The Fallacy of “What is Wrong with the Dinkas” Argument
3 min readBy Ngor Akot
“This car weighs just under a thousand kilos. A Lotus Elise weighs in at just under a thousand kilos. That makes this car a Lotus Elise!” Richard Hammond.
This is an interesting topic, that I hope would lead us to a better understanding of the issues of tribalism. This is exactly what had been termed as “Association Fallacy”. An association fallacy is an inductive informal fallacy of the type hasty generalization or red herring which asserts that qualities of one thing are inherently qualities of another, merely by an irrelevant association(Wikipedia)
And here lies the root of everything that ails us. When we as South Sudanese continue to view individuals as representatives of ethnic groups, we will remain in our respective camps with walls erected all over the place. I am Dinka. But I don’t remember signing a contract with my tribesman that I will be a spokesman, and representative of the group. Whether we are Jieng, Bari, Mundari, Nuer, Shilluk, Balanda or Anyuak, we are first individuals who happened to be from the respective tribes. Nobody and no one is a representative of the tribe. Every individual is responsible for their own actions.
It is this “sick” mentality that is holding us backward. If we attribute evil acts committed by individuals to a whole group, we are doing disservice to ourselves. By that same standard, should we give credit to Dinkas only for the independence of South Sudan because the majority of the fighters were Dinkas? Of course not. So why then should we entertain such ill conceived notions in the first place? Unless we get rid of this mentality, we will always create resentment and an environment conducive to violence. Because until everyone is treated as an individual, first and foremost, justice will not be serve. We are condemning entire ethnic groups based on acts committed by individuals. That is simply guilt by association.
My fellow South Sudanese, whether its guilt by association or honor by association, this mentality should have no room in South Sudan. Because in so doing, we enable the bad apples to continue without holding them accountable for their actions. And we had seen this in the fight against corruption where we can’t prosecute the guilty because the ethnic group where the corrupt official belongs defend their own. We create a deadlock in the system.
Away with this way of thinking. Lets usher in an era of individual responsibility and an individualistic society.
You can reach the author through his email: akotkir@gmail.com
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