In lieu of all the events of late on this forum, it is essential that we
desist from engaging in circus sideshows which will serve to distract from
our eventual goal: To expose and correct the wrongs being perpetrated by the
incompetent regime in The Gambia.

For this reason, I will refrain from going into any diatribe which deals with
any one particular person.  I refuse to call anyone names which are
unfounded, based on half-baked ideas or untruths.  Personal issues are better
dealt with face to face, and not while hurling insults at one another from
the luxury of our computer desks and screens halfway across the country from
one another.

Before closing the chapter on this unpleasant topic, a brief talk on my
thoughts about intellectualism:

The term is largely relative for who is to say that Professor X or individual
Y is more of intellectual than the someone with a totally different
background and experience in life? Innovative and analytical people hail from
all works of life and not simply from the classrooms of Yale, Harvard or
Howard University for that matter.  For this reason, I do not believe in this
intellectual brouhaha.  As for me, my ex-schoolmates, friends and co-workers
value me for what I bring to the table on a diverse range of topics and life
experiences.  Their input is also valued simply because knowledge is not a
one way street.  I have nothing to prove to anyone and the thought of having
an intellectual competition with anyone is absurd. Maybe we can exercise our
brain cells over some brain teasing puzzles, a game of chess or drafts
(damya).  But even this eventually proves nothing but who is better at a
particular game or certain type of exercise.


Instead of being paralyzed in awe of a so-called intellectual  and thus
incapable of finding a separate path or line of thought, I tend to judge
individuals everywhere based on their actions, and content and nature of
their words, written or spoken For example, someone who is simple minded
enough to divide African Americans into the Nigger, Negro and Blacks
categories is as ignorant and stupid as the most ignorant of the hicks who
comprise the KKK in the hills of Indiana.  In the same vein, someone who
writes: "I am Mandingo, I will do no harm to my country " is a tribalist.  A
person who alienates by making unfounded accusations against kids born into
relative wealth is a divisive one.  One whose writing is full of hate and
anger is a bitter person.  And so it goes...

Bob Marley once said: "If I was educated I would have been a damn fool." In
the same vein, my source of inspiration is what I observe from everyday life.
 In other words, a social education which never ends.  Life is a constant
leaning experience and anyone who think they are all knowing is a damn fool.
Intellectualism is an absurd term to me that really holds very little merit.
Striving from my experiences in life to be wise and clairvoyant is much more
important to me than some silly intellectual muscle flexing exercise.

I simply do not have time to waste on personal issues or vendettas with
anyone.  The struggle for a better Gambia is bigger than me or anyone else
for that matter.  Nevertheless, the truth of the matter is that the printed
word speaks volumes about the mindset of an individual.  And because of this,
the enemy is clear and exposed.

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