Tis the chorus that echoes through the « house » these days! It does sound like a sheepish murmur from afar. What would you expect? They treat you like sheep in the streets almost everyday and in turn behave like sheep in the Temple of our Democracy.
Orwell’s Animal Farm pales in comparison to this farce that is happening in front of our very eyes, day by day and step by step, almost a decade of this charade! Granted Animal Farm’s characters had a plethora of traits, from the most despicable to the most heroic, and all the traits found in between on this spectrum. However if George Orwell had a farm, well we have a whole zoo! A zoo filled with different species that are so colourful that not even the latest, most advanced TV could do justice by rendering them on the screen.
We have all the classes represented, namely: the mammals, reptiles and amphibians, fish and birds too, oh you’d love to see their colours! I mean their true colours!
I must confess, we have a majority of reptiles, namely chameleons! They change colours every now and then. In the wild, the chameleon changes colour according to its habitat so that it escapes predators or to hunt its prey. However our chameleons are special for they change colour every 5 years, or sometimes haphazardly, whimsically. We know they gathered this adaptation trait for their survival, be it political in this case, over decades of practising this power-hungry lifestyle. Rest assured they have never lifted a single finger for you but they have gone to great lengths for their loved ones, family, mistresses and acolytes.
After those slimy lizards we find a nice array of mammals, whales, cows mostly, gently sleeping in the background perhaps dreaming about being on some beach in Dubai or spending our money shopping for a better taste in life or some dignity, nay i dare not think so. We also have hyenas who cackle whenever they think their master has said something funny to the detriment of their opponents. In the wild hyenas are known for feeding on leftovers and rotting offals found in the bushes. No surprise that here they gobble everything that is thrown their way.
We have apes too, some primates who will every once in a while step out in the aisle and beat their chest to show their dominance. In the wild a young male will do this to either attract a young female, or provoke the chieftain into jousting to claim leadership. But rest assured those sudden outbursts of vulgarity accompanied with gestures are harmless. Mostly for show, like a teenage rebel. Leadership is hereditary in their clan. A birth right, an unspoken rule which was instilled in our culture until nobody questioned it!
I could go on for pages on the rest of the classes but i think you already have formed a mental picture of this zoo and our words are numbered. However i hope you read it in the voice of Sir David Attenborough’s voice to help your vivid immersion in this jungle!
Those vertebrates presented above are in reality all spineless! A trait that perhaps explains their extreme flexibility when it comes to take or mostly reject responsibility for their acts.
You may think that this charade has been going on for almost a decade now, but actually it’s been going on for almost 55 years! Only we’ve had different versions of it over the years. For 55 years we have been taken hostage by a group of self-serving maniacs who claim to serve this country with your best interest at heart! Not at all my friends! We’ve been duped!
It is time for a new class of politicians to step in, a class of true politicians who are dedicated to the cause of this country and not in it just to enrich themselves! Time to get rid of those fat cats who think they are indispensable! But in the process we should also rid ourselves of those bad habits cultivated over generations of being used as a stepladder and saying « yes master » every time we see politicians in the streets. We must reverse the idolatry of imbeciles and start seeing them for the flawed (very) people that they are. Enough of those double standards where your vices are sin but theirs only a bad habit!
They know that they are weak but they are cunning. They made you think you belong to this and that cluster because you had the same ethnic, religious background. They sacrificed your individuality on their unholy altar for the sake of a community that doesn’t represent you in any way nor with which you identify. They divided you by race, religion and culture and have you follow dogmatic draconian dicta whilst they have blurred all those lines in their ivory towers!
But in order to stir us into this change, you must first accept who you are, what you have been an accomplice to, forgive yourself and step out of your comfort zone, this status quo your leaders cherish so much! But to achieve all that you need to remain calm!
The system that you have given power to, whom you think controls you, feeds on your primal instincts. They feed on fear, panic, your lust for this materialistic hedonistic world. They’ll have you hate on each other instead of appreciating our complementarity. They’ll have you scared of an external threat often, something invisible, to keep you in check. When you are in a frenzy, all riled up, it’ll be easier to push your buttons and get what they want from you: total devotion and submission! We’ve been victims of Stockholm Syndrome for far too long, enough is enough!
As long as you don’t stand up for what is right, « the ayes have it » will be your despondent hymn too!
Time to say « Nay! » and rise as one nation!
Hanley R. Raddhoa
