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COVID-19: My layman’s take
I am not a scientist. Indeed, many things in science make little sense to me but once I trust Research Scientists to be doing the right things for humanity, I am minded to accept their findings and live by their recommendations. I remember one advert on television in London in late 1975 which said, “An egg a day keeps the doctor away.” Now, years later, we are told eggs contain such cholesterol levels that they must be taken in moderation.
What might have happened to those who took an egg a day for many years? Were the doctors kept away all those years? It looks like our scientists cannot easily make up their minds. Then comes the dreaded COVID-19. Again, our scientists are struggling to make up their minds on what this pandemic presents. They cannot agree on the distance between people so as not to get infected or infect. Some even say one does not need to get close to another to get infected and that the virus is in the air.
Sadly, the virus does not come like ‘kakai’ where one could parry it away. However, the conspiracy theories seem to gather more currency than the scientific ones. No sooner had the virus broken than we were told some 5G masts were said to be responsible. Another had it that some devilish individuals want to control the minds of all humanity and put us under their spell. Yet some say Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, want to use the virus as a ruse to get blacks vaccinated so they cannot have babies to populate the world anylonger. They say there is no truth in this COVID thing at all.
I am made to understand that the corona virus is not a living organism and so can only linger on certain surfaces for a certain number of days or hours and die. Only on copper surface can the virus die instantly. Granted that this is true, we are not told how long it will linger in the system of a person who dies of the virus. I state this because bodies of those who die of the virus are not released to their families for fear of infection. My layman’s question is: if I am dead and cannot breathe, cough or sneeze, how do I get my handlers infected? Or does this virus stay in the corpse till it decays?
I hope my dear readers are not getting more confused than me. Granted that all the conspiracy theorists are up to some mischief, there is one fact that I know; and that is Nature does not forgive. I will explain this shortly.
I had gone shopping at a supermarket in the Bronx area of New York City in July of 2012, and at the vegetables section I saw the labels stating which were organic and which were genetically modified. The labelling was to allow the customer a choice. In fact, the GM ones looked more lush and appealing than the organic ones which, to all intents and purposes, were more expensive. By reflex, I muttered under my breath, “Are we safe?” A baritone voice responded behind me, “We aren’t safe, brother.”
I turned to face a hulk of a bearded giant staring down into my face. With a hand like the paw of a bear, he took mine and introduced himself as a Professor of Biochemistry in one university and had been researching into certain organisms I cannot readily recollect now. He stated that genetically modified (GM) foods are so pure that the natural antibodies that help to boost our immune system to fight ailments are eliminated. The effect, therefore, is that absolute dependence on GM foods exposes us to infections unless immune boosters are produced for regular consumption. This information, to me, was as frightening as it was revealing.
I told my Professor friend that I was a trainer of Journalists in a university in Ghana and promised to spread his word. He was grateful as I was as we parted company and I picked my organic foods and went my way.
It was clear to me from then on that because of profit and the desire to rake in megabucks, people set out to use technology to create ‘problems’ for humanity. These GM organisms do not have the natural seeds to grow, so the farmer is compelled to buy the seed from these biotech firms for planting all the time. This is a total dependency syndrome.
Now, back to COVID-19 and Nature’s Law: Have we noticed that there are more reported cases of the virus and deaths in the advanced societies? Their scientists cannot understand why Africa has rather low case levels and deaths. We are made to understand that this virus attacks the immune system, not so? So, here comes my “Layman’s Take.” Because majority of those out there live on GM foods, their immune system is compromised and cannot combat the effects of the virus; death is inevitable.
However, here in our parts we cannot afford to even buy the GM seeds so we depend on the organic farming methods to feed our population, thus building the antibodies to fight the virus. Therefore, it is highly likely that more people in Africa have had the virus than anywhere in the world but are not showing symptoms at all, which makes it probable that I might have contracted this deadly virus many times over and recovered without even knowing that I contracted it in the first place. This may be because we do not as yet have the capacity to mass-test our populations. This is possible, isn’t it?
I am of the conviction that nature is only exacting its ‘punishment’ on mankind for using technology to violate its laws. Of course, the question will arise as to how come Africa has recorded deaths from COVID-19. Could the answer simply be that those are people with underlying conditions? As I stated earlier, I am no scientist and cannot propound scientific theories to support my thinking, but if I have by this article touched on why Africans are not dying in the streets as predicted by Melinda gates, I guess scientists and their technology partners are hereby challenged to look at our food and food sources the world over.
Only recently, about a dozen players and officials of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club were said to have tested positive for the virus in Sudan. They looked healthy while training with no symptoms. Even after the positive tests, none has shown signs of illness. They are back home doing as well as they left. That’s the point I seek to make.
Is Africa doing something right?
However, Ghanaians seem to take the risk lightly and are going about their duties as if nothing ever happened. The country might face another lockdown if stringent measures are not taken to enforce safety protocols.
PS: I wish it is just a plain rumour that testers are charging GH¢500.00 to declare otherwise infected people negative. Else I will appeal to National Security to conduct an investigation into the claim making the rounds.
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
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I have often been saddened by the condition of Sikaman musicians. Of course, some are not musicians. They are jokers who think anybody who can sing a hymn is a musician. And why wouldn’t they think so when people think that every man wearing a rasta hair is a reggae musician?
Well, these days, almost everybody is dreaming of becoming a musician, even some ministers and parliamentarians. And it is never too late for them to begin learning the solfas and composing songs like “If You Do Good You Do For Yourself,” after all, life begins at 60 these days. If you die three years later, that’s your luck.
For the jobless, becoming a musical star is an everyday dream. They think when you are a music maker, you automatically break alliance with poverty. They are often mistaken.
I know people who claim they are musicians but are always fasting not because they are devout moslems or are on a hunger strike, but because even one square meal a day is a perpetual wahala. And the only drink they can afford is the poor man’s holy whisky which has a thousand names including ‘Nyame Bekyere’.
Even most of the popular musicians we see in town claiming they are foreign-based stars are more of hustlers than musicians. When they tell you they are going on tour abroad, it is a careful way of saying they are going overseas to scrub the whiteman’s toilet or pick tomato or apples to save their neck from musical poverty.
When they are back to Sikaman, they appear quite flamboyant with chains hanging all over them. They change the few dollars they have scraped, spread it around and promptly get broke. Then they can organise another ‘tour’. In between tours, they struggle to release an album and that levels them up a bit on the financial balance.
It all points to the fact that the life of the average musician isn’t quite organised. He has no calendar, no programme and no concentration on the job. He has to wash plates, become a waiter, janitor and toilet scrubber while finding time to make music. No musician succeeds in life that way.
One musician I’ll always respect, who thinks deeper than the ordinary Sikaman musicians is Carlos Sakyi. He is not like the Kokoase guitar musicians who see the world just in terms of bitters, a willing girlfriend, constant supply of kokonte and jot.
Carlos, often loved for his percussive overtones in gospel music, and once a gospel-rock star, has studied the life of Sikaman musicians and has evolved a blue-print for a great improvement in their lives work, finances and comfort.
In short, he has simulated a Motown-style environment for musicians and his formula is working with accuracy with the five musicians he has started with. The blue-print is what has brought MEGASTAR into being. It was launched on September 15, 1995 at the National Theatre.
When it got launched, many probably thought Carlos was “too know or was dreaming more than he should and won’t think about himself. Anyhow, the MEGASTAR is now an institution musicians can look up to, a big phenomenon with lots of promise for struggling musicians.
Music business in the developed world is not the way we regard it cheaply here. A musician is never distracted by how his finances go; his contracts are entered, his engagements made, his interviews arranged, his personal security guaranteed.
Music is his business and that is where his mind is and his attention focuses. Other aspects of his life are programmed for him by his managers. They hire who has to light his cigarettes, massage him, drive his car and the one who will say “Good Luck” when he sneezes.
A bodyguard whose face is exactly like that of the devil is hired to scare off muggers, psychopaths and criminals in general. Sometimes his girls are organised for him.
So the only thing the musician does apart from sleeping and snoring is to concentrate on making music, and true to it, no one can succeed in any venture when he is distracted.
This is how the Michael Jacksons, Lionel Richies, Dolly Patons and Whitney Houstons have made it with dollars packed and over-flowing. They aren’t any better than Sikaman musicians. The only difference is that they know how to organise their lives.
I managed to corner Carlos Sakyi and asked him to tell me how MEGASTAR was doing. He is the Managing Director of Megastar Limited, a music company that has a board of directors and a chairman. Carlos Sakyi shares the proprietorship with a partner. Carlos himself was one great musician who played for a band that beat Eddy Grant on the charts.
“Megastar is in fact a concept born out of the idea that the future security of the Ghanaian musician which has always been in jeopardy can now be guaranteed. Artistes spend too much of their time doing things on their own, chasing money and not concentrating on music. So their full potential is never realised. Some are in fact producing at quarter-rate. That is why they aren’t making much headway,” he told me.
“Megastar is now giving them the chance of the lives. We handle the interviews of Megastar artiste, their press releases, costume, engagements and everything they hitherto used to do themselves. We get them exposed on M-Net and we have contacted BB to get on their programmes. We handle their finances pay them salaries and bonuses, so they only have to concentrate on music
“Most importantly,” he continued, “we do not make all the decisions. Management always meet with the musicians to take the decisions that affect them.”
But who are the Megastar musicians? One is the great Amakye Dede, a star from birth delivered onto the earth with music on his lips; he is the man who feeds hungry ears with musical salad and harmonic sausages. He is the recipient of many national awards.
Next is Naana Frimpong, a latter-day Carlos-groomed songbird with the voice of an angel. She sings to kill. Her beauty has charmed her audience and they stare and stare at her.
The sensational and fantalising Tagoe Sisters are the next. The twin music machine is one that has produced the cream, arguably the very best, of gospel music all these years. I hear they are inseparable; not even their better-halves can keep them apart. Are they Siamese? They dance, and when on stage, they move the crowd.
Then comes Reverend Yawson who is a known songwriter. He is imbued with the Holy Spirit, speaks in tongues and of course sings in tongues. He is God’s representative on the group.
What about my good friend and super-heavyweight, Jewel Ackah? He is a star figure. His appearance is awe-inspiring, his voice golden. A great delight to be-hold when at his best in stage-craftsmanship, he has beaten his contemporaries to it both on land and on sea.
They are the pioneers of the Motown idea. They are all releasing new albums this year. Let’s see how it all goes.
In recent years, the term “female rage” has gained significant traction, symbolising a collective shift in how women’s emotions are perceived and addressed.
This phenomenon is not merely a fleeting trend but a profound movement rooted in centuries of systemic injustices, personal betrayals, and societal expectations.
As women increasingly reclaim their anger, it is imperative to understand the multifaceted nature of female rage, its causes, and its implications for individuals and society at large.
The historical context of female anger
Historically, women’s emotions have been subject to dismissal, ridicule, and pathologisation. The term “hysteria,” originating from the Greek word for uterus, was used to describe women’s emotional states as irrational and uncontrollable.
This legacy of silencing and shaming has contributed to a culture where women’s anger is often suppressed or stigmatised.
However, with the rise of feminist movements, women are challenging these narratives, asserting their right to express anger and demand change.
The anatomy of female rage
Female rage is not a monolith; it is a complex and multifaceted emotion driven by various factors, including:
1. Societal expectations: The pressure to conform to traditional roles of passivity, politeness, and emotional labour.
2. Gender inequality and pay gaps: Frustration stemming from systemic discrimination in the workplace and beyond.
3. Sexual harassment and abuse: Trauma and anger resulting from pervasive violence and objectification.
4. Emotional labour and burnout: The unsustainable burden of managing emotions and responsibilities in personal and professional spheres.
5. Hormonal fluctuations: The impact of hormonal changes on emotional states, often overlooked or dismissed.
The power of anger: Reclaiming female rage
Far from being a destructive force, female rage can be a catalyst for change. When acknowledged and channelled constructively, anger can drive advocacy, policy reform, and resistance against inequality.
The #MeToo movement, women’s marches, and increased representation in politics are testaments to the power of collective female anger.
Addressing the Stigma: Towards a more inclusive dialogue
To fully harness the potential of female rage, society must address the stigma surrounding women’s anger. This involves:
1. Validation and recognition: Acknowledging women’s emotions as legitimate and worthy of attention.
2. Creating safe spaces: Providing platforms for women to express anger without fear of backlash.
3. Education and awareness: Challenging stereotypes and promoting understanding of women’s experiences.
4. Support systems: Offering resources and support for women dealing with trauma and systemic injustices.
Conclusion
The age of female rage is a moment of profound transformation, where women’s anger is no longer silenced but celebrated as a force for justice.
By understanding the roots of female rage and addressing the societal structures that fuel it, we can move towards a more equitable and compassionate world.
The journey is complex, but the destination-a society where women’s emotions are respected and their voices are heard is worth the struggle.
References:
[1] Chemudupati, P. (2022). _The Rage of Women: A Historical Perspective_.
[2] Traister, R. (2018). _Good and Mad:
By Robert Ekow Grimond-Thompson
