RAMBLINGS ON CULTS AND FACEBOOK... Below you will find an article on African cults on Campus, very bloody, gang like cults.Did you know every gang has their own religion? A mish-mash of readings from the prison library becomes a rationalization for their behavior -- their own set of laws... which they are whoa to break, believe me.
The days sure are passing quick lately. I have been sucked back into Facebook, after swearing it off for awhile. I had to figure out if I was going to be a good boy, and use the medium as family reunion where I would stay on my best behavior, or another weapon in my arsenal. Well, you know me, I want a personal stock of small nuclear bombs (just for Limited Nuclear War, so don't get alarmed) around just in case someone gives me a dirty look, so the answer was obvious. OF course, that required getting rid of some friends -- those at least who had not already gotten rid of me (a couple were smart enough to go...oh, no, if you have this linked to THAT BLOG then we should just talk on the phone, or email). . . I understand. I just set the controls on privacy to Open so anyone can come in, if the mood strikes them.... rather than get their old aunties panties in a bundle for reading such a gonzo writer.
What I love about Facebook is sharing the reading that I do, actually. I read a lot of papers, and follow a few topics, and it is nice to have a record of that, as well as be able to make little comments on the news. This is something I will be doing on the radio show, so it is good practice. I have also recently driven off a lot of fans by writing too much about intelligence, and my own dealings with them, which have been... troubling.... and continue to this day, though they are certainly not as intense. Not to mention, after writing hard core atheistic comedy and essay's for a few years, people were pretty thrown when I started Waking Up Jesus and sounding astoundingly religious all of a sudden. I did take religion classes in college, and worked with some Tibetan Monks for a few years, took reincarnation therapy, practiced to astral project for almost a year and then did it twice, and other mystical things... but nothing like writing that book. I am very skeptical about everything on one level, though I have to admit I like to be open to anything when I can.... still, all those years of college, and getting it pounded into my head all the problems with religion and cults, makes me think that God wants less conviction and more action. Like the Buddha said when they came to him and asked if there is a God or After Life, to badly paraphrase, "Do not spend your time thinking about unanswerable questions, just do good works in your life."
Back to cults. I read the Rick Ross Cult Institute, and this gives me access to following Scientology on a regular basis. Well, they also read the RRC, and they go to these obscure newspapers and leave positive comments about their religion. The have their drones doing just this 24 hours a day. Right Now, with the revelations of their Deadly Antics in Haiti, they are on PR overdrive. I love going in and setting matters straight for some small newspaper read out in the backwoods of Scotland or something. Not that they don't know better, most of them... but just in case. We all have to learn this stuff for the first time some time.
Knowing this will end up on Facebook, too... let me add -- thank you to all the folks who allow my words to warp your world awhile. And I look forward to hearing your voices, jokes, stories (fiction and otherwise) on the new show, which should be out in April. I still have a lot of recording to do, because rather than develop for a few months anonymously, circumstances require me to come out of the gate running hard... So if you like what I am doing, please tell your friends to be my friends (or warn them not to, depending... you know.. Hey, I understand).
CEASEFIRE... INTROSPECTION INTO CAMPUS CULTISM
MAY the devil that tempts you deliver you!!!" is the ominous caveat on a poster on campus seeking membership for a cult group. Though the war against cultism makes it near impossible for such posters to be seen these days on any campus, it was what got Maha into the fold of the Red Dragons Confraternity.
Indeed, the devil tempted Maha to belong to one of the most deadly cult groups but same devil failed to deliver him when he needed it most. Or indeed, the devil delivered Maha into enemy hands, and his dreams and those of his family came crashing just when he is to be celebrated.
Maha's story as Buchi, former lecturer turned gospel artiste, narrates it in Ceasefire (Word Media Ltd, Lagos; 2009) is at both personal and universal. It is the basic outline of the makeup of cult groups on campus and the continuation of the brotherhood into the larger society.
But it starts out as an innocent affair, of seeking comradeship among other young people that belong together and share common ideals.
That's, however, on the surface; the reality indicates otherwise as new members soon find out.
The initiation process itself is a gruesome experience that leaves the initiated more dead than alive. The idea is to drill the recruit so he does not fear death; he can kill and be killed at the slightest provocation.
This is the group Maha joins much against expectation. He is Simba Katunga, his new alias in the group. He is a promising young man with plenty of intelligence, the best student in his faculty; he was the best student in his Sunday School Class. So, what attraction does cult have for such a bright fellow?
This is one question the author does not have answers; not even Psychologists have it.
Maha is not threatened in any way so he has no reason to be a cult member; yet a force, a curiosity he cannot name edges him into the deep bowels of campus cultism.
The narration goes, "he had been brought up in a strict Methodist Church home and had won prizes at children's Sunday School competition, one of which was the fine, gold-edged burgundy leather bible that lay beside his pillow on the bed, a prize he treasured so much."
But this is after his initiation makes him another Maha, one different from the Sunday school child, who now sees church as a bore. It is the Maha, whose initiation has made larger than his normal self.
Buchi writes, "at five feet eight inches, you wouldn't exactly call Maha tall, would you? But this morning, he walked tall, very tall. His steps were slow, deliberate and measured as he surveyed his territory. You would think he owned the university. Clad in a pair of shorts and a loose unbuttoned shirt, Maha felt like a million bucks (felt like he owned a million naira (bucks)) or rather like King Kong. He had become the king of the underworld having been initiated into the most dreaded confraternity on campus."
This is the new picture of Maha until he assumes the leadership of the group. He gets to meet characters such as Biobaku with his village airs and juju but a deadly folk all the same, who runs the confraternity group. There's Slim, who repents and becomes born again after an experience in the hands of the State Security Service when he gets caught.
As it so often happens, Maha goes to Jos to execute an errant fellow, who belongs to the Black Eyes. But this attracts the death mark of two rival groups - the Black Eyes and the Night Hawks. He, too, is marked for execution. The hunter becomes the hunted, and he is on the run; it is the hallmark of campus cultism: an eye for an eye!
Buchi writes, "he took his room key out of the pocket of his trousers... but just then his eyes were drawn to a mark on his door. It was the etching of a small coffin roughly outlined by the impatient blade of an angry knife. He had been marked; it was the Black Eyes. Maha had expected it after he shot one of their men in Jos; but that was a year ago. The Black Eyes loved to revenge when the target felt safe. So this was it, Maha thought. Then he saw another mark in ink; it was the sketch of the skull and the crossbones. This was the Night Hawk's messenger of death."
Maha gets to know the extent of the deep-rootedness of cultism, when he gets summoned to the university senate for charges of cultism. His lecturer, who is the Dean of Faculty of Arts, stoutly defends him as the best student in the faculty and so could not have been the fellow involved. His case is dismissed to his relief; he had foreseen his doom until the show Prof. Afolabi puts on for him. But he does not heed the near-mishap as warning to quit.
In Ceasefire events spin fast and furious to a dramatic close. The underworld of cultism is action-packed with death trails. The Red Dragon, having weakened their opponents, seeks to infiltrate the Student Union Government so as to have complete sway. Their brush with a rival gang had created an unintended backlash that makes the university community to rise up as one in anti-cultism war.
And, the only way to be relevant is to subtly work from the inside. It is Maha, who perfects this plot so as to be able to control the government. Jimmy is the fellow chosen; the authority also favours him. The Red Dragons help him to become president.
However, after Maha assumes leadership, he begins to adopt pacifist measures to rein in his men. Some don't like him for this; they are all for action and needless killings. Maha insists on a good reason for any action. It is also the time Slim becomes born again, when he begins to lecture his fellow cultists, both Red Dragons and enemy cultists alike, of the futility of their dealings in belonging to cults as they were dining with the devil.
Though Maha thinks deeply about Slims words, which also reinforce his inner monologues, he does not change. He, however, manages to restore peace and sanity of sorts among his men. At his graduation, when he is to taste the joy of being the best graduating student in his faculty, and in the presence of his parents and friends, Maha is shot dead.
That is how the devil Maha has so dedicated himself on campus delivers him - into the cold hands of death! It is the reward of foolishness.
Buchi's novel is strong testament to a social malaise plaguing today's youths. Campus cultism instills in those who belong a false sense of bravery; at the bottom of it is deep-seethed insecurity. Consider Baku's fear after he loses his afose, his juju.
Buchi's narrative is fluid and pleasing. Ceasefire reads well. The paper quality is also standard, and not the white type that most self-published writers use. It is a compact book that is well done and professionally handled.
However, the book suffers some linguistic defects. He felt like a million bucks (he felt like he owned a million bucks) would have been more appropriate. Other errors occur when Buchi begins to oscillate between past and present tenses. On page 71: "In fact, if one were to tell the truth as it is, the Bight Hawks are the only group that can give..." the narrative is in past tense, and should remain so. Also, "The combination of Slim and Tunde is deadly; Tunde was a good driver..." (Page 74). "My name is Hector, I'm sure you already know that, sorry I had to do that it's just precautionary...(page 88; the sentence lacks breaks and just runs on). These errors and others could be corrected in a reprint edition.
Also, Buchi fails to tell his readers what became of Titi and Baku, one rearing for a showdown, the other ready to accept his fate meekly in the hands of a woman he ill-used!
However, the errors do not significantly distract from the narrative. Buchi's narration is concise, detailed, significantly true and uncomfortably real. Those who had seen cultism from a distance now have a close up chance of reliving one of campuses' deadliest social deviant organisations. Buchi has made a timely gift to everyone concerned.
In Ceasefire parents now have a tool to arm their children to the danger lurking in the corners of campuses for which they must beware.
Each home should endeavour to own a copy of Ceasefire as a reading companion of choice, especially for the young ones. Schools and universities will do well to own copies as well.
