Hatred can lead to self destruction and worrying about nonsensical detail, and then ending up proving the wrong point. Long weekend, as usual one wants to catch up with some friends and acquaintances. As usual, people end up talking of history and the unfairness of life. Africa once had great knowledge centers and civilizations, the evidence is everywhere. I was given evidence of Egypt, the ruins of Zimbabwe, I was informed that these stretch all the way into South Africa, more in the Northern Limpopo province than there are in Zimbabwe, more but not as large, these were hidden during apartheid so as not to give blacks any ideas they must know their place below the white men.
This is all very well, but one must look at their situation now, trapping oneself in glories of the past is dangerous, so great there existed universities in West Africa, but today that is a melting pot of poverty and the greatest disrespect of knowledge. Look at the now, does Africa respect knowledge, there is very little evidence of that when the Minister of health in the great African hope South Africa can stand up and say that she does not believe that traditional medicine need clinical testing, why would she say that, when she might find other uses for the drugs and know exactly how they cure, fearing science when she is supposed to be the scientist, its dangerous.
But the worst trappings of a hurt ego is to say people look at things differently. I was told that whites only want to see things their way when in reality there are many ways to look at things. Again anything that is not science can be seen in as many different ways, but a fact can not be seen in many different ways. But this is besides the point, the analogy of the blind men and the elephant. One touched the leg he said an elephant is like a tree, another the tusk and he said it is as hard and as sharp as nothing he has known, another the tail and said its like a snake. Well if one is blind, they should look to do something else, they can not see the whole picture, they where all wrong.
A computer is made like this, make it, don’t start saying I can replace the copper wiring with tobacco, you can not. You want to make a car, please do not say in my view I can use iron to replace gasoline, it just does not make sense. Think about it, what has building a car today got to do with once having universities before colonialism, are universities the only way of learning, then one has already trapped themselves.
The strangest thing the same people who bemoan Africa would be caught dead putting on any African attire, though Indians put on their turbines, Jews their skull caps, Arabs their keffiyeh, Indian is making great progress with their traditional attire, this so called super Africans like Mugabe putting on a Shona head dress he will feel like not good enough, knowledge is not the attire, but the attire shows one is confident in who they are, they can seek theories because they are not worried, they will do the right thing. If one is so proud of such a ‘glorious’ past, why are they ashamed of the attire, deep down they have been beaten mentally, hence they themselves do not believe anything worthwhile can come out of Africa except in the past.
Everyone knows that men is men, a point not worth arguing, hence the reason for denying slaves education because even slave masters knew anybody can get knowledge, and investigate phenomenon. Get over it no matter how it hurts, it’s competition, the game is usually dirty, destroy your enemy by destroying his mind, tell him he is incapable, and unfortunately African presidents believed this. Go investigate the full elephant and stop saying its like a tree trunk.
Bhekuzulu Khumalo
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