Several hours have passed since Chimamandas ingenious piece on the president and his image handlers surfaced, and I have yet to hear from the usual suspects. But, on matters like this, I have learnt to never say never. They say demons lurk, and I can imagine all it takes is for one keyboard to get demon-possessed (not necessarily the user), and all hell will break lose. All of hell, I say, because you will be dead-wrong to think the antagonists will seek to tear her apart from the angle that she must have the keys to a room in Bourdillon. Theres her evil stance on gay rights, as well as her atrocious dogged defence of her choice to keep her maiden name, both of which made social media boil! And Im sure Im not the only one who remembers. Some keypads remember, too. And her convictions will readily present themselves a soft underbelly from where the poisoned barbs can make their jagged entry. Its in our character to attack the messenger, and kill the message dead in the process. But I make bold to say, even if legendary writers like Achebe and Soyinka can be said to have stirred justified controversy with some of their writings on issues political, Chimamanda seems to have side-stepped all of that. And it gets interesting because, the issues shes raised have been inconclusively debated for months on end. But this landscape painting she has come up with, effortlessly capturing months of bitter social media drama, just puts things in super scenic perspective. ...and Im loving what I see. Im loving the truth it lays bare. For those who still feel the urge to criticise, I just hope theyll know to keep their objectivity hat firmly on their head. Writers place value on the candid opinion of critics. But, critics of their works, not of their lifestyle and/or personal convictions. May our keypads resist every form of evil. Chimamanda, aside. We owe it to ourselves to tell ourselves the truth a lot more often.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 08:11:59 +0000
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