NDC government going rogue

The NDC government’s directive against multimedia is an affront to press freedom in Ghana. It flies in the face of progress made on the media front and sends us back right where we began in the previous century. It’s a hard knuckled attempt by a ruling government to gag an independent agency to tow its line. It’s embarrassing, it’s disappointing and it is totally unacceptable. Ghanaians should be scared because it’s reflective of a government which has been totally corrupted by the trappings of power. It shows that this is a government which will stop at nothing to make sure it’s either their way or the high way. Today it’s the media. Who knows who or what it will be next time. This unrestrained display of raw power by the ruling class against private citizens should be frowned upon by all well-meaning Ghanaians. The NDC government‘s unashamed use of the bully pulpit must be seriously addressed before it’s too late.

My beef with Ghanaian movies:

I’m sure people have written about this before but with the school of domacles circling around my head I’m now playing catch up:

Too slow: Way. Too. Slow. I thought I was the impatient one until my neighbor said she does the whole skip, skip forwarding thing with them too.

Ghanaians love to wax poetic: I know we've got some top brass actors and top notch movies out there but some of the Ghanaian movies I’ve seen just don’t appear natural. Or maybe it’s got something to do with the scripts. Ghanaian actors love to wax poetic in their movies, aba. Too much "the winding arms of justice will soon encircle your nefarious activities” blaa blaa "the sea of my love will never make your thirsty" etc. Abei. People don’t speak that way in normal life. Nigerian movies are the bomb because those folks say it like anybody would. Their girls even speak pidgin English and nobody tries to show they have a university degree in performing arts. Spare us the literature folks.

Boring storylines: I used to think people were complaining unnecessarily when they said this until I started watching the movies myself. Ghana pple, I beg change lanes small.

Too much sex: I guess someone whispered somewhere that “sex sell” so looks like everyone’s going on a sex spree. However we also know there are many movies out there in the world that have done well with powerful stories and limited/non-explicit sex scenes.

LAFA be what: Why o why can’t Ghanaian actors speak like Ghanaians. When people go to watch a Ghanaian movie they want to hear Ghanaian accents. Movies are not just for fun or entertainment. They’re cultural. We know how America has exported its brand globally not by being Britain or Europe but by being simply being American. One of the things I love about the Nigerian movies is that everyone maintains their Nigerian accent which makes it even more hilarious. I wish every actor in Ghana will speak exactly the way they speak in private both in terms of accent, tone and language. And as a bonus can we have a little more pidgin in the movies too?

We have a lot of great potential but we’re stifling under the weight of Hollywood, Nollywood and Bollywood. Time to let the albatross go folks and let our imaginations fly.

If you disagree, please holla and let me know of any great Ghanaian movies to watch.

Peace out!

Ghana's AFCON Loss: Much ado

I sincerely envy those so inconsolably heartbroken by Ghana’s AFCON loss. I wish I had that much legroom so much as to make a semi-final loss in a soccer tournament we probably didn’t deserve to win the predominant issue of pain in my life. I’ll take that any day. That's what grad skul does to you. That's what life does to you. A few years ago making a statement like this would have been totally unthinkable. But maybe the joke is on me. Is it a betrayal of nationalism that a Black Stars loss means little to me now or I'm I finally getting my priorities right? Right now there are many things I'm so paranoid about that I wish I had the luxury to worry about this seemingly gargantuan loss.

Blitzer stands up to Gingrich: Not this time

Finally, someone in the media stood up to Newt Gingrich. Thank you, thank you Mr Blitzer for seeing through his machinations. You (Newt) make a total issue of Mitt’s taxes in the last debate, ride on his weak answers to a South Carolina win and turnaround to scream “nonsensical” when follow up questions are asked of you? It’s easy to be impressed by big Newty but I can also see why the very people who worked with him in the 1990s would rather he doesn’t get the nomination. Congrats Mr Blitzer. I always admired you but now I totally adore you.

Biden confessions on Osama illuminates Obama's instincts

Details are emerging from the Obama campaign regarding what would go down as one of America’s greatest foreign policy feats: killing Osama bin Laden. Joe Biden is reported to have advised against the raid chiefly because of its high risks. Among Biden’s major concerns were certainty (or not) regarding the accuracy of bin Laden's location, the security of naval seals and the lasting political ramifications of a failed raid. Can you imagine what would have become of Obama had this gone wrong? Catastrophic. It would have been his equivalent of Carter’s Iranian nightmare and emerged as a major policy nemesis with grave electoral consequences.

Bin Laden’s raid might be old news but hearing Biden’s tale of caution even lends greater weight to Barack’s call. Biden was supposed to be the foreign policy expert here. He was supposed to be the policy wonk acting as a buffer when it came to international affairs. Yet had Obama listened to him, Osama would be alive today.

Again and again Barack Obama has shown that experience, degrees and long trails of paperwork do not necessarily make you a good president. He has shown that to be an effective leader, you need the sixth sense: good judgment. Obama has demonstrated good reflexes, depth of conviction and remarkable instincts. On the strength of his foreign policy accomplishments alone, he deserves to be re-elected. The Republicans have decided to make this election an argument on leadership. On this score alone, Obama wins.

There’s no doubt that Hussein Obama will continue to demonstrate such character, judgment and leadership if granted a second term.

How Obama thinks: An Africanist interpretation

Ever since Barack Obama achieved national and global stardom many have struggled to understand his thinking process. In fact The Tea party has its own in-house guidebook on how Obama thinks. Newt Gingrich and Dinesh D’Souza believe the president has a “Kenyan anti-colonial worldview.” The problem with these philosophical viewpoints is that they’re inscribed within old Greco-Roman thematizations which insist that nothing good can come from Africa. To them, the African is backward, uncivilized and incapable of anything positive. If it smells African, then it has to be negative, dark or bad. McLuhan, Conrad and other scholars summarize the old European idea of Africa by referring to the continent as a “mysterious, throbbing, palpable, darkness within the European psyche”. Obama is a pure mystery to these people. As a member of this mysterious club, let me offer some help here.

I wish to argue that one of the ways to understand the Obama phenomenon is through African philosophical thought. We also need to somehow deliver ourselves from the impression that anything African is inferior. This is because at his core, Barack Obama is a community man, a people’s man, a community organizer. Obama’s DNA is ingrained with the philosophical belief that a man is defined not only by his individual agency but his commitment and connection to the wider society. While western thought glorifies individualism and adores exceptionalism or “hero” narratives, African traditional thinking ontologically, epistemologically and pragmatically believes that the community is indispensable to our definition of who we are. John Mbitie foregrounds this basic underpinning of African societies through the enduring dictum: “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am”.

Isn’t this what Obama has been saying all along: “I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper…” “We’ve got each other’s back…” And so on and so forth. At his core, Obama deeply believes that the person and community are intrinsically linked. This is not different from Ifeanyi Menkiti’s thesis that “in the African view it is the community which defines the person as a person not some isolated static quality of rationality, will or memory…” To me, the belief in being each other’s keeper does not at all sound at variance to the evangelical doctrine of bearing each other’s burden (Galatians) since Christianity is a huge part of Republicanism—and rightly so. The GOP is going to have to find another narrative to counter the Obama machine this fall. Demonizing Obama and his core values even when they’re right in lockstep with yours is not the way to go.

Moving forward: Romney and Gingrich's paths to winning

What Romney needs to do to win:

• Release tax returns
• Have an Obama moment by addressing the Mormon issue
• Get Santorum to stay in
  
• Make a stronger economic argument
• Deflate some of Gingrich's strengths
• Strengthen his electability message
• Perform better at debates and have ready made answers for attacks
• Sharpen his own attacks
  

What Gingrich needs to do:

• Keep knocking those debates out of the park
• Appeal to read meat
• Hit Obama

Really, that's all Newt needs to do. The message from South Carolina was pretty clear. They don't care bout his marriage foibles. They don't care about his past. They don't care about his so called erratic character. They don't care about his baggage. These people are so mad, so angry at something that all they want is someone who can take the fight to Barack Obama and hopefully "put him in his place" by getting him out of the white House. They would rather go down fighting than hold their noses by voting for Romney. Right now Gingrich has got momentum and all he needs to do is to ride it.