Was Jesus really born 25th of December or was the date appropriated from a Greek god's celebration day? I don't know and I truly don't care. The intellectuals of the world will continue to do the research and i'm happy to let them.
However, I am so glad that Jesus was born no matter the date.
He was born.
I am glad about the hope, Joy, redemption and Salvation that only this kind of birth has brought to me.
I am glad that this life is not all that there is.
In the past several months I have had cause to keep saying "Thank God for Jesus" because I know that without him life would have been miserable and hopeless. Maybe that's why people commit suicide- young and old- , maybe that's why people kill others in the hope that there will be a better somewhere.
I am glad that Jesus does not expect me to earn his love.
I am glad that God through this same Jesus has freely given me access to him the source of everything. A God whose love is all encompassing, not earned or merited but freely given.
I am glad that God does not want me to fight for or defend him...
He fights His own battles and He has never lost.
As I write this, I remember the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...and I am so glad to be on the side of these powerful cannot be defeated trio of Father, Son and the holy spirit.
Alliances are significant.
So, whatever you believe, from a very Merry grateful heart I wish you a wonderful Christmas.
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Whose Bigbrother?
Idris Sultan from Tanzania won the season 9 edition of the big brother reality television show tagged bigbrother hotshots. He smiled home literally with the $300,000 prize money. That means that the Nigerian housemate Tayo Faniran did not win. When the results were announced at the grand finale there was a lot of shock on the part of Nigerians. The social media was agog with conspiracy theories, needless to say some Nigerians felt cheated. Some even went as far as raising money for Tayo. Now, every Nigerian knows that we hate to lose. Just feel out the emotion of the populace a day after we lose a football match, especially if it was a crucial one. People walk about mournfully and look for whose head to fell, thankfully, the government always comes to our rescue. They take the blame and we cus and rant at them. After a while we feel better. Bottom line is, Nigerians don't like to lose."May the better man win"no dey our psyche. We always want to win. Whether we're prepared or not. But then, who doesn't?
In the case of the bigbrother hotshots, DSTV shared the blame with the government. By the way we're told that DSTV subscription in Nigeria is the most expensive anywhere. Which begs the question: isn't there an alternative? Na by force to take exploitation?
So, back to the hotshots.
When bigbrother Africa debuted in 2003 with twelve participating African countries four years after its first broadcast in the Netherlands, it was the first time the franchise was using participants from different nationalities from one continent. To the outside world, Africa is one country so they treat us as such. I don't think that Endemol thought out the implications of having different countries with different voting powers vying for the coveted prize or maybe they did. For instance in a continent where countries like Botswana and Namibia(who had a winner in season 8- Dillish Mathews) are projected to make up 0.19% respectively of the population size and a Nigeria of 15.98%. Add to that regional sentiments...by voting power alone It's obvious who the winner would always have been.
But somehow, bigbrother always seems to have a system that's not yet fully understood and so always comes up with surprise wins to make it truly African and kind of give a feeling that it's been zoned. Since inception, there have been winners from Zambia(Cherise Makubale of season 1), Tanzania has won twice -Richard Dyle Bezuidenhout of 2 and Idris the Hotshot. Ricardo Venancio of Angola won season 3 and Nigeria won three years in a row- Kevin Chuwang, Uti Nwachukwu and Karen Igho(seasons 4,5 and 6) Wendal Parsons of Zimbabwe was a co winner of season 6 with Karen. The host country South Africa has had its share too through Keagan Pietersen.
Did Idris deserve to be a hotshot? Idris who was the most relaxed, fun loving and sometimes appeared dumb. Who was not voted sexiest man in the house or alpha male yet had the attention of all the ladies. Idris who turned the house to a playboy mansion in different beds everyother night. To the point the mother had to be brought into the house to ask him to behave. By the way, he was good at it because the girls didn't seem to mind sharing him. Maybe as the presenter of six years straight Ikpomwosa ik Osakioduwa said, it's Africa and Polygamy is allowed. Was that Idris's appeal? A true African male who has selective use of his emotions? When the others were tearing up after surprise visits from their loved ones in an episode in the house, he'd only smiled. Oh by the way the presenter is a Nigerian too and I think Nigerians expected him to somehow make Nigerians to always win even though he is not the bigbrother. Well, as his wife tweeted "if you want a Nigerian to win everytime, then let's just stick to bigbrother Nigeria"
Personally I think that expecting bigbrother to be fair or unfair is not understanding the concept of bigbrother at all.
Bigbrother is a character from a 1949 novel titled 1984 by George Orwell. The author whose name has been turned to an adjective Orwellian: which describes official deception, secret surveillance, and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian or authoritarian state. In this book 1984, bigbrother is a tyrannical party leader who may or may not even exist and the party "seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."
I think that is pretty self explanatory.
In the case of the bigbrother hotshots, DSTV shared the blame with the government. By the way we're told that DSTV subscription in Nigeria is the most expensive anywhere. Which begs the question: isn't there an alternative? Na by force to take exploitation?
So, back to the hotshots.
When bigbrother Africa debuted in 2003 with twelve participating African countries four years after its first broadcast in the Netherlands, it was the first time the franchise was using participants from different nationalities from one continent. To the outside world, Africa is one country so they treat us as such. I don't think that Endemol thought out the implications of having different countries with different voting powers vying for the coveted prize or maybe they did. For instance in a continent where countries like Botswana and Namibia(who had a winner in season 8- Dillish Mathews) are projected to make up 0.19% respectively of the population size and a Nigeria of 15.98%. Add to that regional sentiments...by voting power alone It's obvious who the winner would always have been.
But somehow, bigbrother always seems to have a system that's not yet fully understood and so always comes up with surprise wins to make it truly African and kind of give a feeling that it's been zoned. Since inception, there have been winners from Zambia(Cherise Makubale of season 1), Tanzania has won twice -Richard Dyle Bezuidenhout of 2 and Idris the Hotshot. Ricardo Venancio of Angola won season 3 and Nigeria won three years in a row- Kevin Chuwang, Uti Nwachukwu and Karen Igho(seasons 4,5 and 6) Wendal Parsons of Zimbabwe was a co winner of season 6 with Karen. The host country South Africa has had its share too through Keagan Pietersen.
Did Idris deserve to be a hotshot? Idris who was the most relaxed, fun loving and sometimes appeared dumb. Who was not voted sexiest man in the house or alpha male yet had the attention of all the ladies. Idris who turned the house to a playboy mansion in different beds everyother night. To the point the mother had to be brought into the house to ask him to behave. By the way, he was good at it because the girls didn't seem to mind sharing him. Maybe as the presenter of six years straight Ikpomwosa ik Osakioduwa said, it's Africa and Polygamy is allowed. Was that Idris's appeal? A true African male who has selective use of his emotions? When the others were tearing up after surprise visits from their loved ones in an episode in the house, he'd only smiled. Oh by the way the presenter is a Nigerian too and I think Nigerians expected him to somehow make Nigerians to always win even though he is not the bigbrother. Well, as his wife tweeted "if you want a Nigerian to win everytime, then let's just stick to bigbrother Nigeria"
Personally I think that expecting bigbrother to be fair or unfair is not understanding the concept of bigbrother at all.
Bigbrother is a character from a 1949 novel titled 1984 by George Orwell. The author whose name has been turned to an adjective Orwellian: which describes official deception, secret surveillance, and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian or authoritarian state. In this book 1984, bigbrother is a tyrannical party leader who may or may not even exist and the party "seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."
I think that is pretty self explanatory.
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