Thursday, April 24, 2014

A STORY OF APRIL


There are those days, between bright sunny skies, and dark rain clouds; days which if they were water would be lukewarm, without character, without beady sweat or the promise of rain. Days that drive you into that dim contemplative space, where everything is heightened: tragedies and the probabilities of tragedies.
It rains in April. Somehow you always lose your umbrella in April. The umbrella that balances like a dandy against the door frame is your first in many years, not just because, somehow you always lose umbrellas one week after buying them but because that perennial loss has made you question the usefulness of umbrellas altogether. There is nothing so important that would make you walk in the rain you imagine, and if there is, it will be an emergency enough that will make being drenched the least of your problems. You look out through the window at the dull sky, then at the umbrella, before leaving without it.
In April you cry. For your dead brother whose nondescript grave you imagine as being overgrown with weeds in April. In April you conjure your brother’s face and play it all, from his laughter to his drowning. And now 11 years after you thought his was the largest coffin you’d ever seen – he was over 6ft tall- you feel his memory blurring in your head.
You are looking for a place to do a HIV test. Your partner had gently nudged you to do that which you had promised to do and now, having gone through the evolution of thoughts that precede an HIV test- I can’t have it to I don’t want to know if I have it to What if I have it to It is not impossible to have it to Where can I get drugs and treatment if I have it? – you have prepared yourself by calling up a friend who works in HIV research to ask for the best HIV treatment centres in Abuja, as well as Googled all there is to know about living with HIV.
There are thoughts you are struggling to suppress. Like, how will you deal with the stigma. Like, what if April is not just the month your brother died, but the day you will find out that you have begun the slow but sure descent to death. You convince yourself that being HIV positive is not the end, that life can still be lived to the full- you think of O, your friend who has lived with the virus in relatively good health since you knew him many years ago. Life itself is a slow, sure descent to death, and in Nigeria, that life is for many people short and brutish. Like the dozens who died in the FCT after the recent bomb blast. Nigeria itself is for many, a terminal disease.
April. You never want children, but suddenly you feel if fate ever tricked you into having a daughter, you would call her April. This is the new name of your if-ever daughter, taking over after Q and Nefertiti. It starts to drizzle as you wait to enter the building where your skin will be pricked to draw blood which may or may not be infected with a life altering virus. The rain drops are the least of your worries.
Everything happens so quickly in April. At least in your head. The pre-test, done by a doctor who realised from your name that he knew your writing online, included assurances of the ease of HIV care which you were still trying to swallow by the time the test kit arrived. You are watching everything happen like a time lapse video, struggling to sustain interest in the excited doctor’s conversation. The time lapse video ends when he walks over to check the test results. In the seconds it takes him to speak, you think of every partner you have had, every time you have wondered if a condom was used properly, every indiscretion and all the people who will use you as a morality lesson for their children and relatives. The seconds are high on barbiturates, crawling into minutes.
Your partner asks if you feel relieved finally finding out what your status is. “I am just tired,” you say. You sleep for many hours, longer than you have slept in a long while and deeper. The feeling in your heart and head refuses to be slept away. It lingers, clearing a space in your being, unrolling a mat, settling down.
You think of the families of the more than 70 persons bombed out of existence. And of the families of over 200 girls who were kidnapped by Islamist terrorists in Chibok. April will never be the same for them. 
Staring at the umbrella still leaning against the door frame, you wonder about his feet- you cannot remember what your brother’s feet looked like. The years are eating him up in your head.
You will look for a picture of him and stare at it for a long while, rebuild his face in your head. You will tell him that you are only sure of one thing this April: that when you die, it will not be from AIDS. At least, not yet.




Wednesday, April 23, 2014

HOW YOU STOPPED BEING A FEMINIST

Some days you wonder how far you could push your belief in the equality of man and woman if you still lived in Kaduna. Growing up, everyone around you, especially the older women, preached submission and obedience to young women. And you often thought, thank goodness I am not a woman.

Years have passed and forged in your mind resistance to the contemporary incarnations of patriarchy even when you benefit from it- the world doesn’t tell you how long or short your dress needs to be, whether your hair needs to be covered or not, what time of day you should not move about, places where you should or shouldn’t go, or constantly want to know if you are a virgin or have defiled yourself. You have become keenly aware of this male privilege, especially in Abuja where women can get kidnapped for walking around at night by city officials pretending to fight prostitution.

It has all turned you into some sort of activist. You see in all things the slightest tilting toward patriarchy and you speak up against it even when the men and women in the room, comfortable in patriarchy, think you are crazy. It does not shock you when women do it, because you know that patriarchy can also be beneficial to women. Once a woman has sacrificed the limelight and overt control over herself and her world, she is sometimes rewarded with not having to do certain things for herself, like pay for dinners, or even take care of her household. You have never thought that it was as simple as women are equal to men. It is clear to you how complex patriarchy is and how it is that many female beneficiaries of this skewed system may be addicted to it.

Once, you called yourself a feminist, certain of the validity of your claim and cause. You believed that in every struggle or cause, persons not directly affected by the wrongs were needed as champions for that cause, whether gay rights or feminism. So you smiled when someone referred to you as a male champion and said that feminism needs more male champions. You even got invited to a feminist meeting.

Slowly however, the word feminist began to secret a sourness in your mouth. In your head you used to think feminism and gay rights were the same. But then you began to wonder about the term male champion in feminism. You began to see the contradiction: an ideology that challenges unfair male domination should not need male champions. And you thought to yourself: How presumptuous of me to think of myself as a male feminist champion!

You no longer call yourself a feminist, no longer use the word male champion when speaking of feminism. What you fight for is equal space and rights for women- an equal voice. And because you do believe that women are as capable as men, you are content in the belief that they are capable of speaking and fighting for themselves. You are happy to be an ally, to stand behind them.


Somebody asks you, are you a feminist? You say, I merely believe in what is right, namely, that women are equal to men. That’s it.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

REMOVING THE VEILS: NIGERIA’S REVIVED HOMOPHOBIA



“He is supposed to be killed.”
- Nuhu Idris Mohammed, Sharia Court Judge in Bauchi who sentenced a man to 20 lashes for being a homosexual. (Source: “Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays”, New York Times, February 8, 2014.)
Kill them. This sentiment has been expressed about homosexuals in Nigeria, both in the streets and in the media, especially since the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act came into operation on January 7, 2014. In a rare moment of country-wide support, the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan received praise from Christian and Muslim groups and well as from members of the legal profession and opposition political parties. Most persons hailed the new piece of legislation as being in line with Nigerian religious and cultural values and chided the West for what some called hypocrisy and double standards. In fact, some of the strongest proponents of the legislation to criminalize gay activities and behavior and the support of same with long prison terms, come from the opposition. Abike Dabiri-Erewa for example, a journalist and federal legislator from Lagos State who is described on her Wikipedia page as having “warmed her way into the hearts of many with her gallantry efforts of using television as an effective tool to draw attention to the millions of Nigerians suffering from the pains of poverty and injustice.” (Dabiri-Erewa has also sponsored a bill for the elimination for violence against women. Her website describes the proposed legislation thus: “The bill also seeks compensation for victims of rape. It also deals with domestic violence, political violence, harmful traditional practices, and protection of widows among others”). When the anti-gay bill came up for debate on the floor of the House of Representatives, Dabiri-Erewa said that the idea of the solemnization of same sex marriage has “no place in Nigerian culture” and is “repulsive”.
Just what is this piece of legislation that seems to be at the centre of both controversy and contradiction? The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, one of the scantiest pieces of legislation in the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (7 sections and less than 600 words), is a remarkable law in many ways. For the first time, actions outside the act of homosexuality itself (albeit corollaries to it) are being punished. For example, the law punishes acts such as the direct or indirect “public show of same sex amorous relationship”, a nebulous term not defined in the legislation, as well as the “registration of gay clubs, societies and organizations, their sustenance, processions and meetings”. Further widening the scope of persons capable of being punished, the law prescribes a 10 year jail term for persons who as much as witnesses any of the offences, whether the solemnization of a gay marriage, the registration of a gay club or a meeting of a gay society.
Indeed, it is safe to say that a majority of Nigerians, sold to the idea of the legislation primarily by its title (which purports to be mainly about prohibiting gay marriage in Nigeria), are in support of the law. Nigeria, a country deeply divided along crisscrossed ethnic and religious lines, is a country fanatical about religion and the profession of religion. Most persons, whether practitioners of religion or not, claim some affiliation to one of the two major religions, Christianity or Islam, whether at social events, in the workplace or even for the purpose of filling political quotas. Samira Askia*, for example, who in an uncommon act of bravery, revealed her gay sexuality in an article online, identifies as “gay, Muslim…and Nigeria[n]”.
Many persons applauding the new anti-gay legislation cite the preservation of their culture and religion as strong reasons for their support of this clampdown on gays and those sympathetic to them. The head of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Rev. Felix Omobude, pronounced in a statement hailing the passage of the anti-gay law that same sex unions are “contrary to Nigeria’s culture” adding, “if you even remove Christianity and Islam, and to the very tradition of the people, we abhor same sex marriage.” In a separate reaction, the head of one of the branches of the Nigerian Bar Association, Nigeria’s umbrella body for lawyers, said “[Nigerian] culture supports sexual purity and natural means of conception.”
It seems however that most of these references to culture and religion force a narrow reading of what Nigerian culture is and has been, at least outside Christianity and Islam. In at least one example from Northern Nigeria, there are rich historical and even contemporary sources that suggest this narrow reading of Nigerian culture may be excluding a large part of the history of pre-Islamic culture and tradition. In a study dealing with the role of ‘yan daudu, ‘transgendering men’ in Hausa society and more precisely in bori cult- an old spirit possession cult where the practice of homosexuality is rife- scholar Maarit Sinikangas makes several references to respected sources in explaining how the bori religion operated (and still operates) in parts of Northern Nigeria. Drawing reference from Fremont E. Besmer’s “Horses, Musicians & Gods: The Hausa Cult of Possession-Trance” (1983), Sinikangas writes in his 2004 thesis “Yan Daudu -A Study of Transgendering Men in Hausaland West Africa”:

Bori is fundamentally a communication between this world and the other world. It is a set of beliefs in supernatural spirits that can communicate with the people in terms of good or evil will. The spirits, always being present in people's lives, can cause several misfortunes and make the people ill, but they have also the power to cure and bring luck.

He also points out that even in contemporary times, “some Muslims take part [in] bori ceremonies or seek medical help from bori practitioners.”

Many ‘yan daudu participate in bori performances and dance like women, donating money to cult-adepts, “especially when the spirit Dan Galadima appears”. J.H. Greenberg, in “The influence of Islam on a Sudanese Religion” suggests that the origin of the term ‘dan daudu is from Dan Galadima, a son of Galadima in the spirit pantheon, Dan Galadima being a loose living, handsome man who is popular among women. Umar H. D. Danfulani in “Factors Contributing To The Survival Of The Bori Cult In Northern Nigeria” alludes to the fact that dancing, sex orgies and daudu homosexuality” are often associated with bori dances even though he argues that “daudu homosexual relationships found in some sections of Hausa society is not a particular characteristic of the bori cult.”

There has been the argument that ‘yan daudu are not homosexuals, in the strict sense of the word but merely transsexuals or transvestites. Sinikangas argues that while partaking in same-sex actions is neither necessary nor a sufficient criteria for the status of ‘dan daudu, their status being defined through their work and their most visible feature- gender crossing-, many of the ‘yan daudu do have sexual relations with other men. This argument is reinforced in Rudolph Gaudio’s much quoted scholarly article, “Male Lesbians and Other Queer Notions in Hausa”. Gaudio, a scholar and linguistic anthropologist who himself is a gay man and has spent decades living in, visiting  and researching in Northern Nigeria, asserts that although “‘dan daudu” is an occupational categorization, most ‘yan daudu are in fact homosexual. Explaining the minor difference between the homosexual ‘dan daudu and the Western ‘gay’ sexual identity, he explains:

Despite the lack of significant contacts between Hausa and North American gay communities, certain similarities in the discourses of both groups are sufficient to justify my use here of ‘gay’ and related terms to refer the Hausa men who have sex with men. If ‘gay’ is seen to refer only to the overt, politicized gay communities that have emerged in the West in the past one hundred years, it surely does not apply to the Hausa I met in Nigeria, most of whom have little if any knowledge of Western gay life. If, however, ‘gay’ is understood to refer to men who are conscious of themselves as men who have sex with men, and who consider themselves to be socially (if not temperamentally) distinct from men who do not have this kind of sex, then these Hausa men are undoubtedly gay, and it is in this sense that I use it. This is not to say that Hausa men understand sexuality as do North American gay men. For example, Hausa people generally refer to homosexuality as an act rather than a psychological drive or predisposition, and homosexual men are more often described as men who do homosexuality than as men who want other men sexually. The most common in-group term for men who have sex with men is masu harka, ‘those who do the business’, often abbreviated to masu yi, ‘those who do [it]’. Moreover, homosexuality is not seen to be incompatible with heterosexuality, marriage or parenthood, which constitute strong normative values in Hausa Muslim society.

There is ample scholarship on bori, ‘yan daudu and homosexuality as an undeniable sub culture in (Nigerian) Hausa society as well as on several other non-traditional gender and sexuality expressions across cultures in Nigeria and Africa. The bori, straddling both culture and religion, is one glaring response to the claim that homosexuality is alien to Nigerian culture.
Much of the modern homophobia in Nigeria, and indeed many parts of Africa, seem to be connected to the incursion of monotheistic religions into the continent and the supplanting of existing cultures and polytheistic religions which accommodated a plurality of belief systems. More recently there have been well documented reports of American evangelists who have sponsored and lobbied for gay crackdowns in Africa. Scott Lively, a controversial Massachusetts based anti-LGBT evangelist, is well known for his role in Uganda, where as a result of his aggressive advocacy and representation to the Ugandan parliament, the Anti-Homosexuality bill was proposed. Lively has been known for asserting, in ‘The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party’, that “homosexuals [are] the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities.” This in spite of several sources recording the imprisonment, torture and killing of homosexuals in Nazi Germany. He further links homosexuality to murder by arguing that eight of the top ten US serial killers were homosexuals. While some commentators have asserted that American right wing evangelists have reached countries like Nigeria to lobby for harsh anti-gay legislation, it is not clear if anti-gay campaigners like Scott Lively directly influenced the passage of the Nigerian anti-gay law.
In Northern Nigeria, the Sharia Penal Code, re-introduced in a stricter version in 1999 starting with the Zamfara State Government and spreading to as many as 12 Northern states, prescribes the death penalty for homosexuality. Many of the recently arrested suspected homosexuals in these Northern states, (notably Bauchi) have been charged under the Sharia penal code as seen in the outset of this article.
In a country where direct violence is often the preferred method of solving issues from land disputes to religious slights, mobs have become emboldened to carry out targeted acts of violence against persons perceived to be gay. In Rivers State sometime in late January, barely three weeks after the anti-gay law was passed, a viral video emerged showing two alleged male homosexuals being molested by a mob and forced to have sex with each other.  On February 12, coordinated attacks on the homes of several activists and others perceived to be gay were carried out by a mob in a suburb of Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory. Nearly 14 persons had their property stolen or destroyed and were rendered homeless. The mob warned that if they returned to their homes they would be killed. Rumours of many more attacks in other parts of the country exist.
While it may take a whole new conversation to understand the root of this boldness of violent anti-gay rhetoric and physical attacks, one thing is certain: many persons do not relate with homosexuality as a human issue. They simply refuse to believe that there are ‘normal’ people who have a sexual orientation that does not fit that of the majority. Lydia Polgreen, the Deputy International Editor of the New York Times, wrote on April 12, 2012 on her Twitter account: “I interviewed arch-conservative Nigerian Anglican Bishop, Peter Akinola, who told me he had never met a gay person.”
As a result of decades of living in the closet as well as the complex notions of sexuality which do not always fit foreign labels like ‘gay’ or ‘straight’, many persons whose sexuality involves having sex with persons of the same or similar gender are forced to fit into culturally assigned roles for males and females. Thus people -women more so- are pressured into marrying and having children and fitting the role of the gender they were assigned at birth. Routinely, homosexual men and women get married and bear children while maintaining closeted same sex relationships. Hence, gay persons have had no visibility in Nigeria, making it easy for people to conclude that homosexuality is a Western concept and alien to our culture. Even ‘yan daudu, while sometimes referring to themselves with feminine pronouns in Hausa, hold to the gender categories that label them men and stick to those roles- for example they follow the strict Islamic rules which prevent men from entering houses which seclude women.
Samira Askia* mentioned earlier, explains why visibility matters in the discourse around homosexuality.
I am hoping that attitudes will change after spending time with a real life gay person and leaving with their humanity, religion, relationship and heterosexuality still intact. I usually have the one question for them: now that you know me, do you still think I should be in jail for 14 years?
Nigerian homophobia appears to be very gender specific, expressing disgust mostly at male homosexuality. A woman in expressing her support for the anti-gay law and her shock at homosexuality said: “I can understand two women. But two men? How do they even do it? What pleasure do they derive?” Indeed, almost all of the persons arrested by authorities or attacked and beaten by mobs have been males.
A lot of homophobia finds roots in popular myths, stereotypes and misconceptions about both homosexuality and gay persons. Foremost among these seems to be the previously mentioned claim that homosexuality is a Western perversion seeking inroads into Nigerian society- a claim that falls flat in the face of concrete evidence like bori practices among others.
Some have claimed that anal sex is not only wrong but leads to diseases. First, this claim is simplistic in limiting homosexual behavior to anal sex, totally cutting off lesbian practices or even non-anal male homosexual practices. It is also based upon the premise that only homosexuals engage in anal sex. A random sampling of heterosexual pornography for example, shows that anal sex (mostly males anally penetrating females) features prominently in heterosexual sex. On the claim that anal homosexual sex causes diseases, while it is a fact that the HIV prevalence is much higher among male homosexuals, all unprotected sex, vaginal, anal or even oral, expose those involved to sexually transmitted diseases.
Murray Lipp, a social justice activist in response to the stereotype that gay men focus on anal sex, writes that “the core feature of male homosexuality is sexual attraction to other men, not an exclusive focus on a particular behavior [like anal sex]”. He further explains that while anal sex is one possible sexual activity between gay men, it is not “an activity that all gay men participate in, nor is it one that heterosexual people never engage in.”
However, perhaps the most dangerous of all the myths is that which seeks to compare or even equate homosexuality with pedophilia. It is common to have minority groups which are hated by the majority branded as being dangerous to the community or worse, to the vulnerable persons of that community. This helps to justify and legitimize the public expression of hate. In this way, as Dr. Gregory M. Herek writes in his article “Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation”,Jews in the Middle Ages were accused of murdering Christian babies in ritual sacrifices [and] black men in the United States were often lynched after being falsely accused of raping white women.” Herek writes further:
…the mainstream view among researchers and professionals who work in the area of child sexual abuse is that homosexual and bisexual men do not pose any special threat to children. For example, in one review of the scientific literature, noted authority Dr. A. Nicholas Groth wrote:

Are homosexual adults in general sexually attracted to children and are preadolescent children at greater risk of molestation from homosexual adults than from heterosexual adults? There is no reason to believe so. The research to date all points to there being no significant relationship between a homosexual lifestyle and child molestation. The… adult male who sexually molests young boys is not likely to be homosexual (Groth & Gary, 1982, p. 147).
In a later literature review, Dr. Nathaniel McConaghy (1998) similarly cautioned against confusing homosexuality with pedophilia. He noted, "The man who offends against prepubertal or immediately postpubertal boys is typically not sexually interested in older men or in women" (p. 259 [McConaghy, N. (1998). Paedophilia: A review of the evidence. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 32(2), 252-265.]).
On the most basic level, the attempt to link homosexuality with pedophilia ignores one of the most common child sexual abuse scenarios: the sexual abuse of girl children by male adults. It also disregards the sexual abuse of male children by female adults. This is not to say, however, that persons who have previously identified as gay or homosexual cannot molest children. Homosexuality does not confer sainthood upon individuals. There exists, just as among heterosexual populations, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ homosexuals. Indeed, the entire spectrum of general human behavior among heterosexuals is replicated among homosexuals. It is likely that if gay persons lived freely in our communities, people may begin to see them as real humans and not just rumored perverts. In at least one report from victims of homophobic mob attacks in Abuja following the anti-gay law, an apparently fascinated policeman made one of the suspected gay persons show him his anus and penis. It is not clear what the policeman sought to achieve from that exercise.
***
Debates around homosexuality and the acceptance, tolerance or otherwise of it continues around the world, even in more liberal and secular countries where respect for human rights is less selective. Nigerians may just need to be more open about discussing sex, sexuality and sexual identity especially now that legislation has forced the issue into national consciousness. Samira Askia sees her sudden refusal to hide who she is to make people comfortable in their homophobia as forcing them to confront their feelings about the topic. She believes that the more visible gay persons are, the sooner Nigerians will stop speaking of them in the abstract. Perhaps, then there will be a sizeable population of Nigerians who understand that, in Ms. Askia’s words, gay persons “do exist, eat, laugh, love, sleep and work: just like heterosexuals do.”
 
*Not her real name

Sunday, April 20, 2014

WHY WE MUST FORGIVE JONATHAN FOR DANCING




The whole world has been on President Jonathan’s case this week. He seems not to have got anything right. First there was the terrible bomb blast that took the lives of nearly 100 persons. Then there was the kidnap of over 200 school girls. It is not easy to be president at a time like this. I do not envy him. It is for this reason I will not be hard on him this week. 

Many were upset that instead of mourning, Mr Jonathan’s first move was to go on a campaign visit to Kano. But the biggest issue was not that he went frolicking during a national emergency. It was that, while he was frolicking, he danced. I cannot count how many articles by jobless people I have since read on his dancing. The man is my political rival but I will show the spirit of sportsmanship and defend him this one time. 

People haven’t stopped to consider the philosophy behind dancing after you have lost hundreds of your citizens to terrorists. But we must disregard what silly things Labaran Maku said in defence of Mr Jonathan. He said: “This president has suffered psychologically as a result of this criminality. I think going to Kano was a statement, a loud statement that terrorism will not stop the administration of this country.” Maku needs to be sacked. I will tell you the real reason why the president danced and why all god-fearing persons must forgive him. 

Let us take a moment to talk about dancing.

We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. -A Japanese proverb.
Goodluck is a reading man. How else would he have got his PhD? Granted his PhD is in the scientific study of animals and not humans but he must have read many books to get there. And they say the more you read, the more you realize how little you know. People insult the president often and call him foolish, but he has turned this into power by proving that better a dancing fool than a fool who will not dance.  

The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing. - James Brown
Do you realize how much can be achieved by just moving ones feet and waist to a rhythm as delivered by Sani Danja? Let me list a few medical benefits:
1.     First it improves blood circulation.
 
Who does not want a president with the right amount of blood going to his heart? This is a matter of national security. A president with blood travelling at the wrong speeds or in the wrong direction is a risk to all of us.

2.    It reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

We all remember what happened to Abacha. The man was not a dancer. As a dictator, your heart needs a bit of dancing. He had many secluded spaces where he could have danced in the fortress that is the presidential villa but he didn’t. And with an increasingly weak heart he tried to match his strength with those of persons younger than he was. The rest is modern history.

3.    Helps to tackle obesity.

Who wants a fat president? A fat president is distracting. Why do you think Zimbabweans, against all conventional logic keep voting Mugabe and have refused to vote the bloated Tsvangirai? Mugabe hasn’t gained weight since the 80’s and Tsvangirai, a much younger man, is already threatening to burst even before he takes full power. Which is why I am going to invest in a presidential gym. I have also reduced my alcohol intake in preparation for 2015. And I dance. Get behind me obesity.

4.    Improves sexual health.

As in 1. above, dancing makes the blood flow well, which in turn allows for healthy sex. For men especially, we know it is all about blood flow. If we are not getting enough blood down to the holy of holies, rising to the occasion becomes difficult. We cannot afford to have a dissatisfied First Lady. This is a security risk. We all know that dissatisfied spouses can destroy an empire. So if the president has to dance, please let him dance. 

Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order. - Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett made a lot of sense here. I like that he went to Kano and danced before he did anything. Mr Jonathan is in touch with nature. Any other thing would have been unnatural. 

Music saves more lives than war, so put your gun down and get on the dance floor- Ritu Ghatourey
This is true. Who did Jonathan hurt by dancing? If you were to choose between the president who danced and the terrorists who have dragged us into war, would you not choose the one who saves lives? 

There are so many reasons I could give but I hope that with these few points of mine you are convinced and not confused that it is better to have a president who dances than one who doesn’t. 


PS: My heart goes out to the families of the deceased and kidnapped victims of this week’s senseless attacks.