Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, has hit back at those trolling him on the Internet over his vow to cut up his American green card if Donald Trump won the presidential election.
The professor has come under severe criticism for not fulfilling his promise since Trump won, and he has described his traducers as “noisome creatures” and “nattering nit-wits” who were commenting on an issue from the “secure cesspits of anonymity” out of “ignorance”.
In an opinion article which he shared with TheCable, Soyinka listed several instances when he had issued a “red card” to countries, including Australia, Cuba and South Africa, on principle, which he said he did not share with the media.
He also insisted that when he made the promise to exit America, he was speaking at a private meeting with Oxford University students and was not making a pledge to the media, questioning why the media would now want to draw up a departure timetable for him.
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On the Internet trolling, he wrote: “Let me end with a Red Card to those noisome creatures, the nattering nit-wits of Internet: maybe Trumpland is not as despicable as the Naijaland you impose on our reality from your secure cesspits of anonymity. Go back to school. Your problem is ignorance, ignorance of whatever subject you so readily comment upon. Learn to study your subject before opening up on issues beyond your grasp. Sometimes you make one feel like swapping one green for another, out of embarrassment for occupying the same national space as you. But don’t get nervous, or start jumping for joy too soon – the Nigerian passport is just as tough to rip, physically, as is the Green Card…”
He decried the “literal” interpretation given to his statement that he would cut his green card — the US residency permit renewable every ten years — the “moment” Trump was declared winner.
He cited a gruesome ISIS story to illustrate the literal interpretation people give to statements, declaring: “That is all I have to say to the ‘literalists’ who obsess over a time scheme of their own assessment. Thus, failure to have torn my Green Card ‘the moment’ that I learnt that Mr. Donald Trump had won the presidential elections of the USA. It did not matter what I was doing at the time – teaching, eating, swimming, praying, under the shower or whatever. Or a family member saying, ‘Wait for me!’ – speculatively please, no such disturbance ever took place. If it did however, I am supposed to contact the Nigerian media – to whom I have never spoken, and who never contacted me – except one – to beg permission to pursue a realistic definition of ‘the moment’. Media fascism is however a subject for another day.”
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Soyinka said anyone would think that the Brexit Vote “made it imperative for the Brits to plunge into the English Channel instantly, instead of negotiating two years for an orderly withdrawal. Plebians like me of course need far less time, nevertheless they do not uproot overnight. Any other proposition speaks of a permanent agenda, of frustration and hidden histories – such as opportunities to rehabilitate themselves in the public eye.”
He said there is also recession in the land, “and I can understand the psychology of impotence and thus, transferred aggression”.
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9 comments
Whole Soyinka eeh ….. But u said it ….why did u av to denied it
Indeed I agree with Prof,that ignorance is what has motivated many Nigerians calling on him to expressly inform them when he will tear his American Green Card. For me it is of no moment whether Soyinka tears the document or not what matters is that he was against the candidacy of Trump and he said so, that is the issue!
Why should anybody be suprised? The 82 million Naira Dinner takes a long time to diggest .Until then Wole is confused.
If a Man use his mouth carelessly he will have to shamelessly deny many things.
While defending Soyinka is not a keen interest of mine given the many issues I find disagreeable about his comments and attitude, I’m obliged to agree with him on this. He is entitled like any other to ambivalence – it is his passport after all – and there is also the aspect of hasty words spoken under unique circumstances which one may choose to retract later when cooler heads prevail. Then there is the issue of figures of speech, and finally, that man is not bound by any protocol to follow his words with action especially on reassessment of those words. Under these, he is free, as every other, to rescind on a resolve. Being held upon one’s every pronouncement because one is in the public eye is a burden few of us would want to bear.
The prof is speaking too many grama. I watched the video where he said he would cut it to pieces his Green Card should Trump win the US election. Now he speaking plenty grammar thinking he can confuse us. If you are man enough, call the media like Obj did and tear your Green Card as you vowed.
Criticize always think they should be right always. If it were some else who made that vow, the prof would have gone to Channels to demand the person tear his Green Card but he would not tear his own. Tear your Green Card u dey sey we ingorant. Na only u go sch na…
I am disappointed at Prof Wole Soyinka. A very bad taste on his integrity is to suddenly reverse himself and unashamedly attacking those that are willing to hold him by his words. Prof you’ve simply lost your worth by this singular act/attitude
When men claims to be Elshadai they die … Only God is Elshadai…But anyways, you are not the first that have never kept his word, even or president and APC have failed in this regard.
Professor Soyinka made a miscalculated statement and he is not confident/bold enough to accept it. It is not easy to loose all the benefits accruing to him with the US Green Card. It simply means insecurity of all us including the erudite professor and to a greater extent the Nigeria in him.