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thought id share this response to pro west nigerians

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

At first I thought what was condemned and misunderstood about this book by contemporary, modern day African writers was the purpose of the book. That it by all intents and purposes was a book meant for the Africans, the whimsy of writing out our own experiences, tradition and religion from an unpainted perspective. The initiation of a white antagonist changed the whole dynamic. Suddenly what was meant to expand on the imagination of an African, developing community is retrospectively portrayed as backwards and misguided. I did not mind the brutal portrayal of a religious community if it was not juxtaposed against a "merciful", "superior" practice that diminishes the substance of these peoples lives. The substance of the development they could have propelled or ushered into their own community through time and internal conflict. But it was more a horror than anything else, if not for the storyline then the effect and message behind it.

I wish this book was not praised as an example of African literature that so distinctly paints us through the eyes of the conqueror, masked by the narrative perspective of the African man. If there's any good it has done it was to raise a generation of writers who wished to dispel its notions. We were a complete people before the colonisation of our nations with knowledge and practice that was not based on superstition. Though no history book may tell the story of the conquered without bias, there is no question of our complete existence that demanded the erasure of its dignity. Through language, through religion, through education, the colonial conquest was a brutal appropriation of our unique futures and identities. Chinua portrayed this well and somehow still managed to diminish the personhood of the African. Inviting the acceptance of uninformed criticism empowered by the origins of the author. All of a sudden the historic crusade seems justified in the correction of a murderous people. A disappointing revelation. Thank God for the Chimamanda's, Tsitsi Dangarembga's and Akwaeke Emezi's that would follow after this legacy. To read into an African experience that enforced the heart of an existing people, a complex people, a widely discerning people.

Edit:

I've calmed down a bit. The book was a bit more nuanced than this.

#still digesting #literature #things fall apart #chinua achebe #african literature

will bleeding out, still trying to put pressure on Abigail's neck desperately despite losing strength and blood almost as quickly. he could bear being stabbed. only to watch Hannibal take her life in front of him afterwards, the same way as before. the third time he's thought he lost her. ough. that hit. that's what really hurt him. that's raw asf

#mizumono #way more multilayered but whatever #still digesting

Commentary from a comrade:

“I want to remind folks and continue to remind y’all that there is no such thing as community control of the police. Such a thing cannot exist because you cannot legislate for an occupying force to be controlled by the very oppressed community it is tasked to contain. That is antithetical to the function of the police. Where ever police community control has been attempted, even in the most modest police community review boards, it has failed because we do not have real power or say in how we are policed as Black people under the state and such power cannot be legislated. There can be no real accountability structures tying the police to us because the police are not accountable to Black people, they are accountable to the white settler and the state at large. That occupying force is not ours to control. Anything the state can offer as a community control solution is only a smoke and mirror show to placate real revolutionary action and reconsolidate control over our communities. Community control of the police only pushes us towards reinvesting in the police with the illusion that a people with no autonomy and no political power can “control” them. We shouldn’t want to control the police we should want to make them obsolete in our communities by focusing on collective autonomy and independent grassroots alternatives that curb our dependence on them.”

#Not sure exactly what I think #Still digesting #There really are some contradictions here we need to address

Balenciaga was guuud I just wish demna would've stayed more with the intro looks and also duh used a diverse cast like that was just stupid but overall I liked thingss I just wish it felt more luxury/future and gave me a stronger balenciaga taste like I was losing that flavor after the beginning like a lot of stuff was just completely not the brand but hrmmm

#hrrrmmmm #still digesting #a lot of things were off

the freedom of submission

via: - 1 Peter 2:13-17, 4:1-5, 5:5-11 - Tim Keller - mid-sermon scribbles

Still reflecting on some of the points made in today's sermon, so I thought I'd share them: Everybody's in a codependent relationship with something or someone. It's called your meaning in life.

Freedom is not an absence of restrictions; it's finding the right ones.

Liberating restrictions are those that fit with your design. >> We thrive under certain restrictions (e.g. a fish that thrives in water and would die on land, a man who has to restrict his diet to maintain his health). >> Liberating restrictions are those which allow us to reach all the fullness of our potential.

If there is a God who created you for himself, than you aren't built to have your allegiance to anything else - full allegiance and obedience to God is the water (from the fish example) your soul is searching for.

Giving our highest allegiance to God >> brings freedom from uncontrollable emotions and desires (another translation for "evil human desires" in 1 Peter 4:2 = "excessive desire"). >> saves you from the anxiety and paralyzing fear in circumstances.

Everything you trust in besides God is like a broken cistern (Jer. 2:13).

I have a freedom I need to access.

Love relationships always add constraints to your life. >> Someone's quote during an interview: "You're obviously less free when you're in love with someone, but fortunately you're not in love all the time." >> But when do you feel most alive? When you love and are loved. >> So are those constraints really constraints on freedom or constraints for freedom? >> Freedom as modern society describes it is essentially selfishness, and selfishness ultimately destroys love. >> The most liberating restrictions are the restrictions of love.

Christ lost his freedom so we could be free.

#old truths #new light #still digesting