And so, as it’s characteristic of him, Reno Omokri, who always knows the price of everything, but knows not the value of anything has spoken! And yes, just as it’s epigrammatically said that not all that glitters is gold, so also I dare say unequivocally that not all the people that talk, make sense! And the perfect example of my saying is Omokri! He is very talkative, but his words are usually what they are – benighted effusions of a mannerless manchild!
And in his pathetic, feeble, fruitless and misguided attempt to malevolently vilify the most esteemed discipline of sociology, which Auguste Comte, the avowed founding father of sociology, called ‘The Queen Of All Sciences’, Reno Omokri listed courses such as sociology, philosophy, anthropology, political science, library science, etc., as ‘semi-useless degrees’! And that, if I must confess, I take umbrage at! That careless post, in all honesty, shows that Omokri is neither a man of deep understanding nor a man of common sense as most of us have thought!
And so, out of the superabundance of testable, plausible and constructive psycho-sociological theories, perspectives or concepts, I couldn’t really find a suitable one that can carefully, critically and fully analyse the infantile joke of Omokri today.
Initially, I employed the structural-functionalist theory, symbolic interactionism, conformity theory, cultural transmission theory, dramaturgical theory, social learning theory, social constructionism, social desirability bias, role strain theory, anchoring and adjustment heuristic theory, bounded rationality, impulsivity theory, confirmation bias perspective, and, surprisingly, most of these above-mentioned psycho-sociological theories fittingly describe the behavioural make-up and deficiency of the man called Reno Omokri.
However, dramaturgical theory (impression management), bounded rationality (decision made based on scantily limited information), impulsivity theory (behaviour characterised by a lack of forethought), confirmation bias(the tendency to favour information that seems to strengthen your misguided or erroneous beliefs), to me, are the strongest paradigms which I think beautifully, brilliantly and vividly capture the imbecility displayed on Omokri’s page today.
Of all university courses, I haven’t seen a course as indispensable as sociology. This is because sociology is everything, and everything is sociology! Any country that must succeed socially, intellectually, economically, politically and otherwise must need the service of sociologists, except a country like Nigeria where students and teachers of sociology are treated with contempt. Sociology significantly broadens your horizons, as it enhances the understanding of people from the elementary stage to a more sophisticated level. Aside from that, it fosters critical and problem-solving skills, global perspective, effective communication, data analysis skills, informed citizenship, research skills, social change interdisciplinary connexion, historical context, exploration of social or structural inequalities, personal fulfillment, etc.
Moreover, sociology deeply studies and explores some of the personal, social, cultural, political, economic, historical and even biological factors that contribute to the emergence of prevailing social realities and social pathologies in our contemporary societies such as inequality, poverty, discrimination, racism, sexism, patriarchy and feminism, gender issues, ethnic tension — majority-minority relations, health disparities, crime and deviance, homelessness, etc.
Furthermore, in his attempt to naively revile sociology, Reno Omokri mentioned other courses like nursing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc., forgetting the fact that we have sociology of everything – sociology of knowledge and technology, sociology of medicine (medical sociology), sociology of law, criminology, penology, gerontology, sociolinguistics or even sociology of language, digital sociology, sociology of politics, sociology of economics, and sociology of EVERYTHING!
The reason most leaders fail all over the world, especially in Nigeria today, is because they don’t study people-oriented courses like sociology, political science, anthropology, philosophy, etc., and or they simply neglect the services of those that study them! As it is right now, a sociologist who knows his onions can perfectly address the problems we’re facing as a nation today, but their contempt for the course itself and those that study it wouldn’t allow them to do so, and that’s why we are still where we are today.
Omokri’s bitter mockery of the most prestigious discipline of sociology is an act of flagrant folly, foolhardiness and flippancy. No man of his ‘self-proclaimed’ status should make such misleading, vague and sweeping generalisation! But here we go!
Abeg, make I rest. Waiting Omokri know sef!
Sule Abubakar Lucky Mark,
Writer and Sociologist.
Email: suleabubakarmark1111@gmail.com
14/08/2023.