In a zero fuck world, many important discussions are drowned at the deep end of insouciance. The complexities of our realities, the variance of opinions, our prejudices, and our visceral interests find sustenance in stubborn and arrogant insular beliefs, backed by facile generalization.
It is a pattern that is cheered by social media. The louder the voice, the bigger the support. Nobody checks for good judgment or nous.
Be loud. Be vulgar. Smash a table. Climb on a podium and throw invective. Speak under the influence of cheap drugs. Give the middle finger. Put a gun to your head. Hit harder.
In all of that mess, the tiny voice of reason is the needle in a haystack. Almost impossible to find.
Reason has no place in a society that lives on the edge of inanity. A people who defer to mob justice to solve almost all their problems. A desperate culture that burns a house to kill a roach… it is almost hilarious to engage it in any significant conversation.
The majority dictates the tone of a discourse; matters that affect the dignity of others are left in the hands of marauders- people who find extreme pleasure in sticking a finger into your anus, simply to humiliate you.
Dealing with this majority in matters of misogyny or good ol’ sexism, for instance, is a big joke.
Yes, I see you roll your eyes. May your eyeballs not drop into your mouth and you mistakenly chew it.
One of the bigger-than-you issues of 2015 was Blossom’s campaign against NewAge chargers- a blatant sexist Ad that reinforced the culture of body-shaming in its most uncomfortable manner.
There’s only one gender that suffers body shaming in fluid consistency. Women are body shamed for everything- for being too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, too dark, plenty pimples, no breasts, big breasts, no hips, flat buttocks, big nose, short hair, big feet… we begin to find our confidence in these body parts.
That was what irritated Blossom, and I supported that movement, I was ready to wear a t-shirt for it!
It was yet another needle (in a haystack). A bigger-than-you issue. How do you fight an Ad agency for sexism when the entire industry- stretching back to the 1800s, all the way to Miami and Australia- rely on making women feel inadequate and insecure just so they can sell products as flippant as lipstick and shampoo?
How do you win sexism in advertising when it is the only air it breathes all over the world?
Our voices drowned in the noise of “bhet, is it your nyash?”
It is the same way I feel about Olamide, his music, his tantrums and his goons.
The bigger-than-you issue makes it impossible for even self-proclaimed feminists to see how despicable his recent actions are.
Here is a musician whose entire career is built on misogyny (like many others). The bigger-than-you issue wears everybody out as far as music goes. We have come to accept the toxicity of sexist music. Even when the music tells you it is going to fuck you, cut off your breasts, stuff it in the fridge, and rape your roommate…we dance to it. We have lost that fight. We cannot find the seams; we do not know where to pull out the threads.
Misogyny in music is one big elephant; its varied interpretations from even the discerning will make you sad. So we have resigned to rolling our waists and supporting the misogynist of choice in any given situation.
I cannot wrap my head around how only very few people find Olamide guilty in the Headies drama. This man cursed out on Live TV, he wrecked the Headies green room, he tweeted the most disgraceful tweets, threatened another artiste, sent his goons to shame a female colleague…yet we find it entertaining, hilarious, some kind of zero-fuck state of mind that is commendable. We tolerate this madness the way we tolerate the music- a sweet-sounding tale of how women are fucked, fake, good for only a few raunchy things, and discarded. His biggest fans are women. They pay to listen to him tell them about their body parts, then they write cute reviews about it all.
The bigger-than-you issue of addressing this man’s immaturity is going to get lost in all the hailing and support he has received for being a jerk.
He is street… as if that makes him a higher being, allowed to throw a fit, kill thousands in the wilderness, drown an entire nation, scatter the people at Babel…because he is upset Lil Kesh did not win.
Since when did ‘street’ care about awards?
The nerve of us to even find any fault in… “Olamide if you want the car, come and collect it”. The impudence to question Don Jazzy’s motives, when we are confronted with bigger issues of lack of discernment.
We have endorsed this puerile outburst of Olamide.
We shall reap its consequences.