Lil Nas X is building his whole brand on trolling. Of course being a 23 year old means he has grown up in the internet era and he knows just how well to do so. He understands social media and knows that one of the most effective ways to stay relevant in this era of popcorn media consumption is to find ways to always be a topic of conversation on social media.
This has made his brand being built around shock and awe. From the music videos to his red carpet appearances, everything is planned to ensure that people talk.
And people do talk. Right wing and conservative media have helped to propulse him into the public eye by their constant negative publications on him.
One of the things Lil Nas X did to promote his recently-released album Montero was to use the usual shock and awe, but this time, through the metaphor of birth.
He has published pictures of himself "rocking" a prosthetic pregnant stomach. Hours before his album was released on Friday 17th, he posted a video of himself holding the stomach and mimicking birth contractions while saying "it's coming."
And as sure as Twittrr is Twitter someone obviously got offended. A Twitter user called Suga Belly tweeted:
"This is blatantly misogynistic, insulting to women, and disgusting. Pregnancy and childbirth are not a joke. Every year, millions of women die in childbirth or from pregnancy complications.The lives and struggles of women are not an amusement to weave narratives for giggles."
To paraphrase the Wu-Tang Clan, "pregnancy ain't something to mess with." It is indeed a delicate period for many women whose Iives are at risk, and whose bodies can sometimes be irrevocably changed.
But my question here is; "what about Simi and Duduke?"
Before I come to Duduke and Mrs Adekunle, let me start by saying that the present social media culture is very theatrical. And it is as habit changing and as intoxicating as it is theatrical. It is very common thing to come to social media today and be offended at the least thing because one wants to look educated and enlightened; - woke if one has to go by the parlance and zeitgeist of the era.
It is almost as if people come on social media actively scrolling for something to be angry at. People are now walking on eggshells and cannot express themselves because someone will chime in to say something along the lines of -
"as a black person of African origin who is racially diverse, gay and pansexual and who has seen first hand the effects of so and so, I find this comment ableist, sexist and a pinnacle of the invalidation of the experience of many people who had to go through X and Y experience to be able to have a life that is trauma-free. Our experiences are not a trope for your amusement because your blatant disregard for our experience really shows the construct in which white supremacy thrives and.. "
Oh, for f#%$k's sake, just please shut up🙄Nobody cares.
We are reaching a point where we are pouring anaesthesia on society. Frustration and outrage is becoming a benchmark for intelligence and enlightenment. People can't even say a joke anymore. Someone will poke holes into it to show some imagined offense.
How did we get here?
The thing is, you can open social media and choose to be angry about Lil Nas X and tweet some woke stuff with all the buzzwords that accompany such tweets. Or you can see it for what it is. A metaphor for the birth/release of his album and scroll past. You preserve your peace and your quietness of mind.
The dark truth is that there nothing that Lil Nas X is doing that is inherently going to change the delicate nature of pregnancy nor of maternal mortality rates. Nothing
Because the truth is, with the way things are going.... you see Simi? You see how she is prancing around on the beach in that Duduke video while she cradles her belly? One of these days some woman will do something similar and post to social media. and another person will come and respond with;
"You dancing on the beach pregnant is insensitive to the many women who experience difficult pregnancy and are not able to even walk during this period. This is performative and it is an erasure on the experience of the thousands of women who even die every year in the labour room. I find this very disgusting. Please delete."
You think this is exaggerated? We are getting there. You'll see.
Listen, you are mostly in control of what you choose to anger you on social media. Life is sometimes not that serious. You should do your best to triage how best what you consume makes you feel.
Take it easy. Save your energy for the things that really do matter. Smile. Why so serious?
- Wandji Wilfred