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Alagi Yorro Jallow.Fatoumatta: If you find anyone with the penchant for insulting a whole tribe, cursing an entire tribe, or talking down our country and compatriots because they do not believe in your beliefs or convictions about how the Gambia can get better, you have not listened to the social media public insulters and supporter of the United Democratic Party (UDP) insulting a whole Wolof tribe circulating on social media by an older adult with his grey beard displaying foolishness.
I understand that our morality is not his morality. I also appreciate that we cannot legislate morality or behavior. However, we also know that social cohesion is based on certain norms of acceptable behavior. There is order even in the jungle. Nevertheless, there is something systemically wrong. Suppose someone like that older adult on social media insulting the Wolof tribe, the public insulter, and the public sperm donor living in New York is hailed in a society. There is something wrong when the youth segment sees rudeness, being uncouth, disagreeable, and brash as attributes to celebrate.
I know most of us, and those before us were taught and raised right. However, somehow, most of us did not pass it on to our children. So now, we have an older adult as (petulant Veruca Salt older people) all over the place akin to Ajantala, the equivalent of the Frankenstein monster; for those who do not know, Ajantala was supposed to be a child born to a mythical African couple, grew up the same day and started to manifest wonders. The bane was that the wonders were malevolent streaks. He was even reported to have laid whips on the backs of everybody – including his parents! He was satanic.
Fatoumatta: We know survival is the hidden code in generational poverty. We know that fights are the way scores get settled in poverty. With limited possessions and with survival in mind, people are the only thing that can be possessed. That is why fights are so intense in generational poverty. We do understand that. If you must aspire to free yourself and rise above your beginnings, you must learn the rules of the game and tame your emotions.
People who hail those older adults raise much concern over our systemic loss of values. However, most importantly, it tells us how poverty has become weaponized and democratized in a conservative society. Do you want a husband, brother, uncle, nephew like those public insulters of the United Democratic Party( UDP)? Novelist Paulo Coelho wrote: “How people treat other people is a direct reflection of how they feel about themselves.”
Fatoumatta: What is the meaning of “Sit down and do nothing”? What is the difference between “a lot of Gambian youths” and “Gambian youths on social media”? Petty distinctions do not fool us. What is Ousainou Darboe doing to come out in public and condemned this egregious act of insulting an entire tribe in the Gambia? Ousainou Darboe’s defenders are trying too hard to find an exceedingly small difference that is neither essential nor useful in this political season. Attempting to cast the insults on favorable terms is disingenuous. It is the kind of hair-splitting that gives politics a bad name, thus making tin gods out of politicians. It is tasteless for a political party’s leadership, surrogates, supporters, and militants to berate against each other and voters anywhere and on social media. You have the right to defend; they too have the right to attack on policies and programs as well as on excellent ideas.
Fatoumatta: I agree with friends that we must not let the UDP public insulters and tribal lords define us. We must not mainstream rudeness and crudity. We must use our platform to educate. We expect to be well-behaved people; we are, and we must uphold that. We cannot fold our hands and let people stink the world in the name of choice. Only a foolish goose goes to a fox’s Church.
Video courtesy of Sarjo Tamba.
Thanks for the moved God bless you all