Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Hello y'all, i really should keep my word but with all that's happening lately, i've become a bit nihilistic. What with Mel Gibson, France, Spain and the rest insisting on making displays of idiocy, i can't help but think that we're doomed. In the greater scheme of things blogging then becomes a bit pointless. Happily i have a friend who thinks that my stances on Africa and the middleast are, eh, unAfrican - whatever that means - and is bent on helping me see the light - that we Africans are oppressed, and we should band together with other oppressed people against the big bad western world. So i'm indundated with mail about these issues. Sometimes i respond to these emails - the most annoying ones. Below is my response to this article that he sent me.

Dear K******
I hope you're well. I printed out the material you sent me janna and tookit home - I figure that if you send me something then it merits the serious consideration :-), which I can’t give while using the rightside of my brain. Because the good people at powe company had seen fit to let us have power on the day alloted to us to have it, i was able to read one of them last night. As I read the article on governance, I, like Ahmadinejad, felt the presence of a 6th century grand mufti upon me, and undertook towrite the sort of letter that only we the inspired will. Inspiration not withstanding – because it’s been eclipsed by attentiondeficient hyperactive disorder, and my apathy regarding bad west theories– this letter is not as cogent as it could have been but I’m certain thatyou’ll glean some sense from it. As I read, one thought was predominant inmy mind: What is the west, and what is its nature? What extraordinary entity is this whose methods are infallible, and designs are designs aretenacious and dynamic to the extent that they cannot be countered??
Perhaps it’s not so much that the vest is invincible, invulnerable,superhumanly cool entity but that the poor world is inordinately inept. For this possibility, there is sufficient evidence; unless, of course, thefailure to food security in a perfectly fertile country with a climate tomatch, reliable power supply in a country with abundant sun shine, andrivers, convenient access to water in places where it is abundant, decenthousing, passable roads and so on is due to the imposition of westernstandards, which our minds cannot help but capitulate to. Whatever happened to taking all opinion but keeping one’s censure? Which brings meto my next question:To what extent are human beings responsible for their own actions? Thewest may impose preconditions for its charity but it’s not mandatory thatthe “poor” accept it. Everything carries a cost, even charity! To pretendthat it is otherwise is foolish. If the poor accept charity, it’s witheyes wide open, at least with the option of it. If they choose to keeptheir heads in the sand, then they should not go about blaming others forthe consequences; it’s naïve and childish! With this state of affairs Iwonder what the agitation of independence was about! Or is it that wethought we could have self rule without responsibility. If we want thewest to be our guardian, we should forfeit the little matter ofindependence. Otherwise we should quit whining and get on with it. Africans and our apologists have made an art of asking and comprehensivelyanswering the wrong questions so it’s hardly surprising that this articlerages against none issues and not against the circumstances that engenderthem. This author spinning in narrow orbits cannot see beyond them. Thecrux of African problems is not western intervention but the internalweaknesses that facilitate it. We criticise western intervention anddiscount it as self-serving, all the while resolutely avoiding the pinkelephant in the room – our countries are studies in failure. It’s easier to be critical than to be correct, and we criticize because we don’t know how to set about being correct. We dismiss policy suggestions asself-serving, yet propose no workable solutions. To be self-serving is nocrime; even the noblest of things are driven by selfish intent. Wisdomconsisting in keeping oneself from being exploited by the selfishness ofothers; our drivel about self-serving Europeans only serves to show howfoolish we are. We deflect from ideas by attacking their proponents, andthereby doggedly defend our rot never acknowledging that the West canafford to be corrupt, we can’t! If the west is driven by need to minimise immigration, they’re not alone:South Africa, Botswana and a few others do likewise. Ivory Coast is indire straits over immigration. Perhaps those are part of the west.Secondly, we could learn much from the west. Their constant fidelity tothe cause of it’s nations Is something to be admired. If our governments did likewise, we would not be reduced to our circumstances!We continually harp about how we’ve been raped and pillaged, and focus onapportioning blame rather than on finding solutions. That we’ve beenrobbed is incontrovertible but what do we hope to accomplish by going onabout it. Isn’t it oxymoronic that we expect justice from the very peoplethat are supposedly against us. We have no leverage, we’d do better by letting off shouting ourselves hoarse and solving our problems.We must examine the possibility that we criticize the outside enemy because the reality of us being the enemy is overwhelming. I'll not keep you any longer. Bye bye
Have a nice day!
Joy

3 Comments:

At August 04, 2006 5:23 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Muffti is gratified that you mentioned his near namesake, Grand Mufti!

Muffti is back and a little jet lagged but basically happy. Hope you are doing well. The move to cali takes place in a month. Come check it out! Muffti will be living in wine country.

 
At August 09, 2006 9:07 AM , Blogger jinan said...

I'm delighted to have his divine mufftiliciousness back, and to hear that he's happy!
I am alright, thank you! I'd love to get some Californication but that will be discussed when you come to the Southern Hemisphere, right?
By the way, African Wines are the best - the wine alone is worth the trip!

 
At August 09, 2006 9:12 AM , Blogger jinan said...

Soni, dear, I was sent two articles - one on the Lebanon and the one i gave the link to. I was too pissed about the former to respond without profanities. So i vented my annoyance on the African thing. Ordinarily i don't have the strenght for it but i had to vent somehow!

 

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