There are few things I find more repulsive than people acting like helpless victims as a means to an end. If the expectation is that the person to whom all of the helplessness is displayed will show pity and react favourably to the whims and rants of 'the victim', it's quite the opposite with me. That, and the fact that nowhere in history have I seen people-individuals, races, or tribes-develop through hate or hate by any other name. At least not in far away Germany. Or closer to home Rwanda or even SA. Or at home in Nairobi, Naivasha, Nakuru, Likoni, Eldoret and Kisumu. Sijui niseme? I'll have to see what (re)action my politician advises me to take. In the mean time, good luck to the IDPs (I for internally and internationally, including intentionally). Especially the voluntary economic refugees out there.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Anti-Kikuyuism: As Usual Kenyans Are Avoiding The Truth
Fred was the real name of a guy we went to both primary and high school with. He was one class ahead of me and a very loud kind of chap who enjoyed jeering at others.
His Dad was Luo and his mum Kamba which gave him very good looks and impeccable diction so much so that many school girls at Kenya High, Limuru Girls and elsewhere easily went crazy over Fred. Whenever we went for school debates some of us would have problems approaching the girls when Fred would always have half a dozen cuties literally fighting over him. In fact Fred could get the girls to do anything for him. And I mean anything. Lucky guy.
Geoffrey in sharp contrast was a quiet boy who Fred mocked at every opportunity. He especially liked to talk about Geofrey’s great fear of girls. Whenever a girl would come anywhere near poor Geoffrey, he would start to sweat and he would freeze on the spot in fright. I can still hear Fred’s loud voice and his cruel jokes which were quickly followed by his extremely loud crackling laugh.
But one day something happened. Fred started with his usual jokes at the expense of Geof and something inside Geof snapped. Before we knew it Fred was on the floor receiving some heavy punches in the face from Geof. It took several of us some minutes to get the usually shy quiet boy off Fred. And by that time his pretty face was messed up badly. You see Fred was very brown and his skin did not take bruises and black eyes very well.
I can also report that that is the last time that Fred cracked any jokes at the expense of Geof. He hurriedly moved on to other “victims.”
Sadly this is exactly the situation we have in Kenya today where one community has been mocking the rest of Kenya for years. Until December 2007 there was no retaliation but what happened early this year is something even I do not like to remember.
Now the biggest problem we have is that rather than go into the root causes of why peaceful Kenyans suddenly turned into animals, we are busy preaching peace and telling people to be peaceful. In fact the government has gone one step further and is re-settling IDPs back to their farms under heavy guard and nobody is really interested in tackling the real problem. Instead everybody is obsessed with the symptoms.
Even in this blog fairly well educated Kenyans would rather use abusive language against anybody who tries to discuss this problem. You can be sure that even I will receive plenty of barbs for this post. And even more interesting is the fact that anybody who says anything against this so-called community is always branded a violent person.
I suggest that you carry out a small experiment to confirm that what I am saying is absolutely true. We have a small harmless girl called Mrembo who regularly comments in this blog. You will often come across her name mentioned as the violent type and pro-violence campaigner. But just read her comments carefully and the only thing you will notice is that she is rabidly anti-Kibaki, the vote thief of course. And that is probably the only reason why she is constantly branded violent.
So what are people saying? That any anti-Kibaki element is violent and pro-violence?
Members of the said supreme community in the country must realize that they have put themselves in a very difficult situation and must learn the lesson that my old schoolmate called Fred refused to learn despite the punishment he received from Geof and many others. And that is sooner or later, those whom we look down on and jeer will react against us and that reaction may not be very good.
You can read through this entire Kumekucha blog and nowhere will you find me advocating for violence. I am for non-violent resistance. And that is precisely why I write this blog instead of looking for guns and going to the bush. However those preaching peace must realize that the only way we can have long lasting peace in Kenya is for us to confront our problems head on. We have to deal with the root cause of all the animosity if there is to be any peace in our beautiful motherland.
Check out Kasarani.com, a new way to meet and keep in touch with Kenyans worldwide. You can even start your own blog on Kasarani! Click here to go to Kasarani.com now
Men are the most cruel "animals"
His Dad was Luo and his mum Kamba which gave him very good looks and impeccable diction so much so that many school girls at Kenya High, Limuru Girls and elsewhere easily went crazy over Fred. Whenever we went for school debates some of us would have problems approaching the girls when Fred would always have half a dozen cuties literally fighting over him. In fact Fred could get the girls to do anything for him. And I mean anything. Lucky guy.
Geoffrey in sharp contrast was a quiet boy who Fred mocked at every opportunity. He especially liked to talk about Geofrey’s great fear of girls. Whenever a girl would come anywhere near poor Geoffrey, he would start to sweat and he would freeze on the spot in fright. I can still hear Fred’s loud voice and his cruel jokes which were quickly followed by his extremely loud crackling laugh.
But one day something happened. Fred started with his usual jokes at the expense of Geof and something inside Geof snapped. Before we knew it Fred was on the floor receiving some heavy punches in the face from Geof. It took several of us some minutes to get the usually shy quiet boy off Fred. And by that time his pretty face was messed up badly. You see Fred was very brown and his skin did not take bruises and black eyes very well.
I can also report that that is the last time that Fred cracked any jokes at the expense of Geof. He hurriedly moved on to other “victims.”
Sadly this is exactly the situation we have in Kenya today where one community has been mocking the rest of Kenya for years. Until December 2007 there was no retaliation but what happened early this year is something even I do not like to remember.
Now the biggest problem we have is that rather than go into the root causes of why peaceful Kenyans suddenly turned into animals, we are busy preaching peace and telling people to be peaceful. In fact the government has gone one step further and is re-settling IDPs back to their farms under heavy guard and nobody is really interested in tackling the real problem. Instead everybody is obsessed with the symptoms.
Even in this blog fairly well educated Kenyans would rather use abusive language against anybody who tries to discuss this problem. You can be sure that even I will receive plenty of barbs for this post. And even more interesting is the fact that anybody who says anything against this so-called community is always branded a violent person.
I suggest that you carry out a small experiment to confirm that what I am saying is absolutely true. We have a small harmless girl called Mrembo who regularly comments in this blog. You will often come across her name mentioned as the violent type and pro-violence campaigner. But just read her comments carefully and the only thing you will notice is that she is rabidly anti-Kibaki, the vote thief of course. And that is probably the only reason why she is constantly branded violent.
So what are people saying? That any anti-Kibaki element is violent and pro-violence?
Members of the said supreme community in the country must realize that they have put themselves in a very difficult situation and must learn the lesson that my old schoolmate called Fred refused to learn despite the punishment he received from Geof and many others. And that is sooner or later, those whom we look down on and jeer will react against us and that reaction may not be very good.
You can read through this entire Kumekucha blog and nowhere will you find me advocating for violence. I am for non-violent resistance. And that is precisely why I write this blog instead of looking for guns and going to the bush. However those preaching peace must realize that the only way we can have long lasting peace in Kenya is for us to confront our problems head on. We have to deal with the root cause of all the animosity if there is to be any peace in our beautiful motherland.
Check out Kasarani.com, a new way to meet and keep in touch with Kenyans worldwide. You can even start your own blog on Kasarani! Click here to go to Kasarani.com now
Men are the most cruel "animals"
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