I chose Memoire's post as the base of my rebuttal as it was most recent and captured most of what i thought was wrong; keep in mind this opinion holds for other blog posts I have read.
The real issues, in my view, in respective rebuttal sequence are:
1) Lucy demands that music be turned off :
No big deal? The big deal is in how she carried herself as first lady. She has every right to be mad, but to storm in the way she did, say the things she did, and even try disconnect the sound is inexcusable for a person of her stature. 'decency' & respect in the way you approach a situation is not a western concept here - The story claims Diop Called State house to inquire if the party could go on, and he get the green light. When your own children are trying to calm you down, i think the term hysteria can be appropriated. Real issue: Manner of conflict resolution in times of anger.
"I say to Diop: a woman is equal to a man, tell her about the party if she lives next door."
This assumption that Diop failed to tell Mrs Kibaki of the party because she is not a man. I mean this is tantamount to reading the guys mind!
"oh how I wish I had bodyguards, I would do what Lucy did."
A fine specimen of what is fundamentally wrong with our politicians in Kenya once they get into power. With great power, comes great responsibility. irresponsibility is when those in power, ABUSE it, just by virtue of the fact that it is at their disposal and because they cannot be held accountable. Memoire, lets hope you dont become Mrs Kibaki anytime soon. And we are certainly holding you accountable Mrs Kibaki.
2) Lucy 'Storming' into Nation Centre
"I dont give a damn kind of women"Ur kidding me right? The only reason Lucy was able to orchestrate her shenanigens @ the NC are becuase she is the wife of the most powerful man in Kenya. Period. You try and go hijack the nation in your free time and see how long it takes u before your thrown out by security. Real issue here is : ABUSE OF POWER, and disregard for protocol.
3) Lucy and feminism:
This one i dont know where to even begin. Not to get too far into this ensuing feminist debate, I will say that this statement betrays the lack of objectivity yet again:
"where are the real feminists?f Lucy wants to be bad tempered, outspoken, adamant, she has every right to be, as does every human. Diop abused his capacity as a tenant and he thought that being a world-bank bigshot gave him immunity."
Doesn't Diop have the right to hold a gathering in his house and make merry? Ama Lucy's right to be downright rude is of more pertinence & convenience to the feminist movement? I mean she is asking this guy who his mother is!?!? Lets be real. there's a difference to being outspoken and downright abrasive. The sad thing is, as mentioned by many other bloggers, that no one can particularly blame her as it appears to me a medical condition gone worse.
And the call to feminists to justify her obstinate behavior - i mean..this one lathers me with ire - is this what feminists are all about? Do you speak on their behalf? If there are any feminists reading this, please come correct, because this statement may have you grossly misrepresented.
I find that women in the diaspora especially get so detached from african culture that they fail to see how the distinct roles of a man and a woman in african home can live in harmony. This is the reason perhaps phrases like 'head of the home" or 'control the family' are sure to rattle the cages of many a feminist - but i digress. The real issue here is that Kibaki is expected to CONTROL his own household because it is is OUT OF CONTROL and because Lucy is in the centre of this hurricane...Not because he is a man, something feminists were incredibly quick to jump on. If Kibaki was the one going bananas, many including myself would expect LUCY to take control of her family.
This is a case of, as Mato from Bullets and Honey would say, delicious irony;Kibaki's family is perhaps the perfect microcosm of Kenya. He is the head of the family. Something that might be a bitter pill to swallow, but he really is. This is a debate of its own. He is also the President of the republic. Questions of Leadership in both areas, or lack thereof, are unsurprisingly abound.
"I say: be gone, world-bank bigshot, be gone, the world bank is only plundering and looting and pillaging our continent."
Hate or love the WB, one needs to hear Diop's take on the economy to give this man some due respect. I watched him on 'up close and candid' and was impressed - kenya should feel a sense of loss IMO...however that is neither here nor there.
Real issue here: far too many to enlist..will save for another post.
4) Lucy's mistakes:
"media doesn’t seem to understand that their representations of women are backward and chauvinistic."
Perhaps you need to watch the video again. I and many others are basing all arguments on what I SAW. A lady assaulting , yes assaulting, a poor Camera man DOING HIS JOB. If anything he should be commended for such bravery. Assault is Backward, and uncouth. Anywhere else in the world, this woman would not be chekaing at the implications of that action. I mean we are talking some serious litigation here.
A woman Hijacking a the largest media house in the country..Laughable and yes, backward - you should read some of the posts non-kenyans have been writing about this.
With the media nitpicking her style of dress and manner of speech - (which i didn't personally find overemphasized) perhaps you are correct. My feeling is that this and past generations of Kenyans have forgotten what it feels like to 'have' a first lady, and that their images of a first lady construed in their minds don't quite match that of the Lucy persona. And lets not be naive..The media is in the business of selling papers..so when a story of such sensationalist nature literally brings itself into the publishing house, it is hard to imagine that the Publishing house would ignore Lucy's insistence on 'bikini's'. Real issue here: First lady is accountable to the public for the persona she projects as she is a public figure. The media is in the business of holding the figures accountable. So either dance the dance or face the consequences.
5) Kenyan journalism :
I choose to look at the glass as far more than half full. Kenya's media enjoys some amazing talent that has been globally recognized.I watched with great zeal as Kenyan journalists swept the CNN sponsored African journalist of the year awards in south africa Last summer. Political analysis is stellar, but perhaps tainted at times. And no they were not freelance.
Spend some time watching Fox News, and you will begin to be grateful at the quality and debatable objectivity of the kenyan media (not just publishing houses). Relative to other countries in africa I would say that Kenya is a shining star in terms of the great leaps taken freedoms allowed to journalists and presentation of content. Something that is manifest in the selection of Nairobi to host this years CNN African Journalist awards
While the there has been some display of shoddy journalism (see Thinkers room plagiarized), I think we ought to take some time to honor the Lucy Oriang's , the Linus Kaikai's, Farida Karonei's ,Kwendo Opanga's and even the Immanuel Juma's . I was extremely active in my high school newspaper and I can tell you the little I know of true journalism is that it is a dedication like no other...
Real issue here: Blanket standards for the entire kenyan media: they are not productive.
So much more to say, but my summary skills leave much to be desired, so I will give it a rest here for now.
This post is nothing without the feedback, so let it come raining in.
No comments:
Post a Comment