Few week back we ran an article here written by Lantern Meet member Agaba Archibald. There were responses to his thoughts, and in this article, he responds to some of the commentators. “My challenge is to the men of our society: will we continue to idly stand by as everything we are purposed to hold up, as explicitly stated even in our very physiology, continues to fall down?” writes Agaba.
Three issues came up from the piece I wrote: one to do with the line “…complaining about being cheated on must stop.” I was of the view that the line “…cheating implies entitlement” would suffice but alas I’ll have to make myself more clear, which I will do in another piece.
I would like to respond to other two issues raised in the comments by tonykugs, Abdaluda and by Issac Ongom Adero on the Desire Luzinda issue. The general issue of their argument was that a crime was committed and someone has/had to be punished for it and with this I agree, except that in the case of Mr. tonykugs and Abdaluda, the point of this article was not whether or not she had a case to answer but rather how the ‘scandal’ was being handled.
As for Mr. Issac Ongom Adero, your first line says it all: “The culture you intend society to have is long gone, very long gone.” I summarily refuse to indulge in the cynicism and self pity this statement implies, and the irony is that your own words speak in judgment of you “my precious ‘little sister’…” The only difference between you and I is that I chose to broaden the definition of ‘sister’ beyond my siblings which if you refer to the vocabulary in your native language you will find is more consistent to your core principle than the strange ideas you are trying to regurgitate. You then go through a litany of speculations and assumptions with some appeals to the authority from jurisprudence and the bible. I don’t know how much you know both bodies of work especially their origins, but I am sure you know they are subject to interpretation, as is your line “…is not a victim …she is the moral decay.” How do you explain that? I am sorry but this reminds me of meaningless statements like “war on terror” or “2nd vice president”. ‘She’ is a first person singular pronoun connoting a female person which in this case is the young lady in question; ‘moral decay’ is a concept. How does she (the person in question) become a concept? At this point you will accuse me of getting your meaning out of context, but I actually I don’t. For even if you meant it as a simile, extended metaphor or even hyperbole you fail, because suggesting that an incident in the life of a person you do not know some how makes that person the embodiment of a concept based in a particular world view you hold is very frivolous.
Taking it back to tonykugs your language belies an attitude beyond the intent of this article. You talk of double standard and sight the UCU (Uganda Christian University) sex tapes as if you know my view on the same or “because… is our own.” Now that is a double standard if ever there was one. I will ignore the “hahaha…” after asking how I’d respond to a man being put in the same place because I will assume you realized you had shot yourself in the foot. The point of my article was not to “Sacrific(e) the Nigerian” as you put it or even to excuse the behavior of either party. The point was to raise a mirror to ourselves and to ask the serious questions.
While walking through town recently a dear friend asked me what my views on prostitution were, to which my response was that the more important question is; what is prostitution and why does it exist? But we will not ask this question because the answer will indict us. These things we call ‘moral ills’ or ‘social vices’ are nothing more than symptoms of the dis-ease that the society is enduring. In large measure, this dis-ease is nurtured by acquiescence and the collusion of those that could, would and indeed should do something about it.
My challenge is to the men of our society: will we continue to idly stand by as everything we are purposed to hold up, as explicitly stated even in our very physiology, continues to fall down?
The Lantern Meet of Poets 