Slog
News & ArtsFriday, October 9, 2009
International Country Boy
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Jon Stewart's interview with the Malawian windmill sensation, William Kamkwamba? For me, it is unwatchable:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| William Kamkwamba | ||||
| ||||
An extra note: Why is it only these types of Africans (Africans who are African to the root) become media sensations in the West? An African, David Adjaye, designs the amazing Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver—silence; an African boy designs the ugliest windmill possible—lots of noise and a whole book about it! Why is such the case? The first one does not live up to the Western idea of the African; the second one does. The first challenges the ideal African; the second doesn't. Indeed, the second one reinforces it with his earthiness and rural babble about batteries and whatnot.
2
Jesus Christ Charles. You need to open your mind and live in the country a bit. It's not the slow death you think - some of the most practical, smartest and kindest individuals I know are farmers, or were raised by them.
4
Wow, Charles. Do you wake up every morning and think to yourself, "I'm going to be an asshole today"?
5
Charles, you're jealous.
You may never accomplish anything as meaningful as this fellow has. You should admire him. Instead, you pout like a jealous child.
You may never accomplish anything as meaningful as this fellow has. You should admire him. Instead, you pout like a jealous child.
7
The fuck? He built a wind turbine from scratch...what have you done today besides wax poetic on bullshit?
8
Creating an effective (albeit spartan) technological solution to a local problem, and then internationalizing his cause with a charming media interview? Typical hick!
Damn, Charles. Personally I cringe every time I hear about "rez trash" from my compadres, or whatever such thing, because self-segregating tribalism is self-segregating tribalism. It does nothing to improve any human condition but your own self-satisfaction.
If you can't even articulate a thesis about the damage of his lifestyle, and instead have to resort to complaining about its aesthetic value, it's not worth the words. Part of what's great about the city is that there are a thousand lives to live. Stop complaining about this one because it's slightly removed from yours. It's arbitrary and stupid, and worse, it's hackneyed and boring.
Damn, Charles. Personally I cringe every time I hear about "rez trash" from my compadres, or whatever such thing, because self-segregating tribalism is self-segregating tribalism. It does nothing to improve any human condition but your own self-satisfaction.
If you can't even articulate a thesis about the damage of his lifestyle, and instead have to resort to complaining about its aesthetic value, it's not worth the words. Part of what's great about the city is that there are a thousand lives to live. Stop complaining about this one because it's slightly removed from yours. It's arbitrary and stupid, and worse, it's hackneyed and boring.
11
Charles accidentally took too much Dickatol this morning, and now he's cranky. I expect that if we were a third world nation, he'd go and ram his BMW into a crowded jitney in an impoverished neighborhood.
Or more aptly, drive his BMW out to the country and start shooting some poor farmer's cows.
Or more aptly, drive his BMW out to the country and start shooting some poor farmer's cows.
14
@11, my mother owned two Mercedes, one for herself and one for the family. I, however, never learned how to drive. My father totaled the BMW. He hit a donkey, not a crowded jitney.
15
City folks assume they're smarter than people from the country because country accents sound "dumb." Country accents sound "dumb" because city people associate them with country people, who they know to be dumb. They know them to be dumb because they have country accents...
What a perfect little circle of logic. Step off, city slicker.
What a perfect little circle of logic. Step off, city slicker.
17
You can click the link next to my name to download a Greasemonkey script that allows you to block articles in Slog by author. Blocking Charles has improved my life considerably. Now to find out how to block him on my RSS reader...
19
This was an incredibly bourgeois comment for a Marxist to make.
It's interesting to note that when society fails, It will be these "dumb" country folk who are sitting well-fed on their farms, cooled by their turbine-powered AC and generally self-sufficient, while city folks are beating each other to death in empty supermarkets for the last box of stale Pocky sticks.
It's interesting to note that when society fails, It will be these "dumb" country folk who are sitting well-fed on their farms, cooled by their turbine-powered AC and generally self-sufficient, while city folks are beating each other to death in empty supermarkets for the last box of stale Pocky sticks.
20
I saw this interview and thought this person was rational and even patient based on his interview. The city/country conflict usually seems about the conflict between the rational (city) and the irrational (country). I'm uncertain, however, if this a real thing, but rather a way of seeing things. In this case, the boy was from beyond even the rural/country, but seemed to exist in another space altogether. I imagine, though, you are playing the part often played by my contrarian uncles, and this contrariness further obscures the hidden narrative here by what it does not say.
The man learned how to build a windmill from a library supplied by the United States. Why did the United States feel obligated to build a library in Africa in the first place? We are not building libraries in Spain or LIverpool, as far as I know. His story plays into a narrative that avoids the reality of Africa's colonial history. The subtext is that African kids shouldn't kill and rape each other, but should build windmills! A truly pollyanna idea, but really who can't agree with it? I don't see that having nothing to do with some guy who built a windmill. It has more to do with the journalists who wrote his story and a Western audience searching for a narrative that makes something positive out of what has been done to Africa.
The man learned how to build a windmill from a library supplied by the United States. Why did the United States feel obligated to build a library in Africa in the first place? We are not building libraries in Spain or LIverpool, as far as I know. His story plays into a narrative that avoids the reality of Africa's colonial history. The subtext is that African kids shouldn't kill and rape each other, but should build windmills! A truly pollyanna idea, but really who can't agree with it? I don't see that having nothing to do with some guy who built a windmill. It has more to do with the journalists who wrote his story and a Western audience searching for a narrative that makes something positive out of what has been done to Africa.
21
Not his first language, I bet. Obviously very smart, but perhaps struggling a little bit using English.
I was trying to make a bong at that age. I have a lot of respect for him.
I was trying to make a bong at that age. I have a lot of respect for him.
22
Shit, I almost forgot.......
City people don't need another country person to make fun of, so fuck you all.
City people don't need another country person to make fun of, so fuck you all.
23
you're embarassed because you see yourself in this kid.
i can identify; every time is see some conservative cincinnati jackass making an idiot of himself on tv, i cringe.
i can identify; every time is see some conservative cincinnati jackass making an idiot of himself on tv, i cringe.
24
Even if we assume that rural poverty is some kind of indictment of the person or his family (way to go, Marxist, look down on the proletariat why don't ya) this guy managed, on the back of his own ingenuity and audacity, to produce a complicated piece of machinery out of what might as well be nothing, using knowledge he gleaned from books written in a language he did not understand. He _transcended_ his own poverty and low station, and has demonstrated his own tremendous value.
What lesson is there to be learned from your disdain? That you have contempt for excellence? That achieving something beyond expectation and beyond your peers is unworthy? Are "conservatives" really right when they say that leftists really crave uniformity and hate the entrepreneurial spirit and individuality?
Or perhaps there's a simpler answer, which is that Mudede is an asshole, and that he doesn't deserve to be paid money for this writing this bullshit. I think I'll go with that.
What lesson is there to be learned from your disdain? That you have contempt for excellence? That achieving something beyond expectation and beyond your peers is unworthy? Are "conservatives" really right when they say that leftists really crave uniformity and hate the entrepreneurial spirit and individuality?
Or perhaps there's a simpler answer, which is that Mudede is an asshole, and that he doesn't deserve to be paid money for this writing this bullshit. I think I'll go with that.
25
Charles - I completely empathize with your sentiment as I felt exactly the same way on hearing Wikus van de Merwe in District 9.
26
I was in tears by the end of this interview. Imagine this young man coming from his starving village to the big city--seeing all the excess that is available to some. And the look on his face when he describes using Google for the first time. It slammed me. I don't care why you posted this, Charles, but I thank you, because I never would have seen it otherwise.
Keep pissing people off if that's what it takes to get us to notice even one extraordinary story like this. And thank you too, Jon Stewart.
Keep pissing people off if that's what it takes to get us to notice even one extraordinary story like this. And thank you too, Jon Stewart.
27
We usually despise in others what we fear to see in ourselves.
This kid didn't have the benefit of a fine education, swimming pools, and cars which came with being part of Mugabe's corrupt 'government'.
Still, seems like he's turning out well. Good for him.
This kid didn't have the benefit of a fine education, swimming pools, and cars which came with being part of Mugabe's corrupt 'government'.
Still, seems like he's turning out well. Good for him.
28
@19 and you forgot one last little detail....
AND armed to the teeth awaiting smart city slickers who come out and try stealing their property.
Keep proving me right Charles. You are doing great so far.
AND armed to the teeth awaiting smart city slickers who come out and try stealing their property.
Keep proving me right Charles. You are doing great so far.
29
Are you serious? This guy made a power generating windmill from scratch and you want to give him hell because he's from a rural area. You are putting your own insecurities about how African's are viewed in the west on this guy. You need to get over yourself.
30
Wow, thanks for the cup of morning sunshine, hater. I thought this segment on Daily Show was a refreshing change from all the bad news we get all the time.
34
@32 - Yep. This is an amazing example of the difference between Stupidity and Ignorance. This guy reverse-engineered an electrical generator using diagrams in a foreign language.
Not bad. That's a pretty amazing bit of synthesis there.
Instead of Charles' continued reverse race-baiting, think of the good done by this one small library and the relative cost to say, a single depleted-uranium round from one of our tanks.
Not only that - but I bet that if an American NGO had come in to build a windmill, they would have encountered much more resistance and difficulty. The beauty of this is not only the solution itself, but that it is a natively-sourced solution.
Frequently Western intervention provides solutions that are effective, but impossible to maintain given local resources - so they work for a while, but then must be abandoned.
Not bad. That's a pretty amazing bit of synthesis there.
Instead of Charles' continued reverse race-baiting, think of the good done by this one small library and the relative cost to say, a single depleted-uranium round from one of our tanks.
Not only that - but I bet that if an American NGO had come in to build a windmill, they would have encountered much more resistance and difficulty. The beauty of this is not only the solution itself, but that it is a natively-sourced solution.
Frequently Western intervention provides solutions that are effective, but impossible to maintain given local resources - so they work for a while, but then must be abandoned.
35
@31,
This must be tough for you. Someone who sees black people as less than human has to defend one black man in order to attack another; I guess your hatred of intellectuals tipped the scales, huh?
This must be tough for you. Someone who sees black people as less than human has to defend one black man in order to attack another; I guess your hatred of intellectuals tipped the scales, huh?
36
Oh, and a PS?
Notice that they didn't really go into his electromagnetically-triggered circuit-breaker? Yeah - that's because most of the audience couldn't follow.
He didn't just "build a windmill" - he was pumping water, providing light and even charging cell-phones. A good chunk of the American public would be hard-pressed to walk out of Radio Shack with the correct power adapter for their cellphone. And a vanishingly small percentage would understand why "power" needed to be "adapted" anyway.
Notice that they didn't really go into his electromagnetically-triggered circuit-breaker? Yeah - that's because most of the audience couldn't follow.
He didn't just "build a windmill" - he was pumping water, providing light and even charging cell-phones. A good chunk of the American public would be hard-pressed to walk out of Radio Shack with the correct power adapter for their cellphone. And a vanishingly small percentage would understand why "power" needed to be "adapted" anyway.
37
Charles Mudede makes a very good point here. And the responses from those who find that point so threatening are quite amusing.
39
@37 - OK, I'll bite. What's this "good point?" You can't mean that Americans are not as concerned with contemporary art as they are with personal industry and tales of redemption?
40
I thought Kamkwamba was delightful. Having worked in rural communities in Eastern Europe, I prize the earnestness and ingenuity of the "typical rural type" even more than the sharp wit and world-weary cynicism "typical urbanites" like Mr. Mudede. You'll notice if you watch the interview that Mr. Kamkwamba didn't have a single mean or nasty word to say about anyone. Mr. Mudede might consider a similar tack, highlighting some of his favorite Africans in a positive light instead of tearing them down! :)
41
I always felt undertones of racism in the media's apparent surprise that an African built some windmills. Yes, it is impressive regardless of who he is, but if a redneck in South Carolina built them, would anyone bat an eye?
42
@41 - Yes, because children in villages with very few amenities and a tiny library have ALL the opportunities in the world to build windmills, water pumps, hey, why not even CPUs.
43
I thought his first TEDtalk (2005?) was very endearing and inspiring. The best of the "rural mind". But, that they had him back this year (with nothing new to add to his original talk) was incredibly condescending and self-consciously patronizing. It seemed racist, like they just wanted to see him "dance". Each iteration corrupts the original.
44
Charles DOES make a good point and the rest of you don't get it because you've never been to Africa. Guys like the windmill guy always get the attention because it feeds into the totally narrow American view of who Africans are. Americans are so goddamn ignorant, it's embarrassing. Africa is only about poor people living in the bush, with disease and misery all the time. That's the view. And wow, looky there, at the simple windmill guy - aw, how heartwarming for all of us. Sniff, sniff. Africans like Dambisa Moyo (who none of you likely know), a successful economist and author from Zambia, you never hear about, do you? SHE'S not Africa for us. We just want warm and fuzzy stories about simple folk out in the bush making windmills. Cause it makes us feel good. Makes me sick - so fucking condescending to Africans.
45
I agree with your sentiments, Confluence, although not with your vehemence. The writer makes a good point about this story. Perhaps the reason stories like this make the headlines is because they're easy for people to understand, doesn't really challenge any stereotypes, and gives you a warm fuzzy glow that "it will all be alright in the end", because if this one kid can make a windmill and solve his community's problems, then we can all sleep safely knowing that Africa will solve its own problems. It's like a Christmas story by Dickens, only in blackface.
46
I see Charles' point...it's like the media reporting on gay issues and focusing only on drag queens, Leather Bears and Dykes on Bikes...there's nothing wrong with any of them but they aren't the only examples of gay culture...
just the easiest, laziest and most entertaining to portray.
just the easiest, laziest and most entertaining to portray.
47
@44 dude i vacationed in Kenya, in the middle of the city and I chilled in the boondocks. Much of Africa is developed, much of it isn't. That isn't the point at all. This has nothing to do with the west viewing Africa in a bad light, this has everything to do with a guy reverse engineering an electricity generating windmill without any real outside assistance. That is amazing, very few human beings on the planet could do it. Charles needs to read E. Franklin Frazier's "Black Bourgeoisie". You might learn something about yourself.
48
...And by "this story" and "stories like this" I meant the story about the little African fellow who could. Um.
49
@45
The problem is, it *creates* stereotypes. The windmill guy IS Africa, for everybody. And it's truly condescending because Africa is so much more than the simple guy in the bush, making a windmill and saying, "Gee whiz!" over Google search engines.
@46
You've got it exactly. Put it into gay terms, if it makes more sense to you. What's so upsetting to me is to have to scroll through a long chain of comments from people not able to see this at all.
The problem is, it *creates* stereotypes. The windmill guy IS Africa, for everybody. And it's truly condescending because Africa is so much more than the simple guy in the bush, making a windmill and saying, "Gee whiz!" over Google search engines.
@46
You've got it exactly. Put it into gay terms, if it makes more sense to you. What's so upsetting to me is to have to scroll through a long chain of comments from people not able to see this at all.
51
He was kicked out of school because his parents couldn't afford the fees. Instead of giving up on having an education, he went to the library and got it for himself. He did not just put a twirly thing on a post, he reverse-engineered an electrical generator and water pump, built the tower and pump pole, assembled the aermoter & wheels & vane & sails all from cast off junk from plans from books in a foreign language. And he turned it into a business that will give small towns and villages all the electricity they want or need. And it's non-polluting. Kamkwamba had every disadvantage in the world and yet he achieved this.
To me that is a far more impressive accomplishment than a trust fund baby who was driven every day to their private school and spoon fed facts until they're ready to attend their Ivy League college where their tutor does a large portion of their homework so they can earn a "Gentleman's C" so that when they graduate they can lay about on their lazy butts and sponge off their trust funds. There is nothing impressive about someone who has every advantage in the world and never achieves anything.
That being said, I've found some of the interviewers had a smell of Pollyanna and were condescending, but that doesn't lesson Mr. Kamkwamba's impressive achievement.
To me that is a far more impressive accomplishment than a trust fund baby who was driven every day to their private school and spoon fed facts until they're ready to attend their Ivy League college where their tutor does a large portion of their homework so they can earn a "Gentleman's C" so that when they graduate they can lay about on their lazy butts and sponge off their trust funds. There is nothing impressive about someone who has every advantage in the world and never achieves anything.
That being said, I've found some of the interviewers had a smell of Pollyanna and were condescending, but that doesn't lesson Mr. Kamkwamba's impressive achievement.
52
Little guy applies hard work and ingenuity and reaps the rewards. Charles, this is just the story of the American Dream imported from Africa.
53
I feel like there are two things going on here, that are sort of related: 1) There is a valid reaction on Charles' part against the perpetuation of tired tropes of the poor rural African rising above his circumstances to make good - a continuation of the orientalist "noble savage" image, and 2) A fairly common knee-jerk response to seeing someone you feel is provincial being made a sort of media ambassador for an entire people (how would we all feel if media representation of Americans throughout the rest of the world was reduced to images of rednecks?).
54
(follow-up to @43) Charles,
There's a just-released TEDtalk that seems germane to this discussion: Chimamanda Adichie: the Danger of a Single Story
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adic…
There's a just-released TEDtalk that seems germane to this discussion: Chimamanda Adichie: the Danger of a Single Story
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adic…
55
Well, if Charles's complaint hadn't been that the windmill was ugly I might have gotten his point sooner.
It's true that the vision of Africa most commonly seen in the US is of the poorer, rural parts of the Continent. Those are the the parts that tend to be getting either money or help from Americans. The percentage of the population of most African countries who are not subsistence farmers is pretty small, too.
That there are intellectual Africans, that there are amazing artists and so on is great-and when they take over making all of Africa a safe place to live where people can grow enough food without being shot, chopped up or ruined by drought I'll want to hear all about them.
But to ridicule a young man who built a functioning power generation system using found scrap because he isn't an intellectual is just silly. Given his accomplishment he's probably smarter than most of those intellectuals anyway.
It's true that the vision of Africa most commonly seen in the US is of the poorer, rural parts of the Continent. Those are the the parts that tend to be getting either money or help from Americans. The percentage of the population of most African countries who are not subsistence farmers is pretty small, too.
That there are intellectual Africans, that there are amazing artists and so on is great-and when they take over making all of Africa a safe place to live where people can grow enough food without being shot, chopped up or ruined by drought I'll want to hear all about them.
But to ridicule a young man who built a functioning power generation system using found scrap because he isn't an intellectual is just silly. Given his accomplishment he's probably smarter than most of those intellectuals anyway.
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