You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum! by Field Ruwe

[SeeKer]

I love traveling and I have the most interesting conversations when I am traveling especially on long flights but when I read recount of this flight conversation, I just had to share it. It was written by a Zambian media practioner and PhD candidate. He 'allegedly' sat next to a whiteman on a LA-Boston flight and this was his experience. Forgive me if I don't paste the entire article and exercise my discretion in what I quote. If you wish to read the entire article google the name you should get lots of hits.

 

I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”

He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.”

The smile vanished from my face.

“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and me?”

“Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.”

For a moment I was wordless.

“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”

I was thinking.

He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”

I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.

“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”

He looked me in the eye.

“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”

I was deflated.

“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”

 

Though the beginnings of the article seem anecdotal to me, I am wondering if we really have beaten this horse to death; the whole Africa is backward and that our intellect is being pimped out for other uses other than to uplift ourselves. I have read lot of replies to this article but I am wondering if a SOLer were to respond how would they defend the intellectual African??

[BOB]

Hey Seeker, Long time no see...I hope all is poa kwako Insha Allah.

 

 

There's nothing to defend here as the mzungu is absolutely right, of course he could've chosen his words much wiser but I guess that's what you need to say to when you're dealing with some one in a trance and in my opinion the so-called african intellectuals are in trance.

 

As a somali most educated somali men/women I've met come across as vain and fake and completely out of touch with reality especially when it comes to our country...I'm sorry to say this but I cannot defend our intellectuals as I think some of them are part of the collective problem we face as a nation whilst the rest either don't care or too scared to grab the bull by the horn.

 

Just look at SOL politics section to realise how grim the future of Somalia looks as these retards posting on SOL were supposed to be the beacon of hope to our fallen nation but it looks like they'd do far worse damage than those savages before them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[NGONGE]

Seeker, a bigger "poa kwako" (whatever that means) from me, dear. Hope all is well with you.

 

As for the article. It's simple airplane chitchat that's neither here nor there. The "Bawana" is talking rubbish and has found himself a meek African that considers such talk some sort of 'intellecual debate'. It is not.

 

I can't abide by anyone that bases his argument on generalisations (including my friend Bob above). There are thousands of Africans who return home and achieve miracles that net-browsing westerner would not achieve in a million years. Bob looks at SOL's discussion and assumes that all Somalis are lazy or don't care. But how could a country suffer a war for over twenty years yet have buildings being built, universities being run and lots of basic institutions existing (more so in the case of SL & PL)?

 

What about those that do/did the Book Library tour for example? Lazy?

 

Dee naga daaya.

[BOB]

NGONGE;780037 wrote:

Bob looks at SOL's discussion and assumes that all Somalis are lazy or don't care. But how could a country suffer a war for over twenty years yet have buildings being built, universities being run and lots of basic institutions existing (more so in the case of SL & PL)?

 

I admit I haven't been to politics section for years now however I've seen many continue their bickering from there onto Sports, General or poetry section and that tells me all these years nothing has changed and people still continue to argue, fight and curse each other over their stup!d qabiil and you know what the funniest thing is, I can count with my one hand on how many SOLers on here that I don't know which tribe they belong to simply because we're literally forced to read about one's qabiil everytime they fart as it will be posted on SOL. now can you blame me if I class such group of people as tribalists rather than nationalists? I can be classed as Lazy too because I've given up on Somalia, I'm not neccessarily accepting defeat but rather being realistic...does that make sense? Lol

 

 

As for the Mzungu other than the strong wordings he's absolutely right and those Africans you mentioned that go back home do it not out of patriotism but out of greed...trust me on this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Sensei]

Oh wow! This man should have kept the discussions, that go on in his head, private. Ruwe could be hiding behind imaginary- Mr. Walter to put across his own theories about his own race, and his own people.

 

Now that is the difference between anaga & asiga, the dumbest Somali wouldn't out put up with that. Walter would have aptly slapped on his marble-head long before.

[SeeKer]

Hey Bob and Ngonge!

Alhamdullilahi mola amenibariki :-) Ngonge that means I am grateful to the good Lord for everything. How are you both doing? Did I miss any milestones?

 

Ngonge I believe you used a key word to explain what the miniscule amt of people that go back do i.e. they create miracles. What I believe the conversation between the bwana and the mtu was hinting at was innovation and sustainable progress or lack there of. Whilst I agree with you on use of generalization, statistically speaking the trend would seem to favor bwana and bob`s thoughts. I was wondering what argument would one use in the face of such stark contrast between the west and Africa. Mind you I am not trying to reenact the Orientalist argument but we seem to have been shooting ourselves in the foot and hemmorraging out more than we can infuse. So what say you ngonge were you the African on trial would that be your only line of defense?

 

Sensei, while its admirable to be reactive to certain things one has to be able to decipher truth from fluff. Find the truth in the article and respond to it in kind :-)

[Sensei]

^ There is no greater "laziness" than for Mr. Ruwe to sit through that public undressing of Africans, yet more dangerous is that Ruwe tries to find some truth in Walters view of Africans. I am not only reacting, but actively oppose when a white person unabashedly pedals stereotypes to reinforce the African incompetence. All I am saying- This is a classical case of a white person laying claim to the universal truth, while the 3rd W person sits idle to make some sense of this "truth."

 

 

"We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”

 

This would make me engage in some deep self-analysis. NO, heck no. I would remind Walter of the shady character he is, remind him who is the "lazy" and corrupt fellas are. I would also report him to whom ever would take action to make sure that he has no dealings in my country. Finally, Americans involved with Africa tend to have better understanding of Africa, and are more sympathetic.