I have watched, listened and read how people from the South-West and South-East of Nigeria feel, with abundant ignorance, that they are more civilized than the Northerners given the outrage that follows indecent dressings or acts considered to be ‘normal’ in those regions. “How can a civilized society have issues with mini-skirts?”, some would ask.
This article is not to debate what is morally acceptable or the superiority of a culture over another, rather, the author seeks to argue that civilization is relative, time-based and that we are all backwards.
Let us take the movie industry as an example. In Kannywood movies, a sobriquet for Hausa-language cinema (part of Nollywood), you would find less nudity and erotic acts; this portrays the Hausas as less civilized and they need to break free. When the average Hausa lady drinks in public, smokes, she gets more support from non-hausas who are non-Muslims.
In Nollywood (let’s say Nollywood is the Yoruba and Igbo movie industry for the sake of this article), you would see many erotic acts, nudity (like Oloture), and substance. Now, if these depict civilization, then, Nollywood is also backwards if we judge them by the standards of immodesty in Hollywood or foreign movies.
Bruno, Aladeen (The dictator), Money Heist, Spartacus, the etc., are movies with strong sexual contents and homosexual acts. Would there be outrage if Odunlade Adekola and Muyiwa Ademola kiss and lick each other? What if Genevieve Nnaji and Mercy Aigbe suck each other’s breast and touch their private parts in a movie? Would it be in the news if Murphy Afolabi clearly sleeps with Fathia Balogun in a movie?
If yes is the answer, why do Western movies with such contents not generate outrage?
Off the movie industry, how about the society? The Hausa community has suffered from the whips and scorns of those who despise its conservative Islam-influenced culture. These same people are those some other cultures to be repulsive.
If the Yorubas and Igbos are really civilized, then,
– They must allow same-sex marriage
– Pastors should officiate same-sex marriage
– Like Luxembourg, a man should be president or governor and a man also the ‘first Lady’
– Parents should not tell their children what to wear and what not to wear.
Moralists have also argued that homosexuality, common in the west today, is a barbaric act that does not reflect the essence of the of enlightenment and also contradicts our biological make-up.
The irony of an homosexual that campaigns for animal rights, preaching for the preservation and not extinction of animals, what is he doing to his own human race? Were we all homos, we’ll go into extinction in no time. Why would we rely on IVFs when the male can impregnate the females? The animals would laugh at us.
A non-Muslim Nigerian sees the Hausa community or Arabs as backwards, the Nigerian sees the Western culture as great but doesn’t like homos, an American thinks the African society needs an upgrade – freedom and human rights, the conservative Arab argues that the Western culture is backwards. He argues that homosexuality is barbaric, that nudity was for the stone age before the age of enlightenment.
Perhaps if we study and understand different cultures, it would suffice to say, “We are all backwards, all civilized”.
However, if Western Culture is the definition of civilization, I want to be archaic. Call me Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman, Al-Archaickee
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