ABUJA HEARTBEAT: When to follow the crowd
I have always told
myself and anyone who cares to listen that I do not think that God is a
democrat. If He was, Satan would have succeeded with his coup. We were
really talking about crowd action and reaction, juxtaposed with
democratic actions and reactions. People should carefully observe
before climbing on any band wagon. It is easy to hear “but their course
was hijacked by hoodlums and touts”. We also know that good news is no
news and that bad news is what makes news. That is why CNN and
Aljazeera are hot.
Nigerians are very
quick to point to Ghana example. How Rawlings came on board and
annihilated all the criminals in power and opened a new page that
changed the sad story of Ghana to glory. Unfortunately we have had
Generals in Nigeria who came on board and changed the stories of their
private pockets to hilltop glories and left the masses in perpetual
servitude. They are still around and are shamelessly taunting the
populace with their loot. Well, the time of Generals has passed. They
had their opportunity.
My intention this
week is to advise Nigerians about the dangerous mistake of joining in
any kind of mass action without digging deep into what that crowd is
really intent on doing.
Some of us have
noticed how our children follow bad fashion and imbibe decadent
cultures; how a great majority of our girls and women now expose body
parts that should be hidden and our boys are now ‘saggin’, wear
ear-rings and are quick to adorn their hairs crazily?
We have seen how
good and progressive bills are tucked under, or killed even, in the
national assembly because they do not serve the selfish interest of
some sitting members, their past colleagues and their godfathers. I am
very convinced you now understand the drift of my story this week. But
if you do not, know that the road to heaven is very narrow and the one
that leads to hell is very wide.
I was actually
inspired to write on crowd reaction and I thought wise and good people
should be wary, so they are not misled. A few weeks ago, myself and
about three others were called to be judges in a ‘talent hunt event’ in
one of our university campuses. A dance competition was introduced as a
side attraction and the last eight contenders were asked to slug it
out. Then we noticed that one of the dancers, a very pretty young girl
who was declared the winner, was putting on a “low-waist jeans trouser”
and, as she danced, all her buttocks were outside in the full glare of
the cameras.
Crowd has decided
At first, I thought I was the only one seeing her. But when the other
two judges leaned over and said, this girl would have won but for what
she had on, I quickly agreed. Surprisingly, the MCs of the occasion, in
choosing the final three, cut us judges out of the decision, with the
help of the crowd of students who filled the one thousand capacity hall
to the brim. Each time the particular girl bent down to achieve a
particular erotic move, with her full buttocks staring us in the face,
the crowd screamed.
If you have seen Beyonce or Rihanna dancing, you would know what I
mean. Finally, the last three finalists were chosen and the indecently
dressed girl was among them. And before we could protest, the MCs
decided to use the famous national assembly style. “If this girl is
number three say yes;” “if this boy is second, say yes” and “if this
girl is the winner, say yes”. The crowd was actually ecstatic. I mean,
the girl’s dance was mainly erotic, what I will call ‘waist and yansh
dance.’ Get this straight, they had the preliminaries the week before,
where the final eight that made the finals were chosen from. So she
came prepared. To rub insult upon injury, the sponsor of that event,
right there, immediately increased the prize money after the girl has
been declared the winner by the crowd and he brought out the cash and
gave the girl. The crowd had decided and they say it’s the beauty of
democracy. Please, follow the crowd only when the course is right.
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