Monthly Archives: April 2024

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Dictators

Do we really ever know them?

I have been binge listening to a Noiser podcast, the real dictators and the stories about these men- has there been a woman dictator?- are the personification of cruelty.

It is interesting that some of these people were not really nationals, in the real sense of the word, of the countries they ruled with an iron fist. Take for example the Georgian Stalin, or the Austrian Hitler.

Of the dictators I have listened to their histories, papa Doc was an outlier. A medic who made death his trademark.

Or that these fellows rose from poor or humble backgrounds to come to wield so much power. Mao, Stalin, Gaddafi, and a host of others- all humble folk.

But what this has done is got me thinking about Kenya. It is not in doubt that Moi and Kenyatta was tin pot dictators. It is our present regime and the two previous ones that come to focus and I ask myself how far from a dictatorship we really are. We have a parliament that for all intents and purposes is a big rubber-stamp. The judiciary is a laundromat. And with bodies appearing in rivers, forests and all, I am not sure we are not living in a dictatorship, albeit a subtle one

Where others like Stalin started a personality cult where they became the gods, our benign dictator and his family are part of the church choir and the poor people are hooked. You hear people say oh the president is a good person because of church and I face palm.

Who knew that the Spaniards went through a dictatorship that the whole community seems to have voted to forget?

And it is hard work to topple a dictator. The secret police. The death squads. The cultural revolution. And all their plots are difficult to fight. You put yourself out there to challenge them, you meet a cruel end.

You don’t want to live under a dictatorship no matter how good it looks from the window.

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This morning

When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?

I got off bed, went for a short run then got into the car to drive to the office. If you don’t live in a cave like I do, you would have come across news of Nairobi rains and subsequent floods. This went well.

I think cycling in Nairobi is an extreme sport,if not a risk and should be feature somewhere in the 1001 ways to die. And many cyclists have died on our roads, sadly, and there’s no cultural change. But for my love of cycling, I once woke up to try a city to coast adventure. I had no phone just money a bike pump, a patch kit, a torch and water. This went well until it didn’t. I ended up with a puncture in the middle of the Tsavo national park, fixed it and continued. I ended up completing my longest ride to date.

I would go on but I will stop here.

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Sparingly

How do you use social media?

If at all. And mostly to read what others are saying, and learn if that’s possible.

Let’s start from the beginning. The only social media platform that I use or spend time on is LinkedIn after quitting nosebook and twitter before it became x.

And on LinkedIn, it is interesting to see people call themselves experts on a subject because they have written a few blog posts on it, wrote a book that ain’t peer reviewed and have a podcast where the acolytes gather to listen to their king.

Is wordpress social media? Well, I spend a lot of time here. These days agreeing with people, avoiding conflict and getting entertained while at it. In this place, I talk about myself occasionally but use it mostly to clarify my thinking, and this happens sometimes when we disagree. It is the one place where a lot of learning has taken place.

So I use social media sparingly to learn, to communicate and to share pictures of my adventures.

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I don’t know what to think about this: war in the middle East

Two weeks or so ago, Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria killing a number of her people and it promised to respond. But when you read this Post you would think Iran is the aggressor for responding to provocation. Why start a conflict with your neighbour when you don’t want them to fight back?

I like echo chambers. They allow us to be all the rage about those we don’t like without sitting back to ask if we could be culpable. I hope I am wrong on this and we have no major conflict and that lives are not lost needlessly.

It looks like this is the year the world says to hell with peaceful coexistence and goes to a world war again. There’s been weapons build up with nowhere to use them or buyers of the same. A wider conflict in the middle east provides such a market for weapons while people continue to die.

I don’t think there is any hope for lasting peace in the Middle East in this generation and maybe the next.

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Many things

Describe something you learned in high school.

But one of the things that have stayed with me is to not say anything in anger that I would want to withdraw after emotions have cooled.

I learnt also to respond differently to insults. For example, if someone called you a cow, there are two options: you behaved like a cow and should change your ways or the person doesn’t know a cow in which case it is not important.

I don’t want to mention the physics or geography or maths I learnt in high school but I think those two things are life changing. I may not do them well, but I try.

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Sleep

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

I try to sleep a lot, whenever possible since I had good rest keeps the doctor away and those who know me, I don’t like hospitals and doctors.

Nothing beats the awareness that you don’t have to finish a book. Life is short to finish a book you don’t like unless it is tied to your job application or PhD defense. Or your life depends on it.

The biggest change is to live and let live. I don’t get into debates on which is the best god or how many days we should fast unless someone brings the debate to me. This also includes not bothering with the news or even sosho media which means a more quiet life.

There are other changes but I am too lazy to list them. Which reminds me there should be a laziness day somewhere in the calendar where we do whatever it is like with no goal other than that we like it.

If I was a motivational speaker I would have started this post by how I have become a better me but then I don’t find self help helpful.