“IS EVENUS NOT A PHILOSOPHER?”

< are they thought leaders or thought frauds? >

As we navigate through the world of thought leadership, it is important to ask ourselves what we truly mean by the term “philosopher.” I mean, “thought leader” is only a sleek synonym of “philosopher.” Are those who claim to be thought leaders really seeking knowledge and wisdom, or are they merely seeking power and influence?

This question recalls the famous conversation between Socrates and his friends in Plato’s “Phaedo,” where the great philosopher challenged the claim of the Sophist Evenus to be a philosopher. Socrates argued that Evenus, like many so-called “thought leaders” today, was merely a rhetorician, someone who used language to persuade rather than to seek truth.

Socrates pointed out that true philosophers, like himself, seek knowledge and wisdom for their own sake, without any concern for personal gain or influence. They are committed to discovering the truth, even if it challenges their own beliefs or goes against popular opinion.

In contrast, rhetoricians are primarily concerned with winning arguments and gaining power. And by extension, selling out ineffectual courses, half-baked books, empty sessions, etc. They use language to manipulate others and achieve their own goal of cashing out, rather than seeking truth and wisdom and propagating same.

The term “thought leadership” is often used to describe those who claim to be experts in their field and offer insights and advice to others. However, we must be careful not to confuse true thought leadership with mere rhetoric.

True thought leaders are those who have a deep understanding of their subject matter and are committed to sharing their knowledge and insights with others. They are not concerned with winning arguments or gaining power, but with helping others to learn and grow.

In contrast, those who are merely using the term “thought leadership” as a way to promote themselves or their ideas without a commitment to seeking truth and wisdom are nothing more than frauds.

In the age of social media, it is all too easy to confuse popularity and influence with true thought leadership. We must be careful not to fall into this trap, and instead seek out those who are truly committed to seeking knowledge and wisdom for their own sake.

So the question remains, “Is Evenus not a philosopher?” Perhaps not, according to Socrates. And in the world of thought leadership, we must be just as discerning in our search for true wisdom and knowledge.

THE CORONATION, BIDEN & TRUMP

< what your enemies usually would do >

10:20am this morning, 6 May 2023, Their Majesties, King Charles III & Queen Camilla, will make their way in a royal procession through the streets of Central London to Westminster Abbey, where, at exactly the strike of 12, the crown of St Edward will be placed on King Charles’s head and proclaimed the “Undoubted King.” And it’s “God Save The King!” all across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and Realms of the British Empire!

Now, this is a big deal. The first of its kind in 70 years, since Charles’s mother Elizabeth in 1953 was crowned Queen, a reign that endured to its platinum jubilee. Of all the eligible dignitaries to grace the actual coronation event inside Westminster Abbey, only 2,000 seats are available.

You can trust the American president is (by virtue of the immensity of his power and his country’s long and deep alliance with the UK) entitled to more than one seat. At least for himself and a significant other.

But Joe Biden won’t be attending. And trust there’s no more important engagement anywhere in this world he’d rather be about. I mean, it doesn’t get more important anywhere in the world than being in London today. Trump even taunted Biden would probably be sleeping all day.

The thing is, Donald Trump has blasted Biden for not being in London today. He said it was an affront on the English monarchy. He queried that it would have taken nothing from a Biden who recently did a tour of Northern Ireland to show up to London for this all-important event.

Of course, the larger context for this fierce criticism, like many others before and after it, is the race for the White House. Just like your opponents and enemies who want what you have would do. It is pitching popular opinions against you, insinuating they’d have done better in your shoes.

Here’s what they’re cashing in on: people’s ignorance. And here’s what I mean. Trump would probably, and almost certainly, not have attended the coronation were he sitting president. He knows why Biden isn’t attending, but is weaponising the fact that most people don’t. I mean, over 80% of Americans alive (are less than 70 years old) haven’t witnessed an English coronation and wouldn’t know what an American president should do with a coronation IV.

There have been over 8 coronations since the founding of America in 1776 and no American president attended any. For the last one, that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was invited but skipped it, sending a delegation instead, like Biden has sent his wife Jill, accompanied by granddaughter Finnegan.

Come to think of it, it is ideologically nonsensical for the US President to ever attend. I mean, this is monarchy that democracy is everything against, and there will be the president of the free world seated in an audience where a king is being crowned. Makes any sense? In this particular coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury will actually invite the audience, both in the Abbey and across the UK, to do homage to the new King. And Trump is asking Biden to be in that room. PR disaster! Like fire and brimstone was hauled at the Catholic JFK for kissing the Pope’s ring.

We can talk about how the coronation is now only a relic of a past, how the English monarchy is only a cultural heritage, and how it doesn’t really mean anything particularly powerful. But signs and symbols will always mean something. And the memories they venerate will always open old wounds.

While it is the winning strategy of your opponents to cash in on the ignorance of your audience, it is your responsibility to dispel the darkness of their ignorance by informing them accordingly. Don’t leave them in the dark, else they’d make recourse to whatever your enemies call light.

As a temporary resident of the United Kingdom, it is only fair that I join and chorus:

GOD SAVE THE KING!

THE FOURTH OF JULY

< a good day to declare mental independence >

I’m Americanophile. As in, I greatly admire the United States of America – and publicly so. By the way, I really like how they name things. Today, for instance, July 4, America’s Independence Day, is also officially called “The Fourth of July” or “July 4th.” Just like June 19, the yearly commemoration of the day in 1865 when the last batch of slaves in Texas received the news of the freedom Lincoln won them in the Civil War, is also just called “Juneteenth.”

So, on July 4, 1776, exactly 246 years, the then 13 colonies comprising the United States of America adopted the Declaration of Independence, the historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. Declaring independence from Great Britain was also a declaration of war against the most powerful force at the time, one that lasted until the Treaty of Paris of September 3, 1783. Do the math: 7 years!

Around here, Nigeria, we quite can’t relate to that sort of independence, as ours was handed us on October 1, 1960, as an act of Her Majesty’s magnanimity. While Balewa and Zik wined and dined with Princess Alexandra of Kent, Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousin who represented the British Crown, they probably were too carried away to realize that there’s always a string that continues to bind you with whoever served you freedom on a platter of gold. You never really break up with them.

The freedom to think for oneself, to give yourself a real chance at self-determination, almost never comes without a form of fight. And mental freedom is the priciest gift you can give yourself in a society and time where social media and some so-called thought leaders and blind religious guides are luring you to adopt patterns of thinking that only serve their ulterior motives.

In more ways than one, the American Revolution appears to be the best thing to have happened to the modern world, as it translated the human socio-political experience from the hitherto widespread monarchical system to the different expressions of democracy we now enjoy. I mean, immediately following was the French Revolution of 1789, only 6 years after Britain and America met in their capital, Paris, to finally agree to part ways.

While we join our American friends to celebrate their independence and the possibility of true self-governance it resounded across the globe, may we remember not to forget to grant ourselves mental independence, at the least.

ROCKET BOOSTER

< what you don’t get to see after a rocket takes off >

When we say something is not rocket science, we actually, humorously mean the said thing is not difficult to understand, not as difficult as building and launching a rocket. To say the least, rocket science is so complicated that it’s taken only 11 of 195 countries of the world to succeed at it.

The big boys league, you know: US, Russia, China, India, France, India, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Ukraine and the UK. And, of course, one man! The crazy Elon Musk. A couple of days ago, May 30, 2020 to be precise, Musk’s SpaceX did a groundbreaking launch for NASA. And we’re proud of him.

While the world watched NASA’s “Crew Dragon” takeoff aboard SpaceX’s “Falcon 9” from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, there was something very few people got to find out later: recovery of the booster. By the way, all the lengthy stuff you see being shot into the sky from the launchpad isn’t what is being sent into space. How it works is that a rocket booster is attached “to augment the space vehicle’s takeoff thrust and payload capability.”

After successfully helping the rocket escape earth’s gravitational pull, it seperates from the main rocket and returns back to earth, usually landing on a ship stationed in the Atlantic, from where it is recovered for future use.

By the way, “Writing Expo 2.0” promises to be your writing booster – like the rocket booster. The goal is to support you pull through whatever is keeping you from realizing your writing goals. Signing up wouldn’t mean you don’t already know how to write; it may just mean that you wish to write better than pass exams and file work-related reports. What about that book you’ve been dying to write? What about slaying on social media by the quality of your write ups? Or, ain’t you thrilled by this piece of awesomeness?

Your No.1 fan,
Cornel

IT IS WHAT IT IS

< we can’t always know >

I think the worst crime against charity is ingratitude. And so, it’s become a point of duty for me that no kindness done me – and there’s no such thing as ‘little’ – goes ‘unthanked.’ And I can be annoyingly grateful. That point where you begin to wonder whether what you did was that much. Yes, it was! Or, is it your much?

Until this morning… I learnt that we’re just too limited to exhaust the bounds of gratitude; we can’t know every instance of kindness people show us. Gist: An undergrad classmate, a great friend with whom I’d run business things in Nsukka those years, took delivery of his copy of “Thinking Differently II” and promised to do the needful. He actually put a date to it, May 29. Yesterday, right?

Of course, there could have been reasons why he didn’t get to keep his word. Perhaps salary delays, maybe keeping the promise depended on another person keeping theirs. Sadly, none was the case, given that he actually did keep his word. Just that there was no alert. Unlike Sterling, there was neither a text nor an email to that effect. And, not being my regular account, nothing would’ve made me check account balance. I just couldn’t have known.

Except by intuition. While on morning walkout today, I felt a strong urge to, unlike me, call him to know why he didn’t keep his word. Since it’d naturally be a discomforting conversation, I worked out a comic way of asking. Old buddies understand, after all. Only to find that he actually did part with a good percentage of his salary for me. And I just couldn’t have known had I not asked.

Lesson for him: I wonder how he’d have felt when not even as much as a word of acknowledgement came from me. Not even a thank you. Unlike Cornel, he must have thought. After our conversation, I believe he’d have learnt by now that sometimes people just don’t know what we’ve done for them – no matter how clearly it appears they should’ve known. I’m proof of this. I didn’t know. And wouldn’t have known for a long time.

Lesson for me: I did feel terrible for not having acknowledged, and appreciated, such a kind gesture. But how could I have known? My bank’s technology screw up rubbed off on me – and I’ve learnt that that’s fine. I should make peace with the fact that things that go wrong mustn’t be anyone’s fault. Shit happens. Period.

Lesson for you: It’s up to you to work that out. But don’t miss this: Even as you read this piece, someone, somewhere, somehow, is thinking godly thoughts about you, speaking kindly of you, planning how to surprise you with goodies… And so, as Scriptures say, “We must be continually grateful.”

Lest I forget to add, the money don finish. I use am buy something.

Your No.1 fan,
Cornel