I know this thread was inspired by my previous post. Anyway, let me get straight to the point.
It’s not that Kenyans are low-IQ baboons who can’t be trusted with advanced technology, it’s that Kenyans have been let down by the system and their leaders.
Hypothetically speaking; if you take some of the smartest scientists and engineers from the West, rewind back time to when they were children and put them through the Kenyan system, they won’t be able to design cars, aeroplanes, computers, submarines and rockets.
It’s because the current crop of leaders and environment in Kenya, doesn’t allow innovation. Most brilliant young Kenyan minds have their dreams killed by the time they hit 25 years.
At least, in other countries you have a chance to be part of a team that engineers cars, smartphones, computers, rockets, aeroplanes, robots etc.
There is this argument that Singapore was at the same level with Kenya in 1963. But Singapore didn’t develop because they’re smarter than Kenyans but because they had visionary leaders.
Frankly, I can count only 2 visionary leaders in the history of Kenya; Tom Mboya and Mwai Kibaki.
We have Africans who are brighter than any white man or Chinese walking on earth. They have brilliant ideas and can achieve wonders. Unfortunately, the average African is suffering from intellectual dwarfism. We can no longer blame colonialism 50 years after independence. Asian and South American countries were also colonized but are miles ahead today. We can argue until the end of the world.
Individually, one can have self-confidence and assurance that they are not inferior. I do the same. But a realistic examination of the behaviors of majority of Africans raises more questions than answers.
I understand you but all is not lost, there is still a great number of intellectuals doing great engineering feats… only that the greedy leaders have taken all the airspace and shut down a crucial part of the innovation progress at the public level… but that does not mean we are complete losers.
If we continue putting down ourselves this much, even when conditions will be right we will have given up. We cannot afford to stop and wait for a better time… the time is now …to believe in ourselves no matter what.
So for your earlier post on nuclear energy , i believe the govt should move ahead with the implementation… nuclear energy is no joke and so international standards have to be met, it’s a great opportunity for learning and stretching our limits…
We will spend so many billions and there is a great risk, but the opportunity is even greater… we need to boost our national morale on all fronts
If it irks you so much, then the guys saying it have a point. You then have to find a way to convince yourself that you aren’t among them, just like guka does. Or contribute to the discussion because it will not stop, self awareness is a positive trait when used correctly.
I have been working on myself for a long time. I refused to believe the white man’s propaganda that the black man is intellectually inferior to him especially in sciences. That thing has disturbed me for a long time since when i was young. At some point i decided to do something that will counter this propaganda. I am doing my masters in science (physics) with an aim to do an experiment or publish a scientific paper that will have a big impact and will show that the black man also has a brain and can think.
Self hate is real and is absolutely deplorable.
However, if this post was elicited by the nuclear energy post by @smokin_gun …then this is ‘responding to a mosquito using a hammer’. As others alluded, disposal of nuclear waste is the most hazardous bit of the entire process and is frankly a risk that far outweighs any benefits that we can accrue at this point in time.
Still, it’s a very sobering post for fellow self doubting black people.
Environment plays a big role in the development of a person. Like if you go to ocha, you will find that most people there have almost the same pattern of behaviour. The same way if you go to India, you find that Indians can tell you ‘yes’ when they mean ‘no’. Then, they’re very stingy and pay peanuts.
In Kenya, majority of people are semi-illiterate and even the most educated will go back to default settings when it comes to electing their leaders. I am yet to come to a conclusion why most educated Kenyans behave like tribal village idiots during elections. Maybe it’s human nature.
But fact still remains, Kenyans have a long way to go before they start engineering trains, super highways, advanced weapons, computers etc.
They can do it but the current Kenyan system is designed to subvert your expectations.
I’m talking about corruption, nepotism, incompetent leaders and tribalism.
Do you know why this is? After brutal colonialism Kenya never paused to take stock of what happened to us since 1890 when wazungus came with guns and strange concepts such as paper money and racism and monogamy and identity cards. We continued with life like as if colonialism was the most natural of things just like rain.
That is why long after mzungu had left Kenya police were still harassing Kenyans asking for ID and if you didn’t have it you would be arrested.
Jomo Kenyatta wanted to rule without headaches so he continued with mzungu ways changing nothing.
I find it so strange that the brutality of British colonial rule is never covered in depth in secondary school history. The Jews can tell you all the death camps in Auschwitz and every sick thing that happened there. Very few Kenyans can tell you about colonial rule. It is by design that we are ignorant of the colonial brutality. The homeguards did not want the new generation to be attracted to and be empathetic to the MAUMAU and the only way to achieve that was to reduce their exposure to real history.
Kwanza the number of homeless people is rising very fast in wealthy nations. There are plenty of documentaries that show this
Someone should conduct an observational study on this. This Is why the west is so far ahead, they do all these kinds of studies before making a decision. Sisi kazi yetu ni opinion polls which are sponsored by political parties for the purposes of pissing on each other.
People say that westerners especially americans love EA compared to other parts of Africa as it is the least anti western region in Africa and the most welcoming place for them. They really like Kenya because they know that we are docile and submissive and we wont do jack to them.
What exactly is wrong with walking naked? Don’t we have nudist camps and beaches majuu? Development to me is knowing how to adapt to your environment. It is knowing what works for you and doing it. Our problem stems from the white man trying to convince us that his ways are best. Not all of them are.