essay titled “Self-Reliance,” he coined the phrase, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...”  The point Emerson was trying to convey by his catchy axiom is that when confronted with irrefutable evidence that blows their long-held beliefs into smithereens, small-minded people will still refuse to reconsider those beliefs. In face of indisputable facts, obdurate folks often dig their heels in. Perhaps, out of fear of change, they cling rigidly to their erroneous ideologies. There’s nothing admirable, honorable, or praiseworthy about clinging to a conviction that has been proven to be erroneous simply because “that’s what we’ve always believed and that’s how we’ve always done it.” In fact, it is not normal. You must be brainwashed to refuse to re-examine your perspectives on issues when presented with evidence that demolishes those perspectives. Sadly, this is the reality with t...