The odds are against Reggie and Bollie: in a reasonable gamble, it’s highly probable they would not win the X-Factor—taking into considering the history of the competition and the fact that a UK Christmas number is always on the minds of the organizers.
But everything is possible and voters are capable of derailing the train if they are obsessed enough with a particular group or person: meaning, as long as Reggie and Bollie are in the competition, there’s hope—even if it’s highly infinitesimal on the measuring rod.
However, there seems to be an increasing unnecessary sense of patriotism being championed by certain Ghanaians on and offline. Every Ghanaian in the UK is being rallied on the back of Ghana’s national flag to support Reggie and Bollie—as if this is a football match where patriotism dictates the line of support.
My problem with this manner of rallying support is that; it cuts out those who are not Ghanaians—and of course, these are the people in the majority.
For instance, a popular Ghanaian figure in the UK-Dentaa of GUBA Awards fame and some people have organised a bus to go out there and support Reggie and Bollie at Farnborough today—a brilliant idea, but in front of this bus is a Ghana flag, making a bold national statement.
So what will happen to Reggie and Bollie if all the British people in UK (and they are in the high millions) decide to be patriotic and vote for a British contestant—irrespective of the person’s performance on the final day?
We should not set a harming precedent; we are in the minority and we should rather fight for a broad support across the spectrum—not divide it into some pockets of nationalism. This is the sort of thing Donald Trump will do and every reasonable person should be able to see the weakness.
It’s a losing fight if we want to play the patriotism card: therefore, the “Ghana this and Ghana that” should be taken out of the conversation. We should rather focus on the story of the two young men, their performances and determination—and use that to pull people of every background in to support them.
Clothing X-Factor in national colours defeats the purpose of the TV show: it’s about who would put up a thrilling performance, the person or group capable of pulling in that Christmas number one single—and it’s not a matter of supporting blindly or supporting a person because he or she is from your country.
If that’s the sort of card and advocacy Ghanaians want to throw into the air, then tough luck because the last time I checked, there were approximately 96,000 Ghanaians in the UK—a country of about 65 million people.
We have to be reasonable with what support tactics we employ. There is a reason why the voting lines are opened only after performances—they want you to vote based on what you see and not because the person holding the mic is a Ghanaian or British.
But if we think that’s unnecessary and we would rather vote or support purely on association or patriotism grounds, then let’s see how far that will take us…
This not England Vrs. Ghana football match; and if you cheaply calculate it so, then you are already in the minus before the game even starts.
THIS ARTICLE MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!
THATS GHANAIANS FOR YOU! WE WANT TO BE RECOGNISED EVERYWHERE. ABUSE OF PATRIOTISM!!!
lol, abuse of patriotism de3 abuse of patriotism
This is so true; had the same thought earlier when I saw several posts regarding the homecoming.
Thanks for tho article…its good we support our fellow gh citizens but I’m so ashamed of how we of how we are going about it as if its world cup…everybody is acting as if they know Reggie and Bollie….i wish the best for them that’s why they should actually be happy if they don’t win…i mean how many xfactor winners have really made at after they’ve won the entire contest….gh fuo some of us should slow down…its not world cup
I am utterly ashamed by the unnecessary patriotism card being played by a section of Ghanians living in the UK .. I strongly believe that Bollie & Reggie themselves do not recognize the disservice being done them by these overly exuberant patriots …
I’m addicted to Ghanaceleb because Chris doesn’t mince words… You cannot seek to turn this into a national competition simply because the numbers don’t favor you in the equation.. We should rather be craving for universal support for the duo..
This attitude is very typical of Ghanians, we are somewhat deluded into believing that we are special & Gods own anointed! & ironically this anointing isn’t evident in our national lives , neither is it evident in our development as a people in the area of Health , education , sanitation etc but this so called “anointing” strangely manifests itself only when Ghana excels in a football match , a game of boxing or in a singing competition .. And for me ,this medieval level of thinking is absolutely frightening !
We don’t see any signs of the special “anointing”when the whole country is faced with power crisis for close to 4 years without solution.
Wherefore in my humble opinion, this sort of anointing which makes us feel so special as a people… could best be described as “selective anointing”but at worst it could be said to be an act of self delusion !
@Kkkk, thank you very much for hitting the nail right on the head. There is pride and there is stupid pride. There is a saying in one of the Ghanaian languages that “do not point or direct people to your country with your left hand”. Unfortunately, Ghana has to be pointed at with a left hand at this moment. It’s embarassing when some people think development is about painting the kerbs of Tetteh Quashie inter-change and planting flowers around it.
They will not win because they are too African. This is Europe and not Africa.
@gibson ,your comment is neither here nor there..sorry