Now that the dust has settled on the KTalk weekend wars (2 threads by @msalame grace and @Shabba Ranks about religion and one by @msalame grace about secession), its time for reflection.
I was going through some random tweets, and I came across this one:
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We have all said, or thought the following statements in one form or the other:
[ol]
[li]I’m proud of being tribe X / nationality X / religion X, and I will defend it against others who oppose it[/li][li]I don’t like or agree with tribe X / nationality X / race X / religion X, because they do certain things[/li][li]I think or do some things in a certain manner, because that’s how things have always been done[/li][/ol]
Now, there’s nothing wrong with being “proud” of your tribal/nationality/religious label. But if you see the big picture, you’ll understand that you had no conscious role in choosing who you are (ok, a few people chose their religion). You were just placed there by the lottery of Nature, same as the people you don’t agree with. Is it worth spending your whole life defending labels that were placed upon you by others?
As for doing things because they are part of culture and things have always been done like that, please understand that culture is dynamic. There is nothing that has “always been done like that”. And even if they have always been done like that, you had no role in deciding how they are done, so the circumstances of your ancestors might not apply to you.
The moral of the story is: Don’t expend too much energy defending or opposing labels that were placed upon you, or you will lose track of the important things in life.
Kweli kabisa. It is total nonsense to defend a religion which was imposed on you by your parents. People should learn to keep an open mind. And why is religion such thorny issue in Kenyatalk? We never had this problem in our old village
“The moral of the story is: Don’t
expend too much energy bashing the ideologies that you don’t believe in, or you will lose track of
the important things in life.”
but no one forcefully placed me or u to believe in ur religion… ill defend what i believe in coz that is what my mind has decided… i thought about it and decided this is what is right
and all we want is to show some respect and restrain when u r pointing a finger in my jesus…
if this village is supposed to be civil and respectful lets then be fair to all… as someone said admin hawezi kubali abusing mohamad here no one can get away with posting memes which lampoon uhuru or ruto hapa
Well Said. If we cannot allow for the mocking of mere mortals in the village, why would we allow for the bashing of a Supreme being whom the mortal acknowledges that his power, leadership and authority comes from?
I think ppl go through that moment in their teens when they try make sense of their labelled religion vs reality of life.
With dual citizenship one can experiment with alternate nationalities, although I personally find national boundaries to somewhat artificial. I wonder how things would be if society was allowed to organically cluster around shared values rather than ‘nations’
Jana I gave the Atheists/admin/mods an open challenge. To bash Islam for two weeks straight and see if the site will survive. You see the reason why Christians do not retaliate when all manner of abuse, mockery and insults are directed towards Christ, God and them is because of the Christian teachings of not retaliating when persecuted, you are expected to preach love when one spews hate. That’s why Christians are an atheist’s punching bag.