I realise this post isn’t exactly going to earn me any fans, but like you know, on this forum I say what I will, especially if it’ll cause trouble. Hehe. Please read this, with as open a mind as you can, and perhaps I might convince – as I hope.
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Re: Why can’t he be like everyone else?
Since Chimamanda wrote her article a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been pressured to respond to the issue, both by people close to me, and my conscience also. I am a writer and a Nigerian, and quite easily, Chimamanda Adichie has been a role model, an example of some of what I can aspire to achieve, and after reading her post, you can imagine my sadness and disappointment.
A vast majority of the Nigerian youth idolizes Chimamanda, and rightly so, it is thus doubly agonizing to see her piping them, us, all the way over the cliff and into the sea.
In her article, she explains with a story, whether fictional or not, about a fellow called Sochukwuma and his ‘difference’ and why such a difference is no crime because he was too young to have chosen the lifestyle he was given, and there was no victim involved.
Very recently, in a conversation with a family friend, we examined Chimamanda’s position and he was very caustic. In his opinion, one carried by many others I must add, Chichi was suffering a malaise often endured by African notables who have experienced and become elevated in Western culture and thus, in a desperate bid to maintain that position, forgo their values and a bit of common sense.
Amusingly, according to her story, even at a very young age, she and her friends were able to quickly spot even then that Sochukwuma was “different” and “not like the other boys”. But we know, nothing can be hidden from children, and the truth is in the mouth of babes. Oh, they had no name for it, or they’ll have said ‘Gay’ and maybe Sochukwuma would have been hurt and not played with them again, and gone to another part of Nsukka or changed his ways. After all humans learn, and can un-learn bad habits. But Chimamanda says nothing of what happened to Sochukwuma or his alternate lifestyle after the boys threatened to throw him off a second floor balcony, but that does not concern us. Of course, Chichi would only have us bothered about how much of a crime against humanity it is to label an inhuman action, as a crime.
Fornication, adultery, human vices in all, and sinful things in every holy book, yet not crimes. And do you know why Miss Chimamanda? Because, they are very human vices. Polygamy and Abortion, also crime and non-crime, depending on the society. But since Western culture abhors one and extols the other, perhaps we should reverse and do also, democracy and freedom being nothing but the opinion of the civilised fostered upon the brute.
Tolerance is the African trademark, and in that you are right. Punishment, swift and merciless, for all things against the very nature of man is also our trademark. But this is not a question of what is African or what is not, it’s a matter of what is natural and what is wrong.
Homosexuality, is no benign difference, dear Chimamanda. It’s not the difference between aquamarine and turquoise, it’s the oddity that results in the end of the human race, a pervasion of the sexual relationship and the worst legacy you would leave your children.
The constant argument is that people are born homosexual, and thus it is not their fault they behave how they do. “If it’s so wrong, why were they created like that?” But people are born dyslexic, schizophrenic, manic-depressive and kleptomanic. Is it normal? Do we tolerate these ‘benign’ differences? Do we allow it fly because they are human beings also, or do we try to correct it?
If for some reason, you had recommended that appropriate measures be put in place in the corrective institutions the Nigerian homosexuals seem to be destined for, to ensure they are not merely punished but rehabilitated, I would have applauded you to high heavens and supported that course of action. But no, your very, very civilised mien and perhaps the image of fellow author Binyavanga Wainaina slimming while his green hair goes back to black in a Nigerian institution kept you from that.
Sir Arthur Clarke, anointed by the Queen and affirmed homosexual and atheist said, “One of the greatest tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion.” And he was right.
I am a Nigerian, living in Nigeria, and across the Atlantic and over the Mediterranean, I see societies where the true freedom is being practised; where a man cannot express his distaste at the sight of a cross-dresser without being persecuted as anti-democratic.
If I say I will not kill, or be promiscuous or lie, it is quickly assumed that I am a Christian or Muslim or belonging to some religious order which forbids such, forgetting that these are moral values. Human values. Things I am not supposed to do because they are wrong, by any standard. And thus in a bid to divest himself of religious leanings, so that one may be seen to be truly liberal, secular and freedom-loving, the 21st century civilised fellow becomes amoral.
The same man in the Senate or Parliament, makes laws which would not expose him to criticism by any liberal group, ensuring his re-election and popularity, and legalising inhuman activities in the process; since the forbidding of such activities may be interpreted as religious and thus unworthy of logical backing.
“Kill a baby in the womb! Marry same sex individuals! After all, your only argument against it is that is a bad thing. And we’re not Religious people here. We’re all about common good!”
Aunty Chimamanda, homosexuality is not wrong only because it is sinful and against the tenets of every true religion. It is wrong and unlawful because, it is immoral and un-natural and a very base activity.
Disclaimer
* I am not a card-carrying, gay-hating communist. LOL. These are simply my opinions on the matter, and open to discourse. Like the man said, it’s wiser to examine for yourself and decide, rather than loping with the gang. 🙂
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GOD bless Nigeria. Peace.
All in this life's journey... 