When a new television series comes out the guys producing it want to know whether its a hit or they perform what they call test screenings. Simple enough they put together people representing different demographics and get their feedback. Well I did the exact same thing with the topic of today and It was a unanimous scream of disgust and disbelief. Simply put ,it caught the attention of all the people I tested it on.
Just to give my topic a little background i will start by explaining a simple known theory known as "Butterfly effect". If you have watched the movie then you know what i mean. If you haven't watched it or run into it at some point then ,In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. In a nutshell, a butterfly could flap its wings in one part of the world and this small action could trigger events leading it to rain in another part of the world. Simple enough right?
So why am I dwelling on this whole thing right now, well a large number of humans do not understand the effect of their actions and whether their little acts snowball into a major catastrophe. Now it hits me, that would have been a great title. The snowball effect. Sounds like a children's book so ill just carry on.
The metropolis of Nairobi is made of every language group in the country and its status as a major economic hub means everyone in the world is represented here. Still yet to bump into a native american but ill keep my fingers crossed. This mixed pot of peoples means that a lot of diversified cultures collide on a daily basis and how you react to these collisions could be the grain of sand that tips the scales of perception with regards to cementing perceived stereotypical behavior .I haven't collided with tourists or foreign nationals as much so i wouldn't be able to comment on that but Nairobians collide every second of everyday. How you react to that collision is very important and those absent thought are very dangerous.
Before you raise a hand to react to something just think about whether that guy would hesitate if the opportunity to harm your brother arises....
Just to give my topic a little background i will start by explaining a simple known theory known as "Butterfly effect". If you have watched the movie then you know what i mean. If you haven't watched it or run into it at some point then ,In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. In a nutshell, a butterfly could flap its wings in one part of the world and this small action could trigger events leading it to rain in another part of the world. Simple enough right?
So why am I dwelling on this whole thing right now, well a large number of humans do not understand the effect of their actions and whether their little acts snowball into a major catastrophe. Now it hits me, that would have been a great title. The snowball effect. Sounds like a children's book so ill just carry on.
The metropolis of Nairobi is made of every language group in the country and its status as a major economic hub means everyone in the world is represented here. Still yet to bump into a native american but ill keep my fingers crossed. This mixed pot of peoples means that a lot of diversified cultures collide on a daily basis and how you react to these collisions could be the grain of sand that tips the scales of perception with regards to cementing perceived stereotypical behavior .I haven't collided with tourists or foreign nationals as much so i wouldn't be able to comment on that but Nairobians collide every second of everyday. How you react to that collision is very important and those absent thought are very dangerous.
So what have I been babbling about, all across history there have been people judged over the actions of an individual or a small group of people. Case in point Osama bin laden and the Taliban. With regards to Afghanistan, the country in itself has been in conflict with neighbors for centuries for their freedom but the only reason that most people know about it is because the FBIs most wanted man chose it as a base of operation. Now here is the shocker, Osama was not afghan but he was Saudi Arabian. His presence in the world has shattered mutliple lives and his death was celebrated everywhere. He would be the proverbial flapping of a butterfly's wings and the death and destruction across the world would be the rain.
So closer to home ,you may not know this but tribal wise I come from a family with mixed language groups. With that out of the way lets move one. Every single tribe has its label/stereotype and the more we react to people the more they are cemented. One tribe is seen as lazy while the other is hard working, now this may be true for a number of the people within those communities but ask yourself if it is true for all of them. Now if i was part of the tribe that has been labelled as lazy and I have worked my ass off to get an interview that I fail just because of my tribal background how do you expect me to react. If for some inane reason i start dating a girl and the only reason her parents do not accept me is because i am from a particular language group, how would that make me feel. Hatred would spawn from all that wouldn't it and that would snowball into a dislike for that particular language group. Segregation and bias starts with that, even for those who label themselves as not affiliated to any group would have no choice but to align themselves as the boundaries become more well defined.
So closer to home ,you may not know this but tribal wise I come from a family with mixed language groups. With that out of the way lets move one. Every single tribe has its label/stereotype and the more we react to people the more they are cemented. One tribe is seen as lazy while the other is hard working, now this may be true for a number of the people within those communities but ask yourself if it is true for all of them. Now if i was part of the tribe that has been labelled as lazy and I have worked my ass off to get an interview that I fail just because of my tribal background how do you expect me to react. If for some inane reason i start dating a girl and the only reason her parents do not accept me is because i am from a particular language group, how would that make me feel. Hatred would spawn from all that wouldn't it and that would snowball into a dislike for that particular language group. Segregation and bias starts with that, even for those who label themselves as not affiliated to any group would have no choice but to align themselves as the boundaries become more well defined.
So the base of hatred has been laid now we need to bring in the catalyst, politicians. Just like the conmen who pray on the gullible, the preacher who preys on the spiritually weak and lion who preys on the gazelle politicians prey on those boundaries. A politicians basic setting is self preservation which means that they would get you to lay on hot coals so that they could walk on your backs to the other side. With that setting they come and widen the cracks in your resolve to live happily next to your neighbor and with that produces the post election violence.
Before you raise a hand to react to something just think about whether that guy would hesitate if the opportunity to harm your brother arises....
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