This is one of those horrible dilemmas for me. Here comes an insha!
On one hand, I do find something totalitarian in the Western left, a self righteousness that tells everyone including other nations (except Saudi Arabia of course where women cant drive in 2017
) whats right or not by force which I instinctively reject like Robina. And like her I think it ends up creating conditions for Brexits and Donald Trumps.
To that point I also happen to think there are differences between the genders which lead to a life time of different choices made that end up being reflected in a wage "gap" or failure of some industries like IT and sciences to take in women (which I dont believe in either. I read the gap is done by getting an average of mens income vs an average of womens income without accounting for the different career choices women make right from high school to university and beyond: whether/when to go to college, which subjects to pursue etc).
Again to that point, Having lived in the West for a very short while, as a woman AND a black person AND from Africa, I can say with complete confidence that I feel mistreated as an African first and foremost, THEN as a black and NEVER as a woman. Sexism is non existent. I have never even caught a whiff of it anywhere. The direct opposite of home where Im a thousand times mire likely to experience sexism than even ethnic discrimination which is reaaaaaly saying something, lol!
On the opposite end, I do see a place for hate speech restriction: The ugliest parts of PEV were due to hate speech booming from radios in mashinani. The same thing happened in Rwanda.
And like Termi says, especially after experiencing and witnessing unstated racism, I am sure glad these folk dont feel free to shout that I am a monkey at work or any of that stupid s***.
Also have gay friends who have made me rethink quite a bit. In a place like Kenya, they would be treated at best like mad people which they are not, or fired at will for flimsy reasons or inundated with matusi so much that theyd have to quit to keep a sane mind. I dont want an environment that would make it ok to put them through that. But neither do i want the most obnoxious aming them them harrassing old christian ladies in an environment where they could get their cakes in a thousand other locations.
So there is my dilemma. Like most things its a balance thats difficult to get right. How to prevent the most obnoxious behaviour from any demographic while not roping in nirmal disagreements in the process.
