Perception and a sprinkle of Stardust

"All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power, not truth.
- Friedrich Nietzsche.

Hi. How're you guys? I have been busy. Sorry. Before anything else, let me just say - Right now, I'm watching one of the greatest movies ever, Stardust. It's absolutely fantastic. The last brother just died and the evil one is all like, I'm King, I'm King. But he's reminded he isn't King just yet because he does not have the stone. Well, eventually he'll find out there is another heir to the throne, who, by the way, is/was just an innocent bystander who was unfortunate at the time to be chasing stars and the star holds the stone. So the young innocent bystander then becomes a part of a battle, a big battle, and stuff. Anyway, stardust is awesome, that's all I'm gonna say.

Anyway, I wasn't planning on talking about Stardust today, matter of fact, I wasn't planning on talking about anything, but since I am here, whatever. Oh Robert De Niro is absolutely rad in Stardust. Okay, no more stardust.

So, Africans. What's your perception about Africans?? You know I actually googled this, you should try it sometime. Google 'perception about Africans', oh and by the way, in Nigeria, right now, the time is 1:10AM. So here I am, googling perception about Africa at 1 in the morning - I hardly sleep these days anyway, I digress.

So what I've been trying, not so succintly to say is, the perception of most people outside Africa is so, so extremely bad, like, in their minds, Africans are weird people that walk about naked during the day, looking for water, and then at night, they all gather around under the moonlight and dance, lol! Well, that, my friends, is not very far from the truth, especially considering that I'm on the internet right now and I'm watching Stardust, and I'm in Africa. Okay, seriously though, maybe some parts of Africa still walk around naked during the day looking for water, and gather around under the moonlight and dance and then tell uninteresting stories, maybe, but most in most parts, we've gone past that. Like, we're now nearer to our European and American neighbours/friends.
We don't walk around without shoes, and it's not all red sand here, we actually have tarred roads, maybe not very tarred, but tarred.
We don't all speak Swahili or Afrikaans, or whatever it is certain foreigners think we speak, even though those as essential parts of our culture, we also speak English and French and Spanish and Portuguese, and stuff.

The African press have done an impeccable job in exporting only the bad part of Africa to the outside world, the part where we are gun slinging maniacs that kill each other, the part where we are hungry and frail and dying. The part where we have no shoes - and would you believe it, the current President of Nigeria actually used that as a campaign strategy - he basically won because he told people he had no shoes, idiot!
Anyway, Africa really is not that bad, well, we are no where near the place we could be, however things are looking up, and in the not so distant future, we'll be up there. So next time you think of Africa, don't think of it as someplace where the people there are naked, moonlight dancers, but as a place with potential, and a place that will eventually become something big.

Meanwhile in Stardust, The innocent bystander is now journeying back towards the falling star for the final battle, one that he will win of course, and then eventually find out that his mother is the daughter of the dead king, and he's about the only heir left, every other one is either dead or about to die. And here's a classic line: "'I know father, you are strong and courageous.' And cunning, most importantly, cunning!"

Till next time,, Keep dreaming!!