HEROES DON'T USE CAMERA PHONES

Imagine that you are walking down the street and all of a sudden you hear a noise coming from one of the surrounding buildings. When you look up, you see a man about to jump to his death from the 6^th floor balcony. What would be your first reaction? Save the man or take a picture?

In 2012, a New York tabloid was slammed for publishing pictures of a man who was about to die. The man was pushed into the train tracks by a “psycho” and he was desperately trying to scramble to safety before he was killed by a subway train. The picture of this unfortunate incident was accompanied with a headline “DOOMED – Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die.”

 Many people asked why the photographer did not help him or make an effort to try and save this man but chose to take pictures of the incident. The photographer claimed that he was very far away to help the victim and the only reason he got those pictures was because he was trying to draw the attention of the train driver by using the flash on the camera.

“I saw a body flying through the air and onto the track. I just started running. I had my camera up - it wasn't even set to the right settings- and I just kept shooting and flashing, hoping the train driver would see something and be able to stop. I had no idea I was shooting.”

After the man was killed by the train, many people came with camera phones to take pictures and videos of the mangled man.

It is on occasions like this one where heroes are made but was it possible for the photographer to save that man?  It is only him who knows because we were not there.

Just a few days ago I was watching a documentary showing two buffaloes fighting. It was a bloody battle. The two animals were endlessly gorging each other’s heads with their sharp horns. They were tired and it seemed like the only way this fight will end was when one of them was killed. I was so emotional that I had to change the channel because I did not want to see which animal would be killed.

This left me wondering whether the photographer of that footage felt the same way I did but he just had to finish filming the entire episode because it was his job. It is true that humans have an interest in watching violence. That is why the Romans had gladiators who entertained audiences in violent combat with other gladiators or wild animals. Violent sports are still ongoing in this century although they are not as bloody and fought to the death as it was in the Roman arenas. People still enjoy watching a bloodyfight.

When I was a kid one of my wishes was to see an airplane at close range and maybe even touch it. We were living very far from the airport so each time an airplane flew by my wish was that it falls down so I can see it at close range. What I did not realize was that those airplanes carried hundreds of people. It was only after I had grown up a bit that it dawned on me that if the airplane fell from the sky it will kill a lot of people who are on broad and maybe some others on the ground.  I started having dreams of airplanes falling from the sky and narrowly missing me. I still have these dreams occasionally. 

The same can be said of many people who watch MotoGP, Grand Prix, Nascar and other motor sports. We secretly wish to see a crash because that adds some excitement to the game without realizing that it may kill someone.  It is only after that crash happens and someone dies that we realize this was not Need for Speed where we can reload the game. It was real and it was not good that the car had to explode or flip over like that.

On December 21 last year, in Zhejiang Yongkang City, a business man invited his employees to spend the summer solstice by having dinner together. When an employee who had drank too much alcohol lost his footing while reliving himself by the river, the boss jumped into the river to rescue him but unfortunately he drowned and perished. The city’s municipal party secretary and mayor issued a statement calling for people to learn from what this man did and conferred upon him the title of “hero”.

Coming back to the question at the top, if I saw a man about to jump to his death, I honestly wouldn't know what to do at first. It would be a scary moment that even getting out the camera phone and immediately start taking photos would be the last thing on my mind.  Only photojournalists would react instantly in that situation because they are always on the lookout for the most exciting or tragic shots. 

Image courtesy of stockimages/freedigitalphotos.net 

WHAT IF THE DOOMSDAY PREPPERS ARE RIGHT?

It was Thursday, 20 December 2012. It was evening and a few hours before midnight. Doomsday, as allegedly predicted by the Mayans, was slowly approaching.  According to a Reuters global poll, one in 10 of us was feeling anxiety about 21 December.  Despite many assurances that the Mayans never predicted the end of the world but a new beginning, everyone was just waiting to see if anything will happen.

Among many scientifically proven possibilities in which the world would end, there were a super volcano, asteroid accident, comet collision and suicidal supernova.  If anything was to happen that day, no one had an idea what it was going to be.

The Russian Minister of Emergency was forced to issue a denial that the world will not end. In a Village in the south of France, authorities barred access to a mountain where some believed an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) would come to rescue them.  Back home in my living room, the family was glued to the TV screen and our daughter was so scared she kept saying “My God” after every few minutes.  Her breathing was laboured.

However, some people just laughed it off. “It’s not going to happen because the bible says no one knows when the end will come.” Some websites were created specifically for Mayan Doomsday jokes. One website wrote, “with the Apocalypse upon us, everyone is making end-of-the-world jokes like there is no tomorrow. You might as well die laughing with our round of the funniest Mayan Doomsday memes, cartoons and Tweets”.

Social networks were abuzz with updates and comments. Most of these were on a lighter note. 

One thing that caught many people’s attention during this period was the National Geographic TV series, Doomsday Preppers.  Although these Preppers prepare themselves for urban jungle survival skills, food production skills,   an electrical grid failure, financial collapse, earthquakes, economic collapse, and maybe even a Zombie attack,  most of them even prepare for larger events like the earth colliding with an object from out of space or the shifting of the earth’s polarity. 

Watching these programmes made most of us start asking questions.  

“What if these guys are right?”

“Do they know something we don’t?”

“Is it possible to prepare for an unknown catastrophe?”

Well, 21 December came and passed without any event. The world as we know it was still there. There was no doomsday. It was not a surprise to many people but there may have been others who were disappointed that it never happened. There were some people who seriously believed that the world would end on that day and they left their jobs and families to spread the word. These surely must have been disappointed.

December 21, 2013 is not the only date that has gone into history as a day when Doomsday failed to happen. There have been other dates in history when earth was under the same “threat”.  In 1910 astronomers discovered that earth would pass through the tail of a comet. This created hysteria because some people believed a poisonous gas would penetrate the atmosphere and end life on earth.  This comet was Halley’s Comet.

In 1954, there was a woman named Dorothy Martin who started telling people that there was going to be an apocalyptic flooding on 21 December. Ironically, the date and month is the same as that of the 2013 doomsday prediction. This lady said she was receiving messages from aliens and that these same aliens were going to send a space craft to rescue believers from her cult.

In July 1999, the world was also supposed to end. This was according to Nostradamus’ prediction that a King of terror would come from the sky and destroy earth. Then there came the all too familiar Y2K.  It was believed that computers programmed with two-digit years rather than four would revert to 1900 rather than rolling to 2000 and that this programming error would trigger a nuclear war.  

We may have pulled through all these events with a laugh but does this mean nothing can ever happen to our planet? The way I see it, next time someone warns us of a pending doom, we shall not take it seriously and refer it to 21^st December, 2012. Doomsday Preppers believe something is coming.  They believe we have to prepare how to survive on a changed world.  What if they are right?

Image courtesy of manostphoto/freedigitalphotos.net

MAN VERSUS HIS PENIS

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IS BLACK ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL?

The phrase “Black is beautiful” is said to have been coined by John Sweat Rock during a speech in 1858. This was probably to dispel the notion that black people’s features such as skin colour, facial features and hair are inherently ugly.

But is black really beautiful? If it is, why do we have many black women trying to make their skins lighter by using various types of skin lightening creams? I honestly do believe black is beautiful but I just can’t comprehend why some of our sisters fail to see that in themselves. I have seen many African women with blonde hair on their heads despite the fact that there are  no natural born blonde African woman.

There is nothing wrong for anyone to enhance their beauty but sometimes this is overdone and it reaches an extent where it seems like the person is ignorant or has a serious case of inferiority complex. Take for example women who bleach their skin with hazardous results. Many women have black hard skin under their eyes because at one time they used a complexion cream which destroyed their skin. Despite many examples of how the wrong application of these creams can harm the skin, many women still continue using these creams and joining the long list of disfigured women.

It is indisputable that women with lighter skin will be considered by men because they get noticed compared to those with a much darker shade and this could be one of the reason why black women are among the highest consumers of skin lightening products. This could also be the reason why most black women tend to risk their health by using creams which have adverse side effects.

Skin lightening may be considered a choice like lipstick, weaves, mascara etc, to make you presentable to the world. The only problem is most of these products are completely unsafe and some women do not use them properly. In desperation to look lighter, many African women have bought harmful creams with instructions written in a language that they can’t read.

Although there is not enough evidence, laboratory tests on rats have shown increased development of potentially cancerous tumors in rats exposed to hydroquinone, which is used in most of these creams. The potential of this chemical to cause cancer in humans has not yet been determined but it is safer to be wary. Hydroquinone also causes skin irritation, inflammation or a mild burning sensation. This may be the reason why some women that I have seen using these products have red spots under their eyes, which could be a result of scratching the itching skin.

In Zambia, some women who use these creams have very light skin which just ends at the neck. The rest of the body is a different colour. These women are called Coca Cola Fanta. They only bleach their faces because they probably find it more expensive to use the cream on every part of their body. Maybe it could be out of  ignorance? Some women also have blue veins showing through their skin which I think is uglier than a naturally black African woman skin.

Maybe society has played a major part in this because us men tend to like light skinned women more than dark skinned women. Ironically, even men do bleach their skins. It is not strange to see an African man with very light skin and a dark hairline. 

What if there are no side effects associated with using these creams? How would you see the people who use them? Are they not proud of who they are or their origins? We see white people tanning their bodies from the sun but that does not mean they are not proud of their skin colour. The same applies even to black women who bleach their skin to look lighter. I doubt very much if they do this because they are not proud of being black. They do it for the same reasons why a white woman tans her skin. It is for this that all black women must take a lot of care for their skins by using the right products and knowing how to use them. The only reason society condemns skin lightening creams is because of the harm that it causes to skin and not because it makes you lighter. After all we have Africans who are born naturally with a light skin.

Image courtesy of africa/freedigitalphotos.net

COCKROACHES IN THE NIGHT CLUB

About 4 years ago, I came out of a Night Club just after midnight to get a taxi to take me home.  For a minute I stood there just surveying the taxis that were packed outside, trying to pick one which seemed suitable. Most of the taxis that operate in this part of town are not marked and we call them “private taxis”.  This makes it very difficult for one to tell which one is a “real” taxi and which one is not or just belongs to a patron.  Usually, you just have to stand there and someone will come to you and ask “Taxi?” but on this particular night, no one came to where I was standing.

As I was standing there, I notice a woman standing leaning against the wall just near the entrance talking to one of the door bouncers.  From the way she was dressed, I could tell that she was not here to party. She was dressed in a wrap around called chitenge and a head scarf. No one dresses like that after midnight.  The woman was explaining to the man  that her husband has not been home for the past 3 days and she suspected he was inside the club with another woman.

The door bouncer asked her if she was sure the husband was inside.  She replied that someone told her that he has been spotted here on two occasions.  The man then gave her permission to go inside and check for him. The woman refused and said she was going to wait for him until he comes out.

“But what if he is not there?” the man asked.  “You may be waiting here when your man is home waiting for you”.

She replied that she cannot go inside the Night Club because “only cockroaches enter Night Clubs”

That was a bombshell and people heard what she said. From the way she stressed the word “cockroaches”, it was like she wanted all of us to feel it.  She was almost harassed by some people and was only saved by the two bouncers, who also were obviously not happy with what she had said.  

“If your husband has let you down because of his infidelity, it doesn’t  mean we are all the like him. If he has been having sex with another woman, has he been having it here in the Club?” Someone shouted at her.

“Madam, from what you have just said, maybe that is why your husband runs away from you. You talk too much and have no respect for other people’s choices,” added another.

She was visibly scared because she knew that anything could happen to her. Night Clubs have all sorts of characters and some of them are uncontrollable freaks operating like zombies, especially the ones that like hanging around outside.

Though I understood the woman’s frustration and did not take her statement of us being cockroaches seriously, I wondered whether that is how many other people who do not go out Clubbing think of us.  Maybe they have other names that they call us too. We could be mosquitoes, house flies, centipedes, snakes or anything that they thought disgusted them.

But is night life or clubbing seriously that disgusting?  I remember the first time I went for a disco, I was about 16 and it was called Teen Time Disco. It was always between 13:00 hrs and 17:30 hrs and never in the night.  We just went there for dancing and listening to new music and we drank no alcohol.  It was so much fun and it made most of us admire the job of the DJ.

But why do people go to the disco or night club? Is it for bad reasons or just to have fun? Has the disco evolved from an innocent stint to something evil? Every time I step into a night club, I see a lot of different characters. I see men and women dancing. I see couples sitting at the table sharing drinks. I see prostitutes sitting at the counter smiling at every man that passes near them. I see men standing doing nothing but just watching. I am pretty sure there are other things that I don’t see which other people may see.

Image courtesy of ponsuwan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net