Shaking Tables

A common trend that has been on for a while on the internet now, especially in Nigerian social media space, is the "shaking of tables". This should not be taken literally as it would make absolutely no meaning to just wake up one morning and start shaking the table in your house or office. This shaking figuratively describes the challenging of societal norms or what has started becoming the norm and religious or traditions are usually left out. While some do find it as comic relief, I think some of these questions raised should be really examined and critically discussed. 

Now I want to shake mine.

I'll begin my shaking with this quote;

"... Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.”

This quote really brings questions to my mind for some very good reason. First, who is an amateur? Well according to our friends at Google, an amateur is a person who is contemptibly inept at a particular activity, that is, the person has very minimal knowledge of an activity s/he wants to engage in. So were Noah and his family amateurs? If you look at previous knowledge, which would include training and expertise you could say they were. However, according to the story, before they began the construction of the famous Ark, they were given specific and clear directions on how it should look. The size of the woods to be used, the finishing material and the compartments, everything was given in detail. 

They had no previous experience building something like that but they did and it came out just as intended. Should they be considered amateurs then, considering that the only leverage the engineers of the Titanic had over them was that they had many years of training and experience and they had the metals to finish their "unsinkable" ship? While this quote is used in an inspirational manner to tell people that you can do something that you had previously been seen as incapable of doing, in my opinion, the Ark builders weren't amateurs rather they were pioneers who did what no one at that time and period would have done.

The second table I want to shake is that of same-sex weddings, with pointers to the female one. In some parts of the world today same-sex marriage is seen as a norm and some countries have gone ahead to legalise it in order to protect the rights of its citizens.

In the traditional wedding humans are familiar with, a man and a woman look their sharpest on their wedding day. The woman adorns a wedding dress, which is mostly in white to signify purity and the man puts on a tuxedo suit. Smile for the camera *click, click*. 

In most lesbian weddings I've seen, mostly online, I notice that one of the partners wears a tuxedo. Why?! No, really, why?! You agree that while you are gay you are not relinquishing your gender, so why wear a tuxedo? You are challenging the norms by marrying someone of the same sex, then stick with it to the end. If you're not changing your dressing I don't think it should extend to what you wear on that your wedding day.

I know some will say it doesn't matter or it's just a formality or the tuxedo can be worn by anyone. I suggest a rethink because in the day a male gay couple gets married I strongly doubt if you will see one of them in a wedding dress. So I ask what are the lesbians really fighting if what they might term as small and insignificant can one day invalidate their struggle. Well, what do I know?

The last table I want to shake now is a sensitive and serious one. In the mid-1970s an activist group was formed in the US, their aim - to fight for the right of paedophiles and to establish paedophilia as a legitimate sexuality. Even at that time, paedophilia was taught and is still as a mental illness in many medical schools around the world.

In recent times, 2018 to be precise, more attention has been drawn to this topic. Pressure groups are springing up and they are not ready to relent in this struggle to make paedophilia a legal, and acceptable sexuality. I remember reading online two months ago from a university professor, he said he is in full support of the proscription of paedophilia as a sexuality adding that he has been teaching for over 25 years and he is currently working on how to teach kids how to give consent. He also stated that while he was in his 20s he started dating his wife in her midteens.

This is the world we live in. But, how long will it be for this to become a reality? Will those who want to have children want their children to be taught how to give consent at early ages when their bodies are not yet matured? How long before this spreads around the world?

The surprising thing is that people are now openly claiming pedosexuality!

Some people who have the means buy fancy glass tables for their dining rooms and living rooms, but what happens when something really heavy falls on the table?

If I did break any tables, hope you're not standing on it.