My message to Michael
Cretins have opinions too
And so, an unrelated comment gets left on my blog on the Nigerian census by someone seeking some information about certain views people have of Nigerians.
A Michael with the nick name micky_metal left a comment and an email on my blog, this is my message to Michael.
His comment went thus:
Hi, I’m from Britain and I would like to get opinions from Nigerians on various aspects of racism prevalent in my country. I recently confronted a fellow Brit on a blog who was making offensive generalisations about Nigerians and Africans in general.
When I told him his comments are offensive, he said that if Nigerians were honest, they would agree with his assertions.
So I’d appreciate your feedback on the comments he made and tell me if you find his comments offensive. This is what he wrote:
“Nigerians are keen on fraud”
“Nigerians will continue begging for charity money whilst doing nothing to earn it. The amazing thing is that these people are actually proud of their inability to work, to think, or to get things to function properly”
“Nigerian cultural values make Nigerians likely to be homophobic”
Thanks, Michael.
Am I bothered?
Well, Michael, I would not waste my time responding to that kind of stuff; cretins, nonentities, idiots and ignorant people write blogs too.
However, just because people can publish outrageous, unfounded and stupid views does not mean they can suddenly be taken seriously and given the oxygen of polite debate.
In the email sent to my blog profile this was the introduction:
I'm a Brit who has grown up with Nigerians in school and at work - I chanced upon your blog after searching for Nigerian food recipes that I used to eat with at my friends.
And your views?
You probably have the opinions and research done already by yourself, not necessarily on opposing the supposedly offensive content of the assumedly racist blog but in your experiences with Nigerians, in school, at work and the social rapport that allows you to eat their in homes.
If at any time you noticed any of those traits, that is unfortunate; if however, you have been opportuned to meet Nigerians and they are generally good-natured, good humoured, considerate and understanding and there are many out of that 140 million population and many more wonderful Africans in the world, you have been blessed.
To debunk the last comment, homophobia in Africa really stems from fanatically adopting foreign religions rather than from our traditional cultural values, we have lived in peace with ourselves in many ways before funny ideas introduced the prejudices that seem to polarise our societies.
I’m a Brit too
At the risk of flogging a dead horse, your fellow Brit is probably beyond the realms of redeeming knowledge to change his interesting views and in closing, I happen to be both a Brit and a Nigerian, I have no problems with either of those people, or rather, my people.
I think we are equally nice and interesting people who are open to new experiences when we allow circumstances fostering new outlooks to thrive.
Sometimes, generalisations like that are the refuge of the unfulfilled and the bitter, they should not find succour in unnecessary propagation giving seriously undeserved importance to those with diminishing expectations for their lives who think castigating others gives them some superiority, frankly, you should be concerned if you were ever impressed.
Been a while since I've been here, and coming to trawl through the posts I
have missed has been a rewarding experience. This response to Michael is a
very excellent one, and I'm very sure that Mickey would be very gratified
that he came here. How are you doing? Cheers.
Hello Cheta,
Hmmm. Akin had said it all and it worries me that a lot of people
generalise in all issues. I have being trying to correct a lot of
generalisations and some I lost my sleep over. It shows the level of the
persons' development and mindset.
Hello Standtall,
True Talk Akin. I sure agree.
I am curious as to why you say homophobia is as a result of imported
religions. Are you saying that the nigerian indigenous religions as they
are would be accepting of homosexuals? Somehow I don't think so...
Hello,
Hi Akin,
@Michael: Xenos is so wrong in generalising. He cannt know Nigerians more
people that were born and raised here. There are lot of us that know some
people could be bad, unreasonable etc but it's not enough for Xenos to
generalise. I dont know how many Nigerians this fellow has met, how many
states he has visited but he's statement is so untrue and he should
apologise.
Web logs by Akin Akintayo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License.