Why the ‘Stupid’ Comment will Stick
By Malith Alier, Juba
This is not the first time for somebody in the region to publicly abuse or say unkind words toward South Sudan. It is at least the second time as far as I know for somebody to insult the intelligence of South Sudanese people entirely or through their leaders.
Maboub Maalim is therefore, a second person after Beshir of Sudan who referred to South Sudanese as “asharat” or insects in Arabic! The Beshir outburst came as a result of a successful capture of Panthou/Higlig in April 2012. So, both comments came as a result of wars. We will come back to that point later.
South Sudanese by nature are proud people. They based their pride on dignity and respect. Therefore, they always react to anything that demeans or unfairly challenge their intelligence no matter how slight it may be. Therefore, it sufficed to say that these insults taken on individual level would have been reacted to ferociously. Fist fight or insult for insult would have occurred immediately!
Unexpectedly, the government of the day which represents us all opted to ignore the Beshir outburst but instead reacted to the Maalim one, years later. There may be two reasons for this selective reaction. One reason is that, the first insult was directed to all South Sudanese but the latter was directed at the leaders on top of which, is the president. Second reason is that, dealing with Sudan is a tricky business because of oil and other things. That is why the government ignored Mr. Beshir and his insect reference.
Third reason is that the government respects big people or heads of states in the calibre of Mr. Beshir. Lower people like Maalim can easily get crucified as we have witnessed though for the same crime of attacking sovereignty of the country.
South Sudanese themselves have not yet regarded their leaders as stupid out of respect for them and the dignity of this nation unlike Zambians during the time of Levy Mwanwasa. The late Zambian president was referred by some quarters, as “cabbage” meaning that he was in a vegetative state of mind. However, this cabbage tag did not arise out of nothing. Mwanwasa was involved in an accident prior to his ascendency to the president. None of the current South Sudanese leaders on both sides was involved in an accident causing brain damage. They are in their natural mind state.
The selective reaction to a foreign interference in south Sudan means that the South Sudanese house is divided in to two, the leaders who deserve protection and the rest. Abraham Lincoln once upon a time declared that a house divided against it-self cannot stand. This is one reason why the stupid comment will stick. Many foreigners reason that any insult on the country would be ignored just like the Beshir one.
So, the same government selectively opted to fight insults against its leaders but ignored those directed at the citizenry as a whole. The minister of Interior has taken it upon himself and went all the way to parliament, lecturing it on how to protect the president from such comments or abuses according to Sudantribune website. This is a clownish attempt. This very minister was in parliament at the time Beshir abused the whole nation but failed to react as one of the representatives of the people of South Sudan. What necessitates his reaction this time is any one’s guess.
Another reason why the stupid tag will stick is based on social theory. During childhood, if a child is teased but he strongly reacts against it even to the fight, then that tease sticks because those who tease the child get maximum satisfaction from it. This is also true even with adults. There exist so many deviations and gratifications within human beings. There are those who derived gratification from inflicting pain on others.
You know terms like masochism and the likes. Also note that, South Sudan is always referred to as a child of just two years or soon three by leaders to cover for their failures in the state. Therefore, it is teased by anyone who is older in the region and beyond. It is upon South to react appropriately to such teases and insults.
Ignoring the insult like the one by Al Beshir would have been the best option; because it would have avoided gratification derived by those who at all cost try to inflict pain on others in such a way. Further, there was that tease by Museveni of Uganda about security which was also ignored.
Coming back to the point in paragraph three, it is not only South Sudan which fighting a war in the region but many others including Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, CAR among others. If fighting wars make a country stupid then these mentioned countries which are fighting meaningless wars are also stupid.
Those who live in glass houses must not throw stones
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