Of Opinions and Diversity

 

It is yet another Friday and as per tradition there is a piece. I was very reluctant to write today for several reasons and those reasons will be the starting point of today’s article. Let’s get on with it.

Having written over 200 articles for this blog, I was bound to step on some toes and step on toes I did. I have received responses to my articles from the gates of the States House and I have had people stop me on the streets just to ask me what kind of substances I ingest or inhale before writing my pieces. All along, I had thought that the most controversial pieces I had written were the political ones or the infamous “He Won’t Marry You”. Turns out the singleness article that I wrote last week is the one that has raised too many questions about me and had some people worried that a dark cloud might be hovering over me. Others thought I am a very bitter killjoy who is out to make others as sad as he personally is. My response? I am alright. I really am okay.

By the way… Which one of you shared the article with the lady I talked about last week?  If this makes you happy, she is now mad at me so if I do not get married later this year it is all on you.

I digressed. The idea is that the fact that readers have been questioning me all about my article all week left me little or no desire to write. I like the comments and discussions that come from these articles, but I do not like it when you get all worried about my sanity.

The second reason is that it has been a busy week. I am not talking about me being busy with work or whatever it is that keeps me busy. I am talking about the shenanigans that we have been talking about and dealing with as Malawians. The President’s UK visit, the songs that came out, people going to school in China and all sorts of things. Ideally people would want to pick my mind on such issues but if you know something about pure Richie Online articles, you would know that we do not comment on topical issues. Steering away from such issues, however is not as easy and that is why I have decided to come up with this piece anyway. Here we go.

Saturday the 24^th of July, 2021. It is morning and as usual, Malawi News, the weekly paper from the Times group is out. In it is the infamous Kanjipiti cartoon which is poking fun at the bitter sweet issue of Msundwe women. Earlier that week, the women who were raped by the men of the Malawi Police Service were compensated. Now people are asking as to whether the perpetrators have been brought to book. Others are suggesting that the compensation itself is a win for the women. In the midst of that divided opinion, the Kanjipiti cartoon comes out with controversy. The cartoon is highly suggestive that there are some women who may have wanted to be raped just to get the money. There is an outrage and Times Group issue an apology. On the side, however, other people see nothing wrong with the cartoon. In fact, they think that it is hilarious and that everyone who is angry with the cartoon is being too sensitive. I will park this.

Monday the 26^th. Malawi is anticipating the release of multiple songs from the finest artists in the land. Namadingo was releasing a song and so was Onesimus along with Maskal of the Udalire fame. The moment the release date was announced, Malawians got into comparison mode. This was because of the fan rivalry between Onesimus and Namadingo fans which has been powered by the social media. When the songs came out, there were a lot of opinions as to which song was better to an extent that people forgot that Maskal was also putting out a piece. Interestingly people ignored other releases from Third Eye and Kelvin Sings. Great songs. People were so obsessed with comparing who had done a better song between Namadingo and Onesimus to an extent that they ignored other songs and more importantly failed to appreciate the uniqueness of each of their artists and what they had to offer. Let’s park this again.

Tuesday July 27, 2021. State House posts a picture of President Lazarus Chakwera on the set of BBC’s HardTalk program. Later that night, clips of Chakwera having a challenge with tackling a question begin to circulate on social media. We go into a frenzy. The president’s fan boys go on to defend the president and tell us to watch the whole interview before judging his performance. A few watch the interview but the heavy barrage of criticism continues. After watching the whole interview, some have a change of heart and opine that the President did well. I disagree but later realize that HardTalk interviews do not pay for electricity bills. I let it go.

Remember Kanjipiti? I am talking about the cartoon character that poked fun on a rather sensitive issue of sexual misconduct by our men in uniform. This is a cartoon that many found offensive but someone went on to say that they did not see anything wrong with it. The Namadingo and Onesimus songs? I generally think that both are decent songs that are worth airplay on both local and international media houses. Some have deliberately chosen to enjoy one over the other because of their artist allegiances. The BBC HardTalk interview? Some said it was good while others thought the President’s performance on the show was poor, others thought that His Excellency handled it well. I hope you get where I am going with this. Even the most obvious of things tend to split opinion. Here is the other thing. Ready? You may express your opinion but to many your opinion does not matter. You can talk about the President all you want but chances are that very little will change because of your social media rant.

Then there is the other issue of quality of debate. When you ask people about what is wrong or right with a particular thing, they hardly tell you anything. When you point out that the president put up a poor show, they just went on to ask if we could have done better if we were in the President’s shoes. What I would have expected from intellectuals was that they would be arguing from a point of information and objectivity. Ayi ndithu. That tough question on creating jobs, for example. I thought our leader did poorly by not mentioning the many health workers he has employed in response to Covid-19 and the teachers that I am told have been hired in his reign. Talking of the music, people will use their love for Namadingo or Onesimus mixed with a bit of unfounded hatred for the other to bury a song they have not had a chance to listen to and when you ask them how good or bad a particular song they would just throw a “doc samatha” or “Onesimus ndi kape” without mentioning anything to do with the beat, lyrics or anything musical. They will just praise or attack personalities.

In these days of the social media, people also struggle to form an opinion of their own to an extent that before they voice out their not-so-important opinion on any matter, they first check what Onjezani Kenani or some other social media influencer thinks about that particular matter. It is not uncommon to find people going about contradicting their own prior opinions on social media when new information comes in. Nanga si tikumangotsatira zimene atanene Thandie Wa Pulimuheya kapena Pemphero Mphande?

There we are then. If you are to take away something from this article, then it is that we do not need your opinion in this world. People did not have it five years ago and they did not die. Also, is it really your opinion or did you read from an equally misguided Facebook mask that one of the songs I mentioned was off key? What I am saying is, if you are to give us your unsolicited opinions you got to make sure that they are really your own. Disliking something because someone dislikes it is not good. It is that same tendency that has you inheriting your friend’s enemies who could be your friends.

Signing off. We are all unique. We should not expect to have similar opinions. We are different so let us learn to live as such. Embrace diversity!