As Funmiara repeatedly reminds us in this forum,"In the absence of greatness, mediocrity will rise" or as she puts it, "In the absence of greatness, mediocrity thrives". What is most lamentable/ regrettable is when the mediocre start decorating themselves as "Greatness" or reinventing themselves as "great" The way that I see it, the subject matter is inescapably about self-worth and self-esteem
I'm surprised that His Greatness, the great Ayo Olukotun who in my honest assessment happens to be without any rivals/ equals as my absolutely favourite commentator on Nigerian affairs is also himself surprised that in the jungle and in the general mumbo-jumbo of Naija letters he is receiving his own fair share of opprobrium from some uncouth, vulgar rats - as if he doesn't know that it comes with the territory – after all this is Nigeria and as the Last Poets also complained,
"The first thing they say when they're mad: 'Fuck it'
You play a little too much with them
They say "Fuck you !"
Some of our people refused Jesus too, they said, "Hell no, you're not him!" In fact they say worse things about his mother. At least we should be grateful that the Naija rabble have spared you yours. It would seem that their general conception is that in playing the role of a public intellectual you simply can't afford not to be thick-skinned - nor will you be saved by praying for courtly decorum and civility in the Naija jungle. Many a time have I come across the phrase attributed to Harry S. Truman " If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" as if you should abdicate or resign from the good work you're doing – giving sight to the blind and a voice to the dumb or let yourself be chased out of town by some pimpy little desert or swamp rats, pimping for their president, pimping for their pastor, pimping for their senator or pimping for their messiah even though he himself has said, "Don't expect any miracles"for indeed, some of us are impervious to miracles – miracles leave us not nonplussed, but unimpressed – as do some of the witches, wizards and magicians…
What is not clear is, where have these obnoxious altercations been taking place? If in the same media that has publishes Professor Olukotun's musings and they have been allowed to slip through without any moderation from the editor, then who is to blame? Certainly not the wild jungle cats for having crazy ideas and for utilising the ad hominem as their first or last weapon of resort - or the dogs doing what they are best known for, barking loudly like the dogs they are or chirping their mantras like parrots – or as my Hindu neighbour in Ahoada once told me – one rainy season when the frogs were croaking - very unkindly, he said, " Like the Brahmin priests" - and how's that for iconoclasm?
One of the options available is to ignore the wretched and uncouth who know no better : "Let the fool speak and the wise give no answer" or in the memorable words of the village schoolmaster Adekunle, "I rise above taunts and remain unruffled"
I'm not at all surprised not because I have any low expectations about naija journalism or discourses but because if I have been hardened by almost half a century of reading good literature and following the international press, the last twenty years particularly centred on the discourses embroiling Israel and Palestinians – so called, mostly from this perspective,culminating in phase two starting in 2004 with this sequence of ideas:
A to B: " You should not speak ill of the dead "
B: "Arafat's dead. Good!"
And the hardcore invective that is inflicted on the very infected discourse on both sides of the aisle is very laden compared with the the child's play in the mild examples that Professor Olutokun gives in his A Farewell to Civil Political Discourse?
At the very least he has done his duty by appealing for decency, propriety , a higher standard, otherwise it cannot be helped. I guess that it's cultural , universally so, and perhaps tempered by the fact that some people are writing in an acquired foreign tongue which is now uniquely their own and perhaps cannot circumvent the brutishness of what they want to say in even more elegant or more witty ways, even if the want to, lacking as they do the ability or perhaps also, the good breeding. Having mentioned " good breeding, I should like to wind up with S.E. Rogers' "Advice to schoolgirls" (smile)
On Saturday, 30 April 2016 07:24:13 UTC+2, ayo_ol...@yahoo.com wrote:
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.From: Niyi Akinnaso <niyi...@gmail.com>Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 11:17:51 -0700To: <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>Cc: Ngozi<mediawo...@yahoo.com>; Adagbo Onoja<adagb...@gmail.com>; Omatsola Edema<charli...@yahoo.co.uk >; eojo12000<eojo...@yahoo.com> ; Mayortk<may...@yahoo.com>; Omo Adugbe<omoa...@gmail.com>; abiodun raufu<abiodu...@yahoo.com>; <akindij...@gmail.com>; Okey Ibeanu<oib...@yahoo.co.uk>; Ndifreke ette<ndifre...@yahoo.com>; Olanrewaju Smart<wasiu...@gmail.com>; Olatunde Babawale<tunde_b...@yahoo. com >; Francis Irele<abiol...@gmail.com>; Olayemi Foline Folorunsho<offlin...@gmail.com >; Festus Adedayo<fesad...@yahoo.com>; Nwulu, Paul<p.n...@fordfoundation.org >; Fisayo Olatinwo<mfola...@yahoo.co.uk >; Margaret Solo-Anaeto<soloanaeto.margaret@gmail.com >; Abigail Ogwezzy-Nd<abiga...@yahoo.com >; Koyinsola Owoeye<stik...@hotmail.com>; maggie anaeto<maga...@yahoo.co.uk>; Nduka Otiono<Nduka....@carleton.ca >; Olalekan Odukoya<olalekan...@gtbank.com >; Abubakar Momoh<amomo...@yahoo.com>; <nkec...@yahoo.com>Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: A Farewell to Civil Political Discourse?Ayo,
Take heart. Recall you were the first person to draw my attention to the rain of abuses showered on me for my Tuesday column on Osun three weeks ago, titled "The story about Osun". You also pointed out that none of the critics engaged the content of my article, which was replete with facts and figures.
The ecology of abuse in Nigeria will make an interesting study because the moral fabric of the society has been shredded by social, economic, political, and legal abuses. What did the APC not call Jonathan when he was president, and what did the PDP not say about Buhari during and after the 2015 elections until Buhari began to expose the PDP's economic abuses? And what have our SANs not said or done to get looters free, in order to have their own share of the loot increased?
The erosion of politeness and civility in our language is palpable, being promoted partly by these abuses, partly by frustration, partly by ignorance, partly by blind partisanship, and partly by online media, which provide a safe distance between interlocutors.
Niyi Akinnaso
On Apr 29, 2016 11:11 AM, <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com> wrote:Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.From: Obadiah Mailafia <obmai...@gmail.com>Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:57:04 +0100To: Prof Ayo OLUKOTUN<ayo_ol...@yahoo.com >Cc: Toyin Falola<toyin...@austin.utexas.edu >; Usa dialogue<usaafric...@googlegroups.com >; Dr. Awolowo Dosunmu<to...@yahoo.com>; Abiodun Salawu<Abiodun...@nwu.ac.za >; Tade Aina<tadeak...@yahoo.com>; Taiwo Owoeye<siste...@hotmail.com>; takehinde<take...@yahoo.com> ; <tale...@yahoo.com>; Michael Vickers<mvic...@mvickers. plus.com >; Pa Uoma<pau...@gmail.com>; Paddy<paddyk...@yahoo.com>; Prof Dipo Kolawole<profko...@yahoo.com >; Prof Bayo Adekanye<profbayo...@yahoo.com >; Richard Joseph<r-jo...@northwestern.edu >; Raufu Mustapha<raufu.m...@qeh.ox.ac.uk >; Remi Sonaiya<remis...@yahoo.com>; Reuben Abatti<abat...@yahoo.com>; Ndifreke ette<ndifre...@yahoo.com>; Nduka Otiono<Nduka....@carleton. ca >; Ngozi<mediawo...@yahoo.com>; Niyi Osundare<oosu...@uno.edu>; Niyi Akinnaso<niyi...@gmail.com>; Joel Nwokeoma<joel...@yahoo.com>; Attahiru Jega<attahi...@yahoo.com>; Attehsun<atte...@yahoo.com>; david atte<david...@yahoo.com>; Banji Oyeyinka<boye...@hotmail.com >; bankole omotoso<aji...@outlook.com>; bimbola adelakun<adunn...@yahoo.com> ; Bisi Falola<bisif...@gmail.com>; <bokwe...@yahoo.co.uk>; Bolaji Akinyemi<rot...@gmail.com>; Bunmi Makinwa<bunmim...@hotmail. com >; bukky dada<bukk...@hotmail.com>; chibuzo nwoke<chibuz...@yahoo.com>; <akindij...@gmail.com>; Jibo<jib...@yahoo.com>; Jide Oluwajuyitan<joluwa...@gmail.com >; Jide Owoeye<babso...@gmail.com>; Sam Ohuabunwa<s...@samohuabunwa.com>; <sany...@yahoo.co.uk>; SEGUN GBADEGESIN<gbade...@yahoo. com >; segunawo<segu...@yahoo.com>; <stel...@yahoo.com>; Mamora<senato...@yahoo.com>; Mayortk<may...@yahoo.com>; Dr. Badru Ronald Olufemi<femmy...@gmail.com>; Emmanuel Remi Aiyede<eai...@yahoo.com>; Francis Egbokhare<foegb...@yahoo. com >; Haastrup, Deji Olaolu<de...@chevron.com>; Hafsat Abiola<hafsat...@hotmail.com >; Gabriel Ogunmola<gbogu...@yahoo.com>; Innocent Chukwuma<I.Chu...@ fordfoundation.org >; Nwulu, Paul<p.n...@fordfoundation.org >; Wale Adebanwi<walead...@gmail.com >; William Fawole<faw...@yahoo.com>; Lai Olurode<olu...@yahoo.com>; Lanre Idowu<lanre...@gmail.com>; lanre oluwaniyi<lanr...@hotmail.com >; Margaret Ayansola<mdaya...@gmail.com>; Femi Falana<falan...@yahoo.com>; Festus Adedayo<fesad...@yahoo.com>; Femi Osofisan<okinba...@yahoo. com >; Tolulope Sajobi<ttsa...@ucalgary.ca>; Tayo Balogun<tbalo...@yahoo.com>; Tiwa<tiwaol...@yahoo.com>; Asaolu Taiwo<twas...@yahoo.co.uk>; Tunji Olaopa<tolao...@gmail.com>; Tunde Bewaji<tunde....@gmail.com>; Kehinde Emoruwa<emor...@yahoo.com>; olukotun bob-kunle<bobk...@yahoo.com>; Osaghae Eghosa<osagha...@yahoo.co. uk >; Odia Ofeimun<odi...@yahoo.com>; Oladipupo Adamolekun<dip...@yahoo.com>; Olufemi Adesina<kuli...@yahoo.com>; Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso<jum...@yahoo.co.uk >; dapo.thomas<dapo....@yahoo.com >; Dele Layiwola<delela...@yahoo.com >; Isaac Albert<ioalbe...@yahoo.com>; <isu...@yahoo.com>; Iyabobola Ajibola<iyabo...@gmail.com>; antonia simbine<tsom...@yahoo.com>; <anu...@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Fw: A Farewell to Civil Political Discourse?Well done Prof. Your writings are always so fair and so civilised, with a depth of knowledge that is uncommon. You have to shrug off the little intemperate irritants who think they can ride their way to fame by attacking you. May your pen continue to flow to His glory!Obadiah MailafiaOn Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 1:25 PM, <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com> wrote:Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.From: Vahyala Kwaga <vik...@gmail.com>Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 12:05:19 +0100To: <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>Subject: Re: A Farewell to Civil Political Discourse?Dear Sir,I trust this meets you well.I just finished reading your Friday piece at the Punch back page ("Friday Musings with....").I must say that despite the fact that you obviously do not deserve the abuse and needless insults you get from Nigerians- it is something that cannot end. I believe that there is a relationship between one's education level and the way he or she addresses others. Note that a lot of Nigerians may be 'book smart' but they are not educated in the very least. The fact that it happens world over is a simple confirmation of this fact.Going through Social Media these days is enough to give one nausea when seeing how simple analysis-devoid of sentiment-is turned back on the writer with insult to boot! Writing in the public space is never easy and I applaud you for doing so. Keep up the writing, one day it might get past their thick skulls.Do enjoy your day.Best,Vahyala (writing from Lagos Island, Lagos)
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