Over the weekend, Facebook activated its feature which allows users to shade their profile photos in a particular colour—this instance, in France’s flag colours to show solidarity to the people of France following the Paris attack.
Several Ghanaian facebook users were upset on the grounds that, facebook do not activate this feature, a call for solidarity for the people of Nigeria anytime Boko Haram strikes. Adding that, when over 140 Kenyan students were killed, facebook did not do this either.
To make a solid point, these critics called everyone who shaded their profile photo in France’s national colours a hypocrite for the fact that they do not do the same for Nigeria and other African countries when these countries are attacked.
And since I had shaded my profile photo too, I decided to reply the critics.
My reply has been shared and liked so many times, such that I believe you would want to read it—and perhaps, contribute to the conversation.
******
You sit in Africa (let’s say Ghana) and support Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal—and the rest. And you even spend your money buying their jerseys when you have never bought any kit of any of the many African clubs.
No one has a problem with you—you are at liberty to make a choice and support whatever you want.
You religiously follow Game of Thrones, Empire and comment on social media about all the foreign blockbusters while ignoring the excellent works of Shirley Frimpong Manso and others.
Once again, no one has a problem with you—because it’s a free world and people have the right to choose.
Then disaster strikes, someone decides to sympathize and support France over similar disaster in Beirut or northern Nigeria—and all of a sudden the person is a hypocrite and non-African.
I love the ‘clever’ reasoning of my African sisters and brothers. They have a right to a choice, yet others should not have this same right to choose.
In all these, I guess my mother is the hypocrite.
I have no problem with people’s choice, my problem lies with those who exercise choice but calls others who do the same hypocrites—or seek to restrict the choice of others.
And most importantly, I have a problem with those who want to tell CNN and Facebook how to run their businesses—demanding equal share of attention or asking that they should ignore their own problems and focus on theirs.
If you will feed someone’s child with your last food instead of giving it to your own child, that’s not the definition of being clever.
We surely know who the hypocrites are!