By
Obododimma
Oha
A typical
expression of hypocrisy in Igbo thought is that someone says that he or she no
longer eats roasted grasshopper, but divides it for children with his or her
teeth. In traditional Igbo society, the best gift one can give to children when
returning from somewhere like the farm and, which is their easiest source of
protein, is ụkpana (roughly
translated as of the phylum, Euathroda ), among which are, of course,
grasshoppers. Igbo writers, like Tony Ubesie, in fact, feature ụkpana in their
works, as in Ukpana Okpoko Buuru.
Thus, hypocrisy is a form of behaviour that many groups, including the Igbo,
are familiar with and have configurations for it. Following from this, I would
like to approach some interesting acts of hypocrisy in Nigerian social life that
we sometimes take for granted and ignore.
But, first,
honour to whom honour is due. I am thinking of the etymology of the word “hypocrisy”
and would like to pay due homage to the Holy Bible. It was in the reading of
the Holy Bible that I first came across the word, “hypocrites,” from which “hypocrisy”
has been formed or is related to lexically. One feature remarkable about
hypocrites of the Bible is that they would like other people to see their
attention to the religion, when they are actually not living according to the
tenets of the religion. And so, they are mere advertisers, showing off
themselves. The idea is to deceive someone. Sorry for those who take the
advertisement by its letters!
A deceit that
I would not want readers to fall prey to is to stick to a religious
manifestation of hypocrisy or to look for it only in the religious setting. In
fact, hypocrisy is everywhere and in everything. Even at the workplace, is it not
manifested, as named in Nigerian English, as in “eye service”? It does not have to
be called “hypocrisy” always. It can have a baptism name or even a confirmation
name here and there. Look closely and press your ears to the ground in
discourses and you may get the baptism or confirmation name, if you are lucky.
Now, while
doing that, let us hope you are not protecting something, some value, and it is
not an impediment to your listening. You see, there are ways of listening, and
the noise inside one’s head created by a resident idea, its tenant, may prevent
one from truthfully facing the reality out there. Thus, in a place like
Nigeria, terrorists may slaughter innocent villagers asleep and the noise in
one’s head arising from the values one thinks that one shares with the killers
would make one begin to rationalize and justify the killings. That’s hypocrisy!
One can even try to drown the issue in a tortuous argument in a social media
platform or try to confuse issues. Those that think they are learned may argue from
Earth to deep space, invoking rare terms, just to be seen to be winning the
argument.
There may be
other diversionary tactics applied in the social media discourse. They may
share some totally unrelated links, maybe about beautiful women, just to
distract from the issue at stake. When you fall to the bait, moving from window
to window, you gradually forget, your fury dissipated; your conscience stolen!
There are
also other sinister practices, but those sensitive can still see through the
screen. This occurs as silence. Indeed, it shows that not every silence is
golden. Some are conspiratorial, if not criminal. If the objectionable act has
been committed by some with whom the person shares a religion (say the same
church or ethnic group), the criminal reaction is to keep quiet. It is assumed
that condemning the act is to swim against the tide of the primordial group.
And so ingroup identity is enhanced by criminal silence, as if to say: “Do not
work against (or act against) your interest."
Silence of
hypocrisy; silence as hypocrisy! When we think that we are affected, we speak
out. When not, we keep quiet. Keeping quiet is a continuation of the evil act
by other means, to parody Clausewitz.
I am
particularly bothered when enlightened people display hypocrisy. If they are
affected or if it happens elsewhere, they take on the role of radicals and call
a press conference. When it happens to another in their backyard, they become
silent or become absent-but-present. I will check narratives about hypocrites in the Holy Bible again
because of them. It appears that hypocrisy is morphing in recent times,
subverting my listening to expressions of them in discourses.
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