Huu ndo mtazamo wangu kuhusu mambo ya utamaduni.
Utamaduni, kama yalivyo mambo mengine, nao hubadilika.
Kuna wakati wanawake waliokuwa wanavaa suruali walionekana kuwa ni wahuni. Sasa haiko hivyo tena. Suruali kwa wanawake ni moja ya mavazi ya kawaida kabisa.
Kuna wakati kunyoa panki [for my old timers] ilionekana ni jambo baya na la kihuni. Nenda shule Jumatatu huku umenyoa panki kama hukunyolewa upara mbele ya wanafunzi wenzio. Lakini siku hizi naona wanafunzi kibao wamenyoa viduku na wanaenda skonga kama kawaida.
Kuna wakati hata huko kwenye nchi zilizoendelea ushoga ulikuwa ni kosa kubwa mno. Sasa hivi ushoga umekuwa jambo la kawaida tu.
Hata mimi mwenyewe kuna kipindi mashoga walikuwa wananichefua kabisa lakini sasa hivi wala sina habari nao. Mtu awe shoga asiwe shoga, mimi hiyo hainihusu. Ni mambo yake nami najali yangu.
Kwa hiyo utamaduni, kama yalivyo mambo mengine, nao hubadilika.
Kwani wewe hakuna jambo au mtazamo ambao umebadilika kulingana na muda?
Kubadilika na mda ni ishara ya kutumia akili, lakini, kubadilika huku kuwe kutoka mabaya kwenda mazuri.
Huwezi kutoka kwenye utamaduni ambao watu walijiheshimu, ukaenda kwenye utamaduni ambao watu wanatukana tu, halafu ukafurahia kwamba umebadilika na muda.
I like to balance things delicately, as if on a scale.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said it best.
"The test of a first-rate
intelligence is the ability to hold
two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
While I remain a staunch liberal socially (and financially conservative, in principle at least), that is, I would normally side with freedom of expression and against censorship in a very laissez-faire way, I also recognize the importance of a basic sense of decorum and the necessity of some mitigating factors to ensure that feedom of expression is enjoyed in a non injurious way to the national psyche and the well being of our society.
As a result, I do not have a problem with the most debauching of shows, the "barely legal" ones and even the borderline legal on the other side of the law, if at all the airing of these shows is mitigated in a certain way (cable subscription with parental guidance warnings and means to limit access, time slotting etc)
I am afraid I do not see any of these being employed in the industry at home.
As a result, we are slowly descending into a decadent and debauching cultural despair that depicts cultural disrepair.