Lottery, the ultimate drug

By:

Are you a doctor of our society?
You keeping throwing diagnoses after diagnoses!
Do you have cure for any?

No, madam. I’m not a social doctor. I’m just chronicling the things I see around. Not sure there is any on the shelf cure. Social diseases don’t have any doctor here. Those who suffer from them are left to Darwinian evolution to deal with them.

Prostitution is huge here, but who cares! Alcoholism is rampant, mental diseases are increasing, social disorientation is growing, juvenile pregnancy, and many more ugly things… but their victims are on their own. That’s natural!

Life is a lotto here, and here am I writing about lottery as a drug which is destroying my country.

In the city of Kpalime, in the south west of Togo, singlehandedly lottery has destroyed the economy, family structures and the youth of the town. I’m talking about a city of 80.000 people, besieged by alcoholism and gambling.

The father plays daily. The mom plays 3 times a week. The kids forfeit their pocket money to play. A field visit I’ve done in the city 3 years ago, showed that an average a family play lottery up to 45% of their monthly revenue.… Read more

Things I witness with sadness

By:

You see our government pretends to develop our countries and our leaders claim to work tirelessly for our population to get out of poverty and become rich.

How true is that?

In my country, every person with a little bit of money and social status is called ‘chief’, ‘boss’, ‘patron’, ‘amegan’, …

All day long, men and women on the street, in markets, at the office, at home call those people by heralding and lauding words.

Things those rich people have in common are, a big house, a successful business, notorious politicians, nice cars, or basically have enough money to buy influence.

During the last five years, I’ve been spending time a lot out of my town and got to sit in meetings with people who are very much wealthy and affluent.

Something disturbing I noticed is that they seem to hate or dislike the idea that more and more people are owning nice cars. Suddenly they are not alone above the mass in misery. They hate that more and more people build nice houses like them, making them just one among so many anonymous. They dislike the idea that more people enter the middle class and behave so independently, speaking loudly with personal opinion, instead of being the usual people who dare not to look them in the eyes, just listen to them deferentially and nod with smiles.… Read more

The tyranny of silence

By:

Some say the poor are noisy.
They go live far away from noise.
Some say the poor speak loudly
They scold them for lack of manners
Some say the poor are splashy
They adorn immoderate sophistication

Yes the poor are noisy
A hunted prey scream when cornered
A man suffering would shout
A woman in pain would cry
A child in distress would whine

Isn’t that natural?

Noise is the infant of suffering
Tears are the canal of pain
Ugliness is the painting of poverty
Dirt is the face of hidden depression
Splashing around is a homelessness syndrome

The rich man wants silence
The law forbids noise
The police hunt down the noisemakers

Suffer in silence is the new rule
Don’t you know the rich are scared by noise?
Don’t you know noise spells revolution?
Who wants a revolution?

Such a peaceful city.
Such a calm town
Heralds the tourists guide book
Everything is clean and orderly
Such a pleasure!

Behind the walls of the calm city
Loneliness and depression prospers
Tears flow inward
Suffering has been privatized

If you have to suffer, suffer in silence
Don’t bother the world with your problems
Irresponsible and childish people!
If you can’t suffer in silence, hang yourself or take Prozac!… Read more

Modernity madness

By:

What is modernity?
Modernity is an ideology based on a rational and utilitarian approach to life.

Modernity means decisions and choices should be explainable, justifiable, argued according to logic and utility.

In any circumstances, the best option is the one based on reason and utility.

If you cannot justify, explain or ague anything rationally, therefore you are not modern or the thing is not modern.

That’s what modernity is.

Contrary to popular misconception, modernity does not mean European culture or customs.
Any culture or country could qualify as modern as far they function according to rational and utilitarian principles.

The 20th century had adopted modernity as the golden standard for organizing society. Any society which is not modern is therefore considered backward, primitive or a shithole.

The Frankfurt school of critical theory with the book ‘The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1946) by Horkheimer and Adorno, Heidegger’s Being and Time (1928), Harendt’s The Human Condition (1958) and the works of Habermas and Foucault did a great job showing us the limits of modernity and the enslavement shackle it has thrown on humans.

A contemporary author, Nassim Thaleb, said ‘modernity is a preventable chronic disease’.

But why?

No one discounts the achievements of rationality and utilitarianism.… Read more

Extroverts and the Covid19 pandemic

By:

If you think your life is miserable, please imagine the suffering of extroverts and attention seeking addicts at this hard time of confinement and lockdown, with closed bars, closed churches, closed stadiums, closed night clubs…?

Extroverts get stamina from being around people, and a lot of people. Attention seeking addicts constantly seek an audience to perform, show off, nag to feel good.

Those are the most miserable people now!

Do Facebook and Instagram help extroverts in such a time?

Introverts are like, please everyone should respect the rules!

How would life be without vain people!??

I love ❤️ vain people!… Read more

Indirect competition and the nice guy syndrome

By:

Most people look nice and civilized only because they are not confronted by a direct competition. They never know directly the people they are competing with.

Humans quickly return to a jungle status once they know the people competing with them for the same things.

You are looking for a job. You are in competition with hundreds if not thousands of people but you don’t know them.

If people would know these people, they might try to harm them in a way or another, like steal their resume, badmouth them, poison them, etc.

You are interested in a beautiful girl. You are in competition with tens of other males, but you don’t know them directly.

Often, when men would discover their competitors, they would become hateful and in some cases they’d try hurt them including killing.

Often than not, Nice people would turn ugly when they know the people they are in competition with.

Show a man, the guy courting his wife. Show a woman, the lady taking money from her husband. Show a job candidate, the lucky guy who is up to grab the position he applied for.

See how nice couple turn ugly when they have to separate or divorce, competing for some assets.… Read more

God played fools

By:

On Monday the sun rose at East
The city as usual, no one spoke
Except the lady without clothes

On Tuesday the sun rose at North
The roosters lost their voice
The charlatan was busy
The church was full
The mosque was louder
The wise men got bolder
The science man broke few instruments
The politician said a solution was on the way

On Wednesday, the sun rose at the West
People gathered in small groups
Rumours were faster than light
The city council closed the parks
The chicken didn’t cross the street
Dogs prayed louder than men
Silence was feared more than the white snake
The oracle dreams were scarier
The politician said a solution was on the way

On Thursday the sun rose in the South
Sinners confessed all wrongdoings
The charlatan asked for a pink hen
The priest asked for more donations
The pastor said Jesus is coming back at night
The man at the mosque lost all fingers

On Friday the sun rose at East
The politician was the first to speak
He had spoken directly to God, and voilà
He needs votes to keep in touch with God

The priest asked for more donations
The pastor asked for thanksgiving
The man at the mosque lost the East

On Saturday the sun rose again at East
The town was full of joy
The politician got votes
The church was richer
The pastor got a new car
The mosque man prayed seven times
The merchants sold everything

The ordinary man had given everything
His prayers had worked

He is now broke, but in joy
He is now broke, but thankful
He has just to work more

The politician is trustworthy
The church makes miracles
The mosque man is a saint

God plays fools
Man had learned from him
The man at the bank
The man at the church
The man at the mosque
The man at the market
The politician

You resemble the God you pray.… Read more

The seagulls and the monkeys

By:

There a two kinds of activists: the seagulls and the monkeys.

The seagulls are bad activists.
The monkeys are the good activists.

The seagulls fly over shit on the boats and then fly away, while expecting the boats to give them some fish.

The monkeys fake submission, keep reading the situation, and once the tyrannical alpha male seem weak, they beat him up and eventually kill him and take power.

The seagulls feel superior flying high with morals and big words, and shit on everything.
They achieve nothing more than moral highness and noise. On the way, the seagulls often forget why they are doing what they do, and got addicted to shiting on people and things and the feel good they derive from it.

The monkeys are head down, careful and calculating, in ambush to seize any opportunity to take power. They know that the goal is taking power. They never confuse the means with the purpose. They would lick the balls of the alpha male if that would help them achieve their goal. They would make noise but only to confuse and divide the other party.

Are you a seagull or a monkey!?… Read more

Activism without advocacy is entertainment

By:

An African from the Diaspora wrote on her Facebook wall ‘Black people are sold as slave in Lybia and the World is doing nothing’.

I told her, ‘We are the world.

Did you write to your senator?

Did write to your congressman?

Did you go to your pastor, imam, or priest to ask what is he doing?

Did you write to the United nations secretary general?

Did you call few friends to a gathering to think about what you can do?

Did you petition your government for action?

Did you walk into the building of a human right association and threatened not to leave unless something is done?

We are the world.
We are not powerless.

We are probably too passive and insensitive, reducing all our actions to a Facebook post.

Activism without advocacy is entertainment, and value posturing!… Read more

Dynasties Rules

By:

Ideologies come and go
Like fashion
Political parties come and go
Like summer flies
Leaders come and go
Like butterflies

Unlike the thunder
Don’t roar or parade
In silence speaks loud
In discretion show off
In ruthlessness get your way
In compassion win hearts
In wisdom fool the people

Pledge allegiance to no ideology
Tie not yourself to a party or a leader
Your loyalty is only to your dynasty

Be resilient to political changes
Be resilient to ideologies fades
Be indifferent to the daily turmoil

See your family in 500 years
Design the rules that keep it prosperous
Beyond time
Beyond scandals
Beyond celebrity
Beyond ideologies

Learn to read the world with the eyes of a turtle
The humility of a cow tale
The mind of a fox
The heart of lion

Those who see time beyond their lifespan
Those who read the world without agitation
Know that all this too would pass
And only they would still be there for eternity.

Don’t be prisoner of impatience!… Read more