yesterday i had a lengthy and tiring argument with one of my friends. Let me call him Q. Q believes that in this world you cannot get anywhere unless you know someone 'strong' somewhere he further believes that knowing that someone aint enough, he must help you get some strong deals in high places for you to make supplies. We even went into argument and he strongly believed that Obama won coz he had some strong pple backing him. now this was different from what i thought coz i thought the man was disadvantaged from start. it was Hillary who had the strong backings , strong name etc. Obama won coz he had the small people in mind but Q told me i was too naive. That nothing is ever black or white, that there are several shades of gray. Now i have several problems with that school of thought.
one, because am one person who does not know strong people. so by telling me that, it only goes to tell me that i am headed no where. i wont take that!
two, because i believe immensely on the goodness of people. i have seen it here in this very blog. people i hardly know and who hardly know me sent me money for our project in Urenga. All due to good will. People in urenga probably think i know some people in high places and that's why i have been able to put up those classrooms and pay school fees for disadvantaged girls but they are wrong. very wrong
third, coz i think this mentality is to blame for all the problems we have had as a country. I even believe that the presidency is often fought for like that in Africa since its supposed to give you free access to strong deals, read corruption opportunities
fourth am angry because these kinds of corrupt people are the ones who have messed up the NSE for us honest investors. Everything was going on well till 2005 when lazy rogue brokers who loved shortcuts came into the market and started to manipulate it with abandon. This very blog was started inspired by the NSE. but later the market could make no sense at all due to all that greed. I have since painfully and regrettably reduced my participation in the NSE and even comments on the goings on have reduced on this blog.
Q is also actually geneticist (sorry if misuse the term) who also believes that success is genetically passed on. He believes that Kelenjins are genetically wired to run long distance races. Somehow he has funny facts to prove it! Even he tried to prove that the genetic make of Brazilians is tailored towards footballing agility! I hate such beliefs since they make me feel helpless! unfortunately Q is one of those people bless with power of speech and is very convincing.
OD, I can tell you for sure that you are right about Obama's success; it was from the ground up. He used the internet so skillfully that I can bet people will try to model his strategy in the future. His donations were from small donors like you and me. I religiously sent a small amount each month towards the campaign from the time he won Iowa, and so did several of my friends and coworkers. When you calculate those small donations that averaged $25-50 dollars per person each month by the millions that supported him, ( I think it was roughly 65M people), it adds up to quite a large sum.
ReplyDeleteObama was also the ultimate "Community Organizer". He had hundreds and hundreds of volunteers in all the states doing the foot work - registering voters and helping get people to the polls. He didn't take anything for granted. We had phoning centers in most areas where the campaign would provide phone lists and we the volunteers would use our own mobile phones to call and get people to register and get out to vote. I'm really a strong believer now that with a lot of determination, and huge backing from the regular mwananchi, one can get very far.
About the genetics thing; what can I say. Some have even used the same theory to try to prove that black people are somehow intellectually inferior (Have you read the Bell Curve by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray? I rest my case on that.)
OD I feel your pain.Normally I would just have read the article and moved on. I like your articles as you bare yourself ....anyway what one believes plays to a great extent how they see life playing out for them.So who do you think Mahatma ,Martin Luther King jr or Mother Theresa knew ? Which names do we hear that propelled them ? This are normal day to day people who chose to do extraordinary things by believing in themselves with regard to the plight of others. Kind of what you do with the school (great !). As for the gene thing, sorry but your friend is an example of little knowledge and a big head. History completely calls him out on that one.Like the case of Obama. Who in the world would have thought it possible just 5 years ago ? rest assured that with all the grand standing by Q it shall not silence the small voice inside yourself that says otherwise.
ReplyDelete@no-spin, It sure is nice hearing about Obama success from one who actually participated and helped make the dream come true. no one can challenge that coz you were there and you did it. The rest of us are just 'analysts'
ReplyDelete@onosh, I am actually wondering how come i didn't think of those classic examples when we had this tiring argument with Q. Thank you for the reinforcement. I am actually not mad after all to believe in what i do!