What is critical thinking? From Wikipedia its the process of thinking that questions assumptions.
Growing up in a tradition African setting most of the time you were never allowed to question from beliefs to traditions to culture.However when i joined university ,i was given the opportunity to question and share my opinion that i was afraid to do in my childhood.This gave the guts to not give into blind faith that tends to surround me when i’m at home.
Recently an aunt of mine purchased something known as the ‘bio disc’ in hopes to improve her health and “earn cash” .Apparently this ‘bio disc’ is a natural energy generating device,all you need to do is rinse all the water you drinking through it and also wear it 24/7,and the best part is you only need to purchase only one for the rest of your life.This ‘bio disc’ costs about 500 dollars.My aunt tried to convince me to purchase one to better my health. However this ‘bio disc’ sounded dodgy to me so i turned down the offer but my aunt was insistent and convinced me to attend one of their training or meetings(still not sure what it is).
Image via Wikipedia
The meetings are held in a fancy hotel where a very convincing salesman/woman gives a demo of how the ‘bio disc’ works and shows a cheesy video of how to secure your finical future through the “bio disc’.The salesman starts by telling you his own personal life story of how this opportunity came to them when he/she had a mid life crisis and the miraculous made a tonne of money by joining the program .The salesman goes ahead to show a binary tree of how your investment of 500 dollars will miraculous multiply if you get all your family members and friends to buy this ‘bio disc’.Besides ‘bio disc’, on sale was ‘holiday packages “worth 15000 dollars and also precious stones worth 10,000 dollars or more.At the end of the meeting the salesman asked who not like to be part of this dream,I raised up my hand.The salesman went ahead to say I was a fool looking at gold.
On the drive back home with my aunt,I explained why i couldnt be part of scheme like that.One,the demo was ridiculous,placing the disc made you apparently stronger in a second or less. Two the bio disc costs 500 dollars!! Three,this binary tree turns to be a pyramid scheme which is illegal and a form of a ponzi scheme .Four ,the creator of the bio disc has no scientific research published and the scientific community hasn’t embraced it at all!! I could sense my aunt getting very uncomfortable as a 20 something was speaking to an elder of over 50 .She asked where i got all my information from and the answer was “google”.
Overall this scheme pissed me off as the people being taken advantage of were very poor people who used their savings and think they are making an investment,This is an example of blind faith that most times associated with Africans.