HONOUR AMONG THIEVES...Nay, HONOUR FOR THE THIEF!

Honor; a word with several meanings but basically an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation. Accordingly, individuals (or corporate bodies) are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large[1]. It also refers to personal integrity and allegiance to moral principles that hold society together, principles without which society might as well be likened to a jungle of animals as humanity is robbed of its very essence when sense of rights, duty and obligations are lacking.

Different people hold different honour codes but that has never diminished its meaning and relevance in the society. Honour still remains a code of behavior that defines the duties/responsibilities of an individual within a social group.

Please come along with me on a trip to the Asian continent.

 Let’s make a stop at Beijing the Chinese capital where the concept of “Face” is most important. Sorry, we’re not about to discuss your physical characteristics here. You ever heard of the phrases “face-saving”, “name -shaming”, “losing-face”? Yea, that’s the one.

Losing face means one has lost dignity, honour, authority, social standing, integrity or trustworthiness. That holds true in most Asian cultures especially among the Chinese where “losing face” is the ultimate disgrace and it is not uncommon to hear of someone committing suicide because he has “lost face”. Did you know that the most common insult in China is “you have no face”? Here, people hardly talk about their problems or “come out of the closet” because of the need to protect their “face”. This is in contradistinction to the West where people “come clean” about the negative aspects of their lives and in most cases become more popular for it. I wonder if any Talk-Show host in the manner of Oprah Winfrey could ever succeed in China or in Asia for that matter #justolohistots.

While suicides over loss of honour might not be so popular in China anymore, I have heard of more than one oriental public office holder hurriedly resigning to”save face” following an allegation of wrong doing or corruption leveled against them. Whether the allegations are true or not, the dishonor or shame felt by such allegations is enough to send a Chinese or oriental office holder in search of a hole to crawl into pending investigations to prove him innocent. This is not to be mistaken for being held guilty before trial. It is the case rather that, closely associated with the concept of face in China is the concept of shame. Shame is the reverse of honour and to have one’s integrity or honour questioned is to become open to shame. It’s not rocket science, but don’t try too hard to understand it; it’s just a part of Chinese traditional reasoning and practice. This is how I try to wrap my head around it; in some cultures especially but not limited to the West, shame is bad or harmful to your health, but in the Chinese culture shame is good, it requires personal courage. It means an acknowledgement of wrong doing but a desire for change. It is more than a mere emotion. If you have no shame, then you are to be feared by the devil himself for you are beyond moral reach.[2] When a person succeeds, the community or society shares the honour, and when a person fails, he does not lose face alone, he brings shame to all those around him. And that could mean for generations. I can’t readily give examples of recent events in China exemplifying this but a few examples from the oriental world will suffice I think.

Teh Cheang Wan served as a minister between 1979 and 1986 in the Singaporean cabinet. He was investigated for corruption in November 1986. Although he maintained his innocence, he was found dead with a suicidal note in December of the same year.

In his suicide note, Teh wrote
I have been feeling very sad and depressed for the last two weeks. I feel responsible for the occurrence of this unfortunate incident and I feel I should accept full responsibility. As an honourable oriental gentleman I feel it is only right that I should pay the highest penalty for my mistake.[3]
More recently, the Indonesian Sports and Youth Minister Andi Alfan Mallarangeng announced his resignation on December 7, amid corruption charges saying he could not work effectively as a minister while facing the legal proceedings. Maintaining his innocence, the minister said he hopes that justice will prevail.
It is not only in Asia honour still holds true. 
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister resigned in 2009 following a criminal investigation.
Earlier this year, Mak Chai-kwong also resigned as development minister in Hong Kong following corruption charges.

ALUU 4; "NO LOVE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY" mp3 download

The past few days have been too emotionally overwhelming and draining for me to blog about the gruesome and brutal murder of Tekena. Llyod, Chidiaka and Ugonna
(the Aluu 4 as they have come to be known).

 

After waking up to the news on Friday of four armed robbers being caught and jungle justice meted out to them in the heart of Port Harcourt city, it has been a roller coaster ride of one version of the story or another. The release of the video of that dastardly act committed by members of Aluu community was enough to send shock waves down the spines of even the most  cold-hearted Nigerian. 

    So graphic and disheartening was the video that a friend of mine posted on her TL that after taking a sneak peek at the video, she now was too afraid to even venture near the folder on her phone to delete it. Brave Halima, if only you knew that some of us were too much of cowards to even dare a sneak peek at the said video after seeing those graphic pictures form the scene of the EVIL. I heard through the grapevine that the video had been removed from Youtube because of its horrific nature in spite of the fact that it had gone real viral.

   Nigerians have been united in raising their voice against the ABOMINATION "Aluu" (permit my spelling Igbo folks) and have called on the State to use every security apparatus available to it in fishing out the perpetrators of this evil act and ensure justice prevails. THE WORLD IS WATCHING!!!.

The average Nigerian is a peace-loving man but who can blame them? When you watch that video,view the picture from the scene, or hear the “true story”  making the rounds you will agree that there comes a time when JUSTICE take precedence over PEACE. NIGERIANS want JUSTICE FOR THE ALUU FOUR, and we must get it. Oh, we will get it one way or another.

The story about Tekena, Chidiaka, Ugonna and Llyod has taken a new turn with a revelation that one of the deceased was a creditor who had simply had enough of stories from his debtor and so decided to pay him a surprise visit on the fateful day accompanied by his friends. Little did they know what other plans the Aluus(forbidden and abominable )community had in stock for them.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BIRD and A FLY

Teacher: Students, whats the difference between a bird and a fly?
Akpos raises his hand.
Teacher:Yes, Akpos?

 Akpos: Teasher, A bird can FLY, but a fly can not BIRD.

Politicizing the Health of Dame Patience Jonathan

“My fellow widows…”

 “My Husband and Sambo is a good people…” 

“The President was once a Child and the Senators were once a Children…” 

“Where we you pless ya hand...’’

 “Pless ya hand under the Humblerra…”

 “Ojukwu is dead but his manhood lives on...” 

No doubt these blunders ring a bell especially if you’re one taken with social media and the attendant hyper-inflated news stories that make the rounds daily in Nigeria. The object of these seemingly humorous grammatical errors has never been one to shy away from the media and those who will be true to themselves will agree that she is down to earth and not one to put on airs. This has not stopped her critics and most recently her detractors from constantly keeping her in eagle eye-view in order to publish her innumerable “grammatical errors”. As a matter of fact, many have come up with fictitious quotations attributed to her, forgetting that English is not our mother tongue and even those who have English as their first language sometimes have difficulty speaking it correctly. No Briton can speak my dialect perfectly I can assure you.       

     Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan will undoubtedly emerge an uncontested winner if ever an award was organized to honour the most vilified and ridiculed First Lady in Nigeria’s history. I have no doubt in my heart that former First Lady, Turai Y’ardua’s literacy level or dare I say “social GP” could not have been higher than that of Dame Patience Jonathan. Even so, the rumour lords would not let our ears take a break from tales of how the late President Umar Y’ardua had had a tutor hired for the first lady to coach her not just in matters of grammar constructions but social etiquettes as well. Turai was no doubt interested in keeping appearances and we all now know how much of woman behind the show she really was in spite of the “gentle dove” look she always managed to put on for Nigerians (We’ll wait to hear what “stunts” our dear Dame pulled after her husband’s tenure). 

Dame Patience Jonathan is in the news again and this time it is not about her “grammatical missiles”. It’s about a much more delicate issue; her health. In the past few weeks, speculations, allegations, accusations and counter accusations have been flying around concerning the First Lady’s health. While Sahara Reporters reported that she had been flown abroad for an emergency surgery after food poisoning, they came up days later to say that she was in a German hospital recuperating from an appendectomy. Still some time later, they alleged that she had gone to have fibroids removed. All sorts of media have been used by both cocktail journalists and political opponents to explore the current state of health of the first lady (whatever that is) to their advantage. We have since woken each day to fresh angles to the stale story. If it is not about the President having given express instructions against any statement from any Villa staff over the first lady’s health, it is about the president not having paid a visit to his wife since her admission to the hospital. Some folks have acquired overnight fame over the issue of Dame’s health castigating the president through all media possible for not “officially of formally” informing Nigerians of his wife’s state of health. In all of this, one thing is evident; most of the reports or speculations are not borne out of genuine concern for the first lady’s health. As a matter of fact, some folks have come with a new dimension to the whole story. It is that since the days of Gen. Sanni Abacha, no first family has left the villa without losing a member of household…Hmmmm food for thought indeed. If really that be the case, should we as a nation glory in that knowledge? What really is wisdom if it is not the application of knowledge to set oneself free from any yoke? 

WHAT TRIBE ARE YOU?

There are only three tribes in Nigeria: 

1.  Tribe of Nation builders (those who take steps to actualize the dream) 

2.  Tribe of Demagogues/ Evil Geniuses (Those who hijack political power to protect their trillion dollar oil and gas interests)

3.  Tribe of Arm-chair philosophers (Those who know all the reasons why things won't work yet can't be trusted to do anything positive given the chance). 

 

 

NIGERIA @t 52, what tribe are You!

NIGERIA @ 52- Worth Celebrating Against All Odds. What do you think?

 Nigeria may not have gotten it all right at this point. We may not have rid our system of corruption and other vices. Our security system may have deteriorated. Our Power sector may still be in the dungeons, our leaders still not ready to take responsibility, but I tell you, I still want to celebrate my country. Primarily because;

• I know CHANGE will come
• This is Nigeria, my Nigeria where I am and will always be a FIRST CLASS citizen

To crown it all, let me echo the words a tweetpal,
"Insulting Nigeria on her Independence anniversary is like insulting your father on his birthday for not being like Aliko Dangote!"
Don't you think so?

♥Share & Inspire Your Friends♥: Really Heart Touching Story... Must Read

♥Share & Inspire Your Friends♥: Really Heart Touching Story... Must Read

SOCIAL MEDIA and PRIVACY…there's just a fine line between the two

What's a blog and why do people blog? That’s a question I have been asking myself ever since my boss asked me for my blog address so he could check it out and “I refused”! Aaaarrrghhh, I practically balked(inwardly though). Yeah, I did! And before you crucify moi you might want to read the full story and arrive at a conclusion on why people really blog.

A blog is a contraction of the term ‘weblog’. “We Blog”! geddit? Well, be sure to check that out on Google. A weblog is a series of written record of events or messages in chronological order. It is a journal where people record events, observations and experiences etc. So I would say a blog is basically a diary or journal available on the web. Well, you’ll agree with me that a blog is a collection of text, data, images, and other media objects put together in a chronological order and retrievable through a web browser. OK so what’s the diff between a blog and a website?  From the little I know, a blog is much more conversational and interactive than a website.

       From political blogs to celebrity blogs, arts blog, music blogs to sports blogs and beauty blogs the idea has gradually taken hold and come to stay that any and everyone can blog.

So really, why do people blog? From my findings, a lot of people blog as an extension of their hobby, passion, as a way of expressing their thoughts and opinions, giving information or simply just for the fun of it. For whatever reason people blog, one thing is common and it is that they want to be a part of a community-“blogosphere/blogworld”. A world where they could have a sense of belonging, express themselves and, gain respect without the fear of being judged.  However, people are quick to embrace advancements in Infotech without being fully informed and aware of the downsides thereof and if they are aware, they pay it no mind until…the red alert starts to blink in which case it is usually too late and irreversible damages already incurred because, like it or not online networks have stripped privacy of its meaning and created a huge playground for fraudsters, stalkers and identity thieves/murderers exempli gratia Cynthia and her Facebook ‘Frienemies’. Yes, you might not like to hear it, just like I don’t but the web is “fraud-tolerant” and there is just a fine line between social media networking and privacy and that line is getting more and more blurred by the day. It’s actually in the name World Wide Web!

Like I earlier mentioned, a lot of people have embraced social media networking without much consideration for its full impact.  
 Picture this; the idea of blogging comes to you at a time when you need an outlet for some emotions you’re feeling at the moment. You wholeheartedly embraced it and indeed “let it out” lashing out at nobody in particular but enjoying it because although keeping a diary has never been your thingy, you discover that letting your emotions out through writing sure makes you feel better.  There are no inhibitions, nobody to judge you, except of course, you conveniently at this time forget that the idea behind a blog is to publish and let others read about your passion, hobby or whatever you write about.  By the time you take a step back to view your ‘so-called’ blog in retrospect, BAM you realize your write-ups are just too personal and revealing to publish. I mean common, everyone is entitled to some privacy no matter who they are you tell yourself. In fact, you wonder why that’s not been included among the basic universal fundamental human rights. Ok, so here you are thrilled to have discovered a new way to ease off tension and let it out, but there is a catch; there are no guarantees that you would not be judged. After all, life isn’t fair and the internet or social media certainly isn’t a fair playground.  So you push off the idea of publishing or sharing your blog with anyone until you finally push it down (konko-below) where you feel it belongs. Eventually, you stop writing for that blog because you feel the need to do a complete re-evaluation of your motives and strategize on your romance with social media.

Scenario II

You start a blog because…well, ‘it’s the in-thing’ and everyone else is doing it. This is not about embracing new technology for its own sake, it’s just about…#trending! Along the way, something happens. Now like “Basket-Mouth” will say, two things are involved; its either you lost steam or you had no business starting a blog in the first place. True anybody can blog, but believe me gee, not everybody should blog.

You gotta ask yourself some pertinent questions.

• Can you regularly update it -- at least five times a week?

• Do you have something to say other than just linking to others?

• Do you read other blogs or feeds?

• Can you provide information of value to others not just to yourself?

The big decider is whether or not you can write in the blog almost daily. And this is better done when you have carefully picked a niche. Even if you cannot write in your blog daily, it would help if you can fall in love with expressing yourself through writing.

So I humbly submit that yours truly was guilty as charged of the ‘blog crimes’ here mentioned but hereby plead for clemency on the grounds of mitigated circumstances. I also wish to bring to the notice of you honorable readership jury that, moi has since done a careful re-evaluation of my romance with social media and especially blogging, and have put my house in order. I am ready to invest in this relationship I have going with my sweet blog, and since it is not unusual to double-date in the blog world, may I rephrase that to be my sweet honey blogs. I promise not to neglect any of my blogs unnecessarily and perform my duties as expected/required of me, so help me God.

*heavy sigh* now I do realize that life still ain’t fair and there still are no guarantees that you ‘fair’ jury won’t judge nor convict me, but I hope that the readership I here build will temper ‘justice’ with mercy for my seemingly "unconventional and pattern less" writing style, drop comments where and when  necessary (which I hope will be all of the time), and please be slow to judge me or any of my guest bloggers-do not take the fun out of it. My views or those of my guest bloggers posted on this blog might just be ploys to catch fun and never intended to inflame.

 So I bid you welcome to my blog. 
http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging