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A LOT OF COURAGE
Where I'm from, it takes a lot of courage and firm resolve to demand accountability and criticize politicians when you meet them physically, especially those who represent your constituency.
It is easy to make such demands and criticisms on social media, when and where you are out of physical view, and maybe far away from home. The real test of one's conviction comes when physical access to politicians becomes a reality.
To pass this test, you must have overcome the fear for your life, or the possible repercussions - on your loved ones, if the said politicians are such that perceive your demands for accountability and criticism as a "challenge on their high-horse authority" which must not go unpunished. Our brand of democracy is indeed a strange one.
You must have overcome the urge to derive personal benefits from politicians, to satisfy selfish interests, and eat your own portion of the "national cake" before the opportunity vanishes. You either do not perceive, or you have stopped perceiving politics as an avenue for wealth accumulation for politicians; and you do not regard access to politicians as a means for enriching oneself and pursuing selfish interests.
Folks who have remote contact with politicians see things differently from those who have proximate contact with them. From afar, many of us criticize, maybe because we see the failures of these politicians clearly. But when we come closer, our vision may get blurred with what we see, get or envisage from politicians, hence, we are likely to be converted to praise singers, just as they desire.
Pending when our democracy develops to a point where constructive criticisms are not viewed as attacks on the government; pending when wealth is efficiently distributed and most people do not need to lick politicians' boots to survive, it is more effective for patriots to keep and expand their distances from politicians, especially if their unique convictions and such resolve that prompt criticisms and demands for accountability aren't sufficiently potent yet.
This is how patriots will avoid chewing things that clip tongues, gag mouths or choke long necks.
© Ogbole Agala
It is easy to make such demands and criticisms on social media, when and where you are out of physical view, and maybe far away from home. The real test of one's conviction comes when physical access to politicians becomes a reality.
To pass this test, you must have overcome the fear for your life, or the possible repercussions - on your loved ones, if the said politicians are such that perceive your demands for accountability and criticism as a "challenge on their high-horse authority" which must not go unpunished. Our brand of democracy is indeed a strange one.
You must have overcome the urge to derive personal benefits from politicians, to satisfy selfish interests, and eat your own portion of the "national cake" before the opportunity vanishes. You either do not perceive, or you have stopped perceiving politics as an avenue for wealth accumulation for politicians; and you do not regard access to politicians as a means for enriching oneself and pursuing selfish interests.
Folks who have remote contact with politicians see things differently from those who have proximate contact with them. From afar, many of us criticize, maybe because we see the failures of these politicians clearly. But when we come closer, our vision may get blurred with what we see, get or envisage from politicians, hence, we are likely to be converted to praise singers, just as they desire.
Pending when our democracy develops to a point where constructive criticisms are not viewed as attacks on the government; pending when wealth is efficiently distributed and most people do not need to lick politicians' boots to survive, it is more effective for patriots to keep and expand their distances from politicians, especially if their unique convictions and such resolve that prompt criticisms and demands for accountability aren't sufficiently potent yet.
This is how patriots will avoid chewing things that clip tongues, gag mouths or choke long necks.
© Ogbole Agala
