Respect argument, effort fallacy,and tone argument. Where's the lie? These things are interwoven across the different layers and sectors of our society. Ultimately , it's an ego problem. It's bigger than our brains. Than our characters. The only thing we recognise is power, and so, if we don't have enough to affect those above us, we take a huge chunk of those beneath. Simply because we can.
Mediocrity is already enshrined as the norm. It's up to a modicum of individuals to decide whether they don't want to be the less we all claim not to want to settle for.
You've summarised it all here perfectly well, which shouldn't be surprising, seeing as anyone who lives in Nigeria can observe these things for themselves.
Writer to writer, I must say that your use of language is stunning!
On art lately: art seems to be in its most vulnerable.
Because we currently create from a place of lack, influenced by our political and economic reality. This lack makes us create first for the perks of status rather than the ripple effect the stories we tell will have on our society. So, anything goes.
Because consumers (who are also consumed by this lack) prefer entertainment over thought. It’s why we play music, often too loudly, everywhere. It’s why most Nigerians are not readers. It’s why life must be enjoyment first. We cannot bear our own thoughts. How can you bear your thoughts when it’s ridden with reminders of your suffering/arrest in survival mode/lack? How can you bear your thoughts when you haven’t had the practice and don’t exist in a culture that encourages thought?
So, what art do you make for a people like this? What art do they (show that they) value most?
The theatrical. Art that entertains them to the core. Doesn’t matter whether or not it’s reflecting their realities back to them, it must entertain. It must dramatize. It must help them escape reality and laugh and yap about the ‘state of affairs.’ But it must not make them think. If you want to make money from your art (film especially), it must appeal to the part of their mind that desires entertainment. They neither have the time nor willingness to think.
And so on and on the cycle goes.
It’s killing the shape of art.
On making more useful art: I find that video and music are the most consumed formats of media here. The more we tell weak stories through these formats, the more we dilute a thinking culture. So, if money is a big blocker for telling good stories, why don’t more filmmakers explore short films? Wouldn’t that be a better investment in an economy where making longform work means spending lots of money means pressure to make ROI means prioritizing aesthetic over the strength and sociocultural value of story?
There is always so much to explore when it comes to our social culture in Nigeria and its relationship with other arms of society. So much is connected.
Abasi, you have written a brilliant piece and I’m glad to have come across your work. One of the most thoughtful pieces I’ve read this year — certainly the most thoughtful on the Nigerian social culture.
My God, this is so brilliantly written. Thank you. For taking your time to come up with these theories, grounded in a thesis, with the brilliant revelation/result at the end: a corruption of purpose. You've more than hit the nail on the head with this piece, and given language and an umbrella to so much truth that otherwise feels scattered. Again, thank you and well done.
This whole “respect argument" runs through every corner of Nigerian society. Here, criticism is almost always mistaken for insubordination. In the office, if a young staff member questions an idea and dares to offer a better suggestion, chances are they’ll get a query for it. No wonder so many organisations fight against change.
Even with a growing workforce of smart, young professionals, senior management would rather shut down fresh ideas just to prove they’re in charge.
Look at the film industry abroad. Foreign theatres pour resources into great performances and welcome criticism, knowing it makes them better. But in Nigeria? We take it as an insult, even call it unpatriotic. And we wonder why we’re stuck.
I really enjoyed reading your piece, it felt like you were speaking my mind. Loved that it came right after your review of To Kill a Monkey. I’m looking forward to your next work.
This is another interesting angle. The respect argument also posits, in a twisted way, that good ideas can only come from older people. And when young people come up with interesting ideas, they have to defer them to their superiors or risk it being shut down completely, even if the firm might suffer significantly from it.
There's nothing else to say. You finished this topic with such finesse. I will be rereading this article for a long time. Every Nigerian everywhere needs to read this immediately. A paradigm shift.
On the angle of respect, when I take a look at the Japanese system where an office has to get an American whose job alone is to criticize the boss and voice out the complaints of the staffs because culturally you can’t criticize your boss.
Or the sensored government regime currently where the government is inherently right too (I can't mention the country outright here) and the people just bear but through outside media certain corrections are taken with the government claiming it was their idea all along.
I see it as the hierarchy having to also take responsibility and creating a system to loop in that criticism without breaking the culture sometimes act accordingly even with blind criticism.
But here in Nigeria,we often assume anyone in a high position must be smart and truthful, but many just got there by surviving the system. They just believe they are above correction since they have "more experience" than you. Here both the culture and the system are dead. The hierarchy does not even want to be truthful to itself first before criticism comes knocking.
Yes, I love this angle you've brought in. We do not often see culture as social technology, one that can be ineffective and ineffective when it comes to a contemporary landscape, one that ought to be updated as the days go by. This culture of top-bottom criticism has such far-reaching and damaging sociocultural effects that it's necessary to understand it deeply and introduce certain caveats to curb its dangers.
First of all thank you for the compliment. This your comment is also a necessary addendum, highlighting the way the sociopolitical reality shapes and alters our response to art, including what we demand of media at large.
If you loved this, subscribe for more. I'll be publishing a piece on hypocrisy and why it's rampant here. Thank you for commenting!
Respect argument, effort fallacy,and tone argument. Where's the lie? These things are interwoven across the different layers and sectors of our society. Ultimately , it's an ego problem. It's bigger than our brains. Than our characters. The only thing we recognise is power, and so, if we don't have enough to affect those above us, we take a huge chunk of those beneath. Simply because we can.
Mediocrity is already enshrined as the norm. It's up to a modicum of individuals to decide whether they don't want to be the less we all claim not to want to settle for.
You've summarised it all here perfectly well, which shouldn't be surprising, seeing as anyone who lives in Nigeria can observe these things for themselves.
Writer to writer, I must say that your use of language is stunning!
On art lately: art seems to be in its most vulnerable.
Because we currently create from a place of lack, influenced by our political and economic reality. This lack makes us create first for the perks of status rather than the ripple effect the stories we tell will have on our society. So, anything goes.
Because consumers (who are also consumed by this lack) prefer entertainment over thought. It’s why we play music, often too loudly, everywhere. It’s why most Nigerians are not readers. It’s why life must be enjoyment first. We cannot bear our own thoughts. How can you bear your thoughts when it’s ridden with reminders of your suffering/arrest in survival mode/lack? How can you bear your thoughts when you haven’t had the practice and don’t exist in a culture that encourages thought?
So, what art do you make for a people like this? What art do they (show that they) value most?
The theatrical. Art that entertains them to the core. Doesn’t matter whether or not it’s reflecting their realities back to them, it must entertain. It must dramatize. It must help them escape reality and laugh and yap about the ‘state of affairs.’ But it must not make them think. If you want to make money from your art (film especially), it must appeal to the part of their mind that desires entertainment. They neither have the time nor willingness to think.
And so on and on the cycle goes.
It’s killing the shape of art.
On making more useful art: I find that video and music are the most consumed formats of media here. The more we tell weak stories through these formats, the more we dilute a thinking culture. So, if money is a big blocker for telling good stories, why don’t more filmmakers explore short films? Wouldn’t that be a better investment in an economy where making longform work means spending lots of money means pressure to make ROI means prioritizing aesthetic over the strength and sociocultural value of story?
There is always so much to explore when it comes to our social culture in Nigeria and its relationship with other arms of society. So much is connected.
Abasi, you have written a brilliant piece and I’m glad to have come across your work. One of the most thoughtful pieces I’ve read this year — certainly the most thoughtful on the Nigerian social culture.
My God. I love this. There's so much rigour and deep thought that went into this. Well-done!
Thank you. It took a lot of introspection and structuring. My foray into philosophy when I was younger seems to be paying off now.
My God, this is so brilliantly written. Thank you. For taking your time to come up with these theories, grounded in a thesis, with the brilliant revelation/result at the end: a corruption of purpose. You've more than hit the nail on the head with this piece, and given language and an umbrella to so much truth that otherwise feels scattered. Again, thank you and well done.
Thank you! I'm a fan of theorising, and I love to ground my theories in as much logic and rigorous thought as I can!
My goodness! Best essay I've read in a long while. Astutely observed, dreadfully accurate. Well done Abasi-maenyin.
Thank you very much for this feedback.
This was inspiring and thought provoking. Thank you for writing and sharing this wondrous piece
This just made me sit up
This whole “respect argument" runs through every corner of Nigerian society. Here, criticism is almost always mistaken for insubordination. In the office, if a young staff member questions an idea and dares to offer a better suggestion, chances are they’ll get a query for it. No wonder so many organisations fight against change.
Even with a growing workforce of smart, young professionals, senior management would rather shut down fresh ideas just to prove they’re in charge.
Look at the film industry abroad. Foreign theatres pour resources into great performances and welcome criticism, knowing it makes them better. But in Nigeria? We take it as an insult, even call it unpatriotic. And we wonder why we’re stuck.
I really enjoyed reading your piece, it felt like you were speaking my mind. Loved that it came right after your review of To Kill a Monkey. I’m looking forward to your next work.
This is another interesting angle. The respect argument also posits, in a twisted way, that good ideas can only come from older people. And when young people come up with interesting ideas, they have to defer them to their superiors or risk it being shut down completely, even if the firm might suffer significantly from it.
You hit the nail on the head with a bazooka.
You kill me, but yes.
There's nothing else to say. You finished this topic with such finesse. I will be rereading this article for a long time. Every Nigerian everywhere needs to read this immediately. A paradigm shift.
This comment has reminded me to share this essay again and again. Thank you for reading!
On the angle of respect, when I take a look at the Japanese system where an office has to get an American whose job alone is to criticize the boss and voice out the complaints of the staffs because culturally you can’t criticize your boss.
Or the sensored government regime currently where the government is inherently right too (I can't mention the country outright here) and the people just bear but through outside media certain corrections are taken with the government claiming it was their idea all along.
I see it as the hierarchy having to also take responsibility and creating a system to loop in that criticism without breaking the culture sometimes act accordingly even with blind criticism.
But here in Nigeria,we often assume anyone in a high position must be smart and truthful, but many just got there by surviving the system. They just believe they are above correction since they have "more experience" than you. Here both the culture and the system are dead. The hierarchy does not even want to be truthful to itself first before criticism comes knocking.
Such an apt analysis of what ails the people.
Oh! if I could but love this twice.
This is such a lovely compliment
Yes, I love this angle you've brought in. We do not often see culture as social technology, one that can be ineffective and ineffective when it comes to a contemporary landscape, one that ought to be updated as the days go by. This culture of top-bottom criticism has such far-reaching and damaging sociocultural effects that it's necessary to understand it deeply and introduce certain caveats to curb its dangers.
First of all thank you for the compliment. This your comment is also a necessary addendum, highlighting the way the sociopolitical reality shapes and alters our response to art, including what we demand of media at large.
If you loved this, subscribe for more. I'll be publishing a piece on hypocrisy and why it's rampant here. Thank you for commenting!
This is beautifully written and it absolutely hits the nail right on the head.