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mibuokami on 21 September 2009
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binary solo said:
mibuokami said:
Adjudicator said:
mibuokami said:
Adjudicator said:
Have any of you ever been to Nigeria or know anyone from Nigeria. I know it's all in fun but some of you posts seem rather immature and uninformed.

It only hurts when it strikes too close to the truth.

I concur, I just get the feeling alot of these posts are knee jerk reactions from people who have had fleeting interactions and anecdotal experiences. I just think that sometimes there are people and organisations trying thier very best to change certain things, and it is very frustrating when things like this happen.

I happen to know a number of Nigerians who are neither prostitutes nor con men. This is not to say that all of them are like that, but one should never encourage stereotypes.

Steretypes are always rooted in truth, and while its commendable for the Nigerian government to try and change its image, part of that process of change is learning to accept criticism and embrace free speech.

I'm probably being a bit insensitive btw :P

 

I mostly agree with you, however even though stereotypes are usually (not always) based on truth, they are almost always wrong, unjustifiably inflammatory and generally defamatory to the group/race/nation/religion etc etc being stereotyped. Doesn't mean you can't use stereotypes as a fictional device, just look at the Russian stereotypes in the old Bond movies: Unemotional, masculine women with giant hairy moles on their face who want to crush 007 with their tree trunk thighs. I don't recalll the Kremlin complaining about it though.

Criticism should be accepted only if it is fair. If it's not fair then it is right to criticise the unfair criticism. But it's not right to call for a movie to be banned.

@ Naraku: You're going to have to define senseless violence because IMO there wasn't any senseless violence in this movie. Violence yes, but senseless no.

Oh I agree, criticise the movie by all means, that again is part of free speech. =)

I probably should seperate the two sentence, my reference to steretype and the second regarding image change veered off. I am speaking about the real political allegory that the director (who had first hand expirience) portrayed through the film when I refer to the criticism (which was certainly not just directed as the Nigerians) while the later (stereotype) is an unfortunate example of free speech.

To borrower from my better: I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.