Nigeria Property: 05/13/15

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The term ‘man’ is usually reserved for an adult male of the human species; while the term ‘manhood’ is used to describe the period after he has transitioned from boyhood, having attained male secondary sexual characteristics that symbolise his coming of age.

Masculinity may vary in different cultures, but it has universal principles across cultures. Sometimes, gender scholars use the phrase ‘hegemonic masculinity’ to establish this universal concept.

Masculinity embodies assertiveness, responsibility, selflessness, ethics, sincerity and respect. Masculinity itself has social status that has strong associations with physical and moral strength. The biological inputs through hormones induce the masculinisation process that redirects the biological processes from the default female route.

In many cultures, displaying characteristics not typical to one’s gender may become a social problem for the individual. However, labelling and conditioning are based on gender assumptions as part of socialisation to match the local cultural template.

In the primitive hunter-gatherer societies, men were often — if not exclusively — responsible for all large game killed, the capturing, raising and domesticating of animals, the building of permanent shelters, the defense of villages and other tasks where the male physique, strength and spatial cognition are most useful.

Evidence abounds to show that the Neolithic revolution by men that led to the status of prehistoric ranches was a product of the intimate knowledge of animal life. Each time the universally agreeable traits of manhood are challenged, anxiety and anger may be provoked, leading to maladaptive behavioural patterns.

With the globalisation of values, there is an increased objectification of both sexes. Although the actual stereotypes may have remained relatively constant, the value attached to masculine stereotypes may have changed over the past few decades since it is argued that masculinity is an unstable phenomenon and never ultimately achieved.

However, the old ideals of manhood are getting obsolete, just as the new is still invisible to us as we grope in darkness concerning what forms the basis of manhood and masculinity crisis, with grave mental health consequences in societies in cultural transition, such as ours.

The typical modern African man has cognitive dissonance with respect to his roles as a traditional dominant male in the family, as he also attempts to espouse the western ideas that compel him to recognise his wife as a partner in the business of raising the family.

The traditional stereotypes of the father as the breadwinner and the mother as homemaker are almost historical in the light of today’s economical realities.

The masculinity crisis ensues as men are in search of a role in modern societies, since the traditional male attitudes are no longer in much demand anywhere. Deindustrialisation, which involves the replacement of old smoke stick industries with new technologies, has allowed more women to enter the labour force and reduced the demand for great physical strength.

The gender warfare through feminism questions male dominance over women; and the rights that had been erstwhile granted on the basis of their sex.

Masculinity crisis arise from the fundamental incompatibility between the core principle of modernity that all human beings are essentially equal (regardless of their sex) and the parochial tenet of patriarchy that men are naturally superior to women and thus destined to rule over them. The Nigerian situation is serious because the current mental health consequences of this crisis are enormous. A good number of the boys drop out of school, indulge in cybercrime, just as they come down with substance abuse disorder. There is a growing population of young men that lack the emotional maturity and capacity to give leadership in a home.

True manhood, which finds its expression in creative leadership, courage, protection and nurturing of the female gender, is never developed as a result of the maladaptive coping strategies.

It is equally disturbing that in most convocation ceremonies, the females may have 11 and only one for the males, illustrating the manhood crisis emerging in Nigeria. The female employees appear more focused and competent than their male counterparts. A good number of today’s men were brought up by single mothers who were the first set to have experienced this masculinity crisis that saw these boys grow up without a man in the house. The single mothers effectively train the girls, while the boys play the role of surrogate husbands as he does not take responsibility in the house, with reckless access to mummy’s money and car, while his female siblings plan the budget and do house chores.

The boy now grows to become irresponsible and turn round to invoke the traditional attributions of dominance without responsibility, resulting in high rates of divorce, growing population of marriageable ladies without mature young men to marry them.

The increasing rate of mental health disturbances in this cohort is alarming; and the situation requires urgent attention by all stakeholders.

Source

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Why I challenged 2003, 2007, 2011 polls in court – Buhari

President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday explained why he went to court to challenge results of the presidential elections he lost in 2003, 2007 and 2011. Buhari, who stated this when Delta State All Progressives Congress members visited him in Abuja, said he took the decision because he believed Nigeria must be free.

Buhari said,

“Going through the court is not easy, both materially and physically, and I maintained that consistency because my view about my country is that Nigeria should be truly free.”

He condoled with the delegates over the killing of some people during the last general elections.

The president-elect added, “I understand why many of you, who were denied the opportunity to choose those you want to represent and lead you are taking the line I took in the last 12 years in line with our constitution.

“Whether you get it or not, the most important thing is that you believe in the system and you should continue to try until the system is perfect.

“I express my condolence to you for the people murdered and I assure you that my objective of remaining consistently in partisan politics is to make sure that Nigerians are given their inherent right to choose whoever they want to lead them.”

The president-elect said he would never support anybody who undermined that right of Nigerians.

He added that arming unemployed youths and sending them to kill their own people was the worst thing anybody, aspiring to leadership, could do.

According to him, he will concentrate on what Nigerians would be proud of, adding that Nigerians would be respected. Buhari explained that the first objective of the APC would be security, adding that insecurity destroys the economy. The leader of the delegation and the APC governorship candidate in the state, Olorogun Otega Emerhor, alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party disenfranchised the people of Delta State and the South-South at both the presidential and governorship elections.

He stated,

“As our submission to the tribunal in respect of the governorship and state Assembly elections will demonstrate, in truth, majority of Deltans were ready for the change you represent and were geared to vote massively for you and APC.

“Unfortunately, a grand design executed by the PDP in the South -South and South-East and particularly Delta, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, made sure that no proper elections took place.”

He alleged that result sheets were confiscated and results fabricated, alleging that PDP resorted to violence and intimidation.

Emerhor said,

“Our election petition shows that while announced voter accreditation was over 1,017,796, the actual card reader accreditation report shows only 709,700. “As you are aware, Delta State, along with Akwa Ibom and Rivers states are rich in oil resources and the PDP is determined to hold on to these states at all cost in order to utilise the huge revenue base of these states to re-launch itself to national reckoning.

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Geopolitics: Yet another huge diplomatic victory for Russia

Unless you read Russian or monitor the free blogosphere, you might not have noticed this, but something big just happened in Russia: Kerry, Nuland and a large State Department delegation have traveled to Sochi were they met with Foreign Minister Lavrov and then with President Putin.

Welcome back to reality John!

With the latter they spent over 4 hours. Not only that, but Kerry made a few rather interesting remarks, saying that the Minsk-2 Agreement (M2A) was the only way forward and that he would strongly caution Poroshenko against the idea of renewing military operations.

To say that this is a stunning development would be an understatement.

For one thing, this means that the so-called “isolation of Russia” is now officially over, even for the “Indispensable Empire”.

Second, this is, as far as I know, the first official US endorsement of M2A. This is rather humiliating for the US considering that M2A was negotiated without the Americans.

Third, for the very first time the US has actually warned the Ukronazi junta against a military attack. This, at a time when the Ukronazis are in a state of bellicose frenzy and Poroshenko just promised to re-conqueor not only the Donetsk Airport, but all of the Donbass and even Crimea, show that for the very first time the US and Kiev are not on the same page.

Fourth, the USA has, for the first time, declared that if M2A was implemented, EU and US sanctions would be lifted. Interestingly, the Russians were not even interested in discussing the topic of sanctions.

So what does that all mean?

At this point, nothing much.

Americans are terrible negotiators and in every single US-Russian negotiation over the conflict in the Ukraine the Russians completely out-negotiated their American “geostrategic partners” (the quasi-official ironic Russian term describing the West) every time. What typically happens, is that Kerry caves in, then comes back to Washington and changes his tune by 180 degree. The Russians know that and the Russian media stressed that in its analyses.

Still, the USA can zig and then zag as many times as they want, reality does not zag. If anything, the recent presence of Chinese and Indian troops on the Red Square showed that the notion of “isolating Russia” is a non-starter whether Kerry & Co. accept it or not.

Then, there was the rather interesting behavior of Nuland, who was with Kerry’s delegation, she refused to speak to the press and left looking rather unhappy.

Not on CNN

Finally, a quick check of the Imperial Mouthpieces reveals that the Imperial Propaganda Department does not really know what to make of it all.

So what is going on, really?

Honestly, this one is too early to call and, as I said, the chances for yet another US “zag” are very high.

Still, what *might* be happening is that the Americans have finally (!) figured out a few basic facts:

Russia will not back down

Russia is ready for war

The Nazi-occupied Ukraine is collapsing

Most of the world supports Russia

The entire US policy towards Russia has failed

All of the above is rather obvious to any halfway competent observer, but for an Administration completely intoxicated with imperial hubris, crass ignorance and denial these are very, verypainful realities to catch up with. However, denying them might, at the end of the day, get the USA nuked. As the expression goes, if you head is in the sand, your ass is in the air.

Not on CNN

Thus it is possible that what just happens is the first sign of a US sobering up and that what Kerry came to explore with Lavrov and Putin is some kind of face saving exit option. If that is so, then this is terminal news for Poroshenko as this means that the US has basically thrown in the towel in utter disgust with the freaks in power in Kiev.

Furthermore, this might be a sign that US military analysts have taken a very negative view of the Ukronazi changes of success in their planned “Reconquista” of the Donbass. By going to Russia and officially endorsing M2A Kerry might be sending a message to Poroshenko: forget it, it ain’t happening!

Still, I would strongly caution against any premature optimism. I consider a US “zag” a quasi-certitude. My hope is that the “zag” will be limited in magnitude and that when it happens, it will be more about face-saving exit for Obama than about a denial of reality.

What is certain though, is that Russia has won yet another battle is this long war and that all the signs are pointing at the inevitable defeat of the Empire.

The Saker