[OPINION] – A Society Consumed by Shallow Thinking

The Poverty of Reasoning: Shallow Thinking and South Sudan’s Hidden Crisis

By Ajak Deng Chiengkou

As someone who has spent years talking, analysing and reporting, I have reached a realisation that cannot be ignored. Last week, I wrote about how poverty is destroying journalism. This week, I turn to another crisis that runs deeper than empty pockets: the poverty of reasoning.

As a South Sudanese society, we have allowed ourselves to think in shallow and unhelpful ways. We often rely on emotional outbursts instead of clear arguments. We accept contradictions even when the truth is obvious. We oversimplify complex realities. We copy ideas without question. We are short-sighted. These habits have made us lose the discipline of thought. Imagine a society that has allowed its brain to work like a power switch, turned on and off at will. That is what we have become.

Conversations that should demand wisdom and careful argument are instead reduced to narrow quarrels. When an article is written, many readers approach it not with an open mind but with suspicion, twisting the writer’s words far from their original intent. The worst effect of this poverty of reasoning is that it strips people of the ability to take a helicopter view, to rise above and see issues with balance and perspective.

This is clear in South Sudan. When oil revenues are discussed, the debate quickly shifts to gossip about who is benefiting and who is excluded, rather than asking the real question: how are these resources being used to build schools, hospitals, and roads?

When floods displace communities, leaders often resort to blame games or superstitions about curses, instead of focusing on planning, disaster preparedness and long term resettlement. Even in communal conflicts, instead of analysing root causes such as land, grazing rights, or cattle raiding, public debate sinks into emotional accusations that deepen divisions.

This shallow way of thinking has poisoned our national conversation. If a writer analyses a situation critically, some people assume political or personal bias, claiming it is jealousy or an attack on a public figure. If the same writer highlights something positive, others accuse him of seeking favour or “singing lullabies” to please those in power. Reasoning has been buried under suspicion.

If our society narrows its thinking in this way, even parliamentary debates will become too sensitive. Citizens will be fed lies instead of truth, simply to avoid “trouble”. Our downfall will not come from outside forces. It will come from within, because we have allowed ourselves to be consumed by careless, vague and shallow thinking.

Reasoning is not a luxury. Whether you are a supporter, a critic, or a relative, reasoning matters. It enables us to sit in difficult debates without fear. It prevents us from being controlled by emotion and blind loyalty. It helps us find solutions that work for everyone, not just one side. Without it, we leave ourselves open to destruction.

The poverty of reasoning is more dangerous than the poverty of money. A society can recover from material poverty through hard work and honest leadership. But a society that abandons reasoning will consume itself from within. We must guard our minds against this weakness, for it is not only the writer, the journalist, or the politician who suffers from it. It is all of us and the generations to come.

Ajak Deng Chiengkou is a South Sudanese journalist and commentator.