Should we all be feminists? Part 1



Take any serious issue in the world today and you'll find the loudest voices come from one of two groups; those who want the problem to linger as long as possible and those who have become so accustomed to the status quo, they feel threatened by the idea of changing it. 

The first group thrive off chaos. They need the crisis to go on forever, they cannot be pleased, nothing, not a thing can be done to persuade them, they don't celebrate small victories and progress, they actually dread it because it largely signal the beginning of the end of their advocacy - their only source of fulfilment. They are always ready for battle and peace talks do not align with their interests. That is the reason they keep inventing new problems and finding new things to be angry about. The second group maybe suffer from Stockholm syndrome. These people grew with the system, learnt to survive the system and have grown accustomed to it so much, any attempt to liberalize is viewed as a threat.

The feminist movement is not immune from the illustration above, it is arguably the biggest victim of it. What started as a genuine call to end gender bias and treat everyone with respect and dignity and has morphed into an unending battle of supremacy and now devolving into a race to the bottom on who is the most inconsiderate and condescending. How do you find common ground when the loudest groups see progress as a threat?

The constant back and forth have prevented people from asking genuine questions, seeking guidance and forming concrete opinions. Everyone is expected to be born with perfect understanding of the issue and just as quickly, pick a side and never look back. Meanwhile, the boundaries are constantly changing, what was acceptable few months ago may suddenly be Haram and woe betide you if you're not up to date.



Personally, I do not identify with either group, I hardly identify with extreme view points. I believe most of the world should have an open mind, be open to new knowledge and willing to change, if/when new, substantive and superceding knowledge is revealed. I also believe everyone must recognize people learn and adjust at different paces and there should be enough grace for education and reorientation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Life Is A Privilege.

Image
I spend the vast majority of my time alone so I have a lot of thoughts. Many times, I wonder if people unborn have access to those of us down here and what their thoughts are. I imagine an unborn looking down at a person on earth and wondering how much of a "screw up" they are. I think of them musing to themselves how well their lives would be if they had our talents, opportunities and privileges. How successful they will be if presented with a similar chance to try out as human beings. Sometimes, I wonder if they go up to God and beg for a chance to be born; "just give me half of the privilege this guy have and see how much impact I'd make" I imagine they say to the Almighty. Sometimes, I wonder if that's how some of us got here. I wonder if that's how I got here.  Life is a privilege, every waking hour is a privileged borrowed time but like every privilege, it's value and appreciation diminish with time and access. That's why some m...
Read more

Nigeria 2023: The contenders and Pretenders, Part 2.

Image
Imagine walking into a supermarket, desperate for milk and having only one store to pick from and as you scan through the aisle, you discover there are only 3 cans left, first one had expired 2 years ago, the other expired 6 months ago and the last just expired about a month ago, what do you do? Most rational people would choose the one that expired about a month ago and then try all sort of tricks to lessen the eventual damage and effect.  The scenario above is where most Nigerian voters find themselves on election day, when they pick the ballot to cast their vote. Most times, the only viable choices are just rotten to the core. A lot of people clamour for people to not sell their votes, truth is the votes have already been sold at Eagle Square. The elderly woman who collected a pack of salt and few naira notes on election day is not the one who sold Nigeria, those who traded dollars did months before she ever had a say and whether or not she takes the salt and cash, t...
Read more

God save us from the Buhari-Obi voter

Image
You may be wondering where I got the title from, well, it was inspired by American politics. When Donald J. Trump unexpectedly won the November 2016 presidential election in that country, many people who were taken unaware started traveling round the country to find out what made so many of their fellow country men and women fall for such a shallow con man and they found a bunch of voters who voted for Barack Obama 8 years earlier but switched parties and ideologies and voted for Trump. They were called the "Obama - Trump voters". Many of them sounded noble and like they genuinely loved their country but when you dig in to it and find out about the character of the two men they voted for, those voters begin to sound more like threats rather than patriots. A similar wave is brewing in Nigeria with many people who campaigned and voted for President Muhammadu Buhari all of a sudden finding a different calling and now campaigning for the Anambra businessman, former go...
Read more