LOGIC, COMMONSENSE AND THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE MISINTERPRETERS Written by KEMKA S. IBEJI

Most people have told me that they run away from commenting on my posts on the social media because I always hold strong opinions. Some others say I'm always attacking and don't accept other people's opinions. A few have resigned to saying that I write as if I know it all while some say I insult and abuse contrary views. 

I see their points and understand their standpoints; they don't know me and what I stand for. 

In the world of philosophy and its tool of logic, we deal with meanings. But meanings suffer grievous misconceptions, various definitions and multiple misinterpretations. 

Once in our family meeting, I made a statement and an elder stood up and declared it an insult. I warmly apologised to them but that was a loan they had to repay. I informed them that I apologised for their understanding but what they understood was not what I meant. Again, that elder brother sprang up and he said something remarkable which brought out the skills of philosophy in me to them. He said that I was saying that they cannot understand simple spoken words and that was insulting to them all. He was a university lecturer though. 

I now pleaded to the house to allow me to clear myself. The elder was not going to accept that but the elders prevailed and I was permitted to clear myself. 

In clarification I told them that though meaning is contextual, most of the time, words are not usually mechanical that they exchange to realities as identitiies. This is simply saying that words don't usually and often mean the same thing in all universe of discourse. Words are not like mathematical numbers which is held by identity across the equality sign. Unlike the mathematical expression 2 + 2 = 4 which identifies (2 +2) as the same thing as (4) the antecedents and consequents of ordinary language don't align with the same rules as mathematics or symbolic logic. Saying that "you are mad" may at different instances mean that you are mentally unstable, you are abnormal, or that you are phenomenal. In these cases the same expression means different things and so they should appreciate that the speaker (myself) I'm alive and present to interpret for them my expression. 

This ought to be a full session in the study of philosophical hermeneutics - the philosophy of interpretation. 

Back to my story. 

When I was eventually allowed to explain my position, the entire elders of the family almost knelt down to apologise to me. From that day, they understood that for people like us, you need some heightened degree of knowledge to engage and understand me. 

And in the attached picture here which reads;

People who support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are either bigoted, ignorant, sentimental, treacherous or dumb. This is not an insult but factual. Run an analysis of everyone who supports him, you'll find out this truth. Even Tinubu himself knows that he lost the 2023 Presidential Election to Mr. Peter Obi but was pronounced winner, nevertheless. Now he wants to win and he knows the only route is to ensure that Peter Obi doesn't appear on the ballot. Define his supporters please. 

It's normal again for the same class of people to read it as an insult. But ask yourself what is an insult? 

Is being ignorant an insult? 

Is being mischievous an insult? 

Is being sentimental an insult? 

Is being treacherous an insult? 

Is being bigoted an insult? 

NO! 

They will only amount to being insults if the asserter fails to assert the truth. 

Oh, yes when you catch an elder stealing it also feels like an insult but the reality is that the old man is a thief. The difference is that whereas some spheres will alter their tools of expression and thereby alter truths, we logicians and philosophers will always use the very appropriate words that will capture the essence of the expression or situation. Our words must, indeed, mirror the reality. 

Now to the point;

1. Most people who support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are not aware that he actually didn't win the 2023 Presidential Election. These are very sincere people and they genuinely support the man but they are ignorant. That they're genuine, sincere and upright in their support does not remove the fact that they don't actually know that the man lost the election to Mr. Peter Obi. A lot of them have different reasons to believe that he actually won. Some say he won because he's vastly experienced. Some say he was declared so he won. Some say even the court said so. Some say he is the president today or after the election so he won. They're all right to hold their various views but that doesn't deny the fact that they're ignorant. They're ignorant, pure and simple. So where is the insult please? 

2. In open light discussion, many of them will declare to you that an Igbo man cannot rule Nigeria. Some others tell you that it's better they support their tribe's man or their religious brother than any other person. So many others say he hasn't lost an election before so he won the election. These are biases and prejudices that define bigotry and sentiments. So when I say that some of the supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are bigoted and sentimental, did I insult them? Are those arguing as such not bigoted or sentimental or both? So where is the insult? Or do they prefer that I lie? 

3. There is also this class of people who are fully aware that Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn't win the election. In fact, they truly know that he lost to Mr. Peter Obi but have gone ahead to obfuscate the truth and evangelising lies, deceiving people and convincing them to believe and accept what is false as the truth. This class of people have outlined measures to deceive the people and deny them the knowledge of the truth. And what is being mischievous and treacherous again please? So when I assert that some or most of the supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are mischievous and treacherous did I say what is not real? Where, therefore is the insult? 

But there's this group that don't know anything except that Tinubu won the election. They don't want to hear anything else and in so far as he is the man in Aso Rock, he won the election. Most of them suffer from their drunkenness on each of the points above or all, as the case may be. So when I say that most of the supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are mischievous, treacherous, bigoted, sentimental or dumb, I'm making a statement of fact and not insulting. Even when I assert that all the supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are mischievous, treacherous, bigoted, sentimental, or dumb, I obviously made a logical statement with truth value. 

So the point is that the truth value of any logical statement is either true or false. And every logical statement is and must be declarative. 

In conclusion therefore, those who run away from my posts for the reasons I outlined above as their provisos don't deserve to actually get involved in my discussions because they lack the prowess requisite for such interaction. So they either don't know me, don't understand me, or don't have the logico-mathematical acumen and the ratiocinative capacity to join issues in such intellectual chess. 

What is my fault? 

I am, 

KEMKA S. IBEJI 

A Philosopher King 👑