Square One

I couldn’t help posting this ballad by Richard Lehman from this weeks edition of his incisive summary of the “big five” general medical journals in BMJ’s doc2doc blogs:

A Ballad for Obama

When Massachusetts blew it
We bit our lips and hid,
We said he couldn’t do it,
But then he went and did.

The lobby men seemed cosy
On profits from the sick,
But out strode Dame Pelosi
And gave her troops some stick:

At sight of such a muster
Republicans turned white:
They dropped their filibuster
And lost the will to fight.

All hail, Barack and Nancy!
The world shares your delight:
Americans may fancy
Health is now theirs by right.

There is at least one sense in which Nigeria and the US are very similar: having a remarkably high proportion of religious people – or as the present fad expression goes, people that “have a personal relationship with God” – and of course also having a high proportion of creationists, which follows, so it seems, quite easily.

This was the first thought that occurred to me last year when during the heated US presidential campaign I saw John McCain and Barack Obama on the TV, apparently appealing to the American religious conservative right, both of them at the Saddleback Church, engaged in what could hardly pass for a mild debate moderated by the pastor, Rick Warren. I remember thinking to myself: the only other place where this could possibly happen is right here in Nigeria.

It is in my experience quite safe to assume that by being a Nigerian, you are simply religious by default, until confessed otherwise, and that you believe yourself to be a creationist even without having as much as a half-hearted look at the evidence for evolution by natural selection. With this premise, I have discovered what has become for me a most favoured pastime, which is to bring up the theory of evolution and Darwinism and related scientific concepts easily associated with atheism, agnosticism and all sorts of ungodly tendencies to spark up discussion amongst colleagues in Nigeria.

I hope we could have one such exchange here in the blogosphere on NigertansTalk. Painfully, competing and admittedly often more pressing issues generally trump whatever space we might have for science in our politics and national life in Nigeria.

In the discussions that have resulted, I have found that roughly half of the people I’ve encountered fall within the category I refer to, for the purpose of this post, as “the fundamentalist,” and the lowest watermark of such argument will be: “I would cease to believe in the existence of other planets and solar systems and galaxies if I find a remark in Bible (or the Qur’an) that so much as suggests that the earth is all there is in the universe.”

The other half are about equally divided into three groups: “the open minded” (”Well, it seems there is some good evidence that I’ll have to spend some time to consider more carefully.), the “I don’t give a damn” (“Whatever it is, I don’t think it matters.”), and “the malleable,” those that get convinced after a lot of discussion, only find that they have reverted to creationism at the next encounter (”What you said the other day, I really don’t think it can be true.”).

There is an American student from Texas here, with whom I’ve had two long and interesting discussions on evolution and creationism. She is an avowed creationist and a Christian, and like most of my Nigerian friends, she possibly couldn’t accept that being a Christian and an evolutionist at the same time are not fundamentally conflicting positions. For her, they are simply mutually exclusive: the exact same argument that my Nigerian friends would make.

It actually got me wondering how similar Nigerians must indeed be to Americans in this regard and why would that be? It is for me, as for most scientists a persistent puzzle as to why Americans are so religious and how creationism is so widespread and evolution is taken with so much negative seriousness in the US. I could easily explain the situation in Nigeria. I was never taught the theory of evolution in primary or secondary school, although of course more because there were no teachers to teach it than because there was a legislation against teaching it.

Looking back however, I think not having been taught evolution in secondary school was indeed a blessing because then I was left to study it all be myself and so had the opportunity to weight the evidence against my knowledge of the Biblical account of creation which I was raised in, and was, as I still am, also very well versed in. I am almost certain that even if there were teachers, it is unlikely that any will teach it well enough to present the evidence and allow the pupils make up their mind.

My comparative anatomy lecturer in medical school after discussing all the interesting and beautiful evidence for evolution, ended the lecture by saying it was all crap, and that we should take none of it any seriously beyond the point of recanting (sic) them during exams. Might that be the reason: the lack of unbiased exposure to the basic tenets of evolutionary theory? Might this be what some Americans are protecting against when they say they don’t want evolution taught in their schools?

What do you think? Are you an evolutionist? Why, if yes, and why not if not? Were you introduced to the theory of evolution by natural selection in secondary school? What do you think the effect of that might be if you were or might have been if you were not? Do you think an evolutionist could at the same time “have a personal relationship with God?” You are more than welcome to comment here or on NigeriansTalk.

It’s easily been my best song ever, as far as best songs go; even the video, right from childhood. A tiny globe appears, the earth, rotates, as on an axis, momentarily becomes bigger, and the maps apparent in the regular blue and white haze. The earth becomes bigger, and then flattens out into a white square with USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) in bold print. It recedes to a corner of the square as the signatures emerge; the signatures and a single thumbprint. I could make out Ray Charles’ signature so I’ve since concluded that the thumbprint must be Stevie Wonder’s.

There comes a time when we heed a certain call (Lionel Richie)
When the world must come together as one (Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder)
There are people dying (Stevie Wonder)
Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life (Paul Simon)
The greatest gift of all (Paul Simon/Kenny Rogers)

The world hasn’t come a long way since 1985 when this group of high-profile artistes sang We Are the World, (written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced and conducted by Quincy Jones.) The song was intended to raise funds to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia. We really don’t seem to have come a long way. People are still dying, all around the world, seemingly unnoticed, from wars, famines, economic repression et cetera, and there’s still as much insensitivity, and embarrassingly, the world still relies on pop stars to bring all of this to our notice.

We can’t go on pretending day by day (Kenny Rogers)
That someone somehow will soon make a change (James Ingram)
We’re all a part of God’s great big family (Tina Turner)
And the truth (Billy Joel)
You know love is all we need (Tina Turner/Billy Joel)

The USA for Africa effort came probably as an American response to the 1984 success of British super group, Band Aid‘s Do They Know It’s Christmas? organised by Bob Geldof. Twenty-two years after, Bob Geldof still finds himself playing the same role. What déjà vu!

(CHORUS)
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let’s start giving (Michael Jackson)
There’s a choice we’re making we’re saving our own lives (Diana Ross)
It’s true we’ll make a better day just you and me (Michael Jackson/Diana Ross)

To ensure as many artists as possible could participate, the recording was done on the night of the American Music Awards. If you watch the video of the song, especially the making, (I suggest you try it out on YouTube) you’ll find that they all complied with Quincy Jones’ famous advice to them in his written invitation that they “check your egos at the door.” In all, 45 musicians attended. It’s always beautiful to see pretty Michael Jackson sing side by side with young Diana Ross.

Well, send’em your heart, so they know that someone cares (Dionne Warwick)
And their lives will be stronger and free (Dionne Warwick/Willie Nelson)
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread (Willie Nelson)
And so we all must lend a helping hand (Al Jarreau)

Indeed, they sent the world their hearts, and I suppose we all caught it. We Are the World hit the stores on Tuesday, March 7 1985, and all 800,000 copies sold out before the end of the weekend. On April 5 (1985 Good Friday), more than 5,000 radio stations played the song at the same time. It became the United States’ number one single on April 13 and held the position for four weeks. On June 10, 1985, USA for Africa’s first airlift delivered food, medicine and shelter materials to famine victims in Ethiopia.

(REPEAT CHORUS)
We are the world; we are the children (Bruce Springsteen)
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let’s start giving (Kenny Logins)
There’s a choice we’re making, we’re saving our own lives (Steve Perry)
It’s true we’ll make a better day just you and me (Daryl Hall)

The song went on to win three 1985 Grammy Awards (Song of the year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.) Ultimately, the single sold 7.5 million copies in the US. It was released on an album, We Are the World, which sold over three million copies. Including revenues from the single, the album, the video and related merchandise, We Are the World raised about $50 million for famine relief.

When you’re down and out there seems no hope at all (Michael Jackson)
But if you just believe there’s no way we can fall (Huey Lewis)
Well, well, well, let’s realize that a change can only come (Cyndi Lauper)
When we (Kim Carnes)
Stand together as one (Kim Carnes/Cyndi Lauper/Huey Lewis)

“…when the world must come together as one.” What audacity, what a great dream they had, what idealism. That the world could possibly someday stand together as one. This was the most moving part of the song for me, the image of all of us standing together as one, as they stood to sing the song, and the success that often comes when people choose to stand as one.

(REPEAT CHORUS AND FADE)
(with ad-lib by Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, James Ingram)

It may be argued though, that efforts like USA for Africa’s have the tendency to challenge recipient’s sense of dignity, as it sometimes may make us appear like beggars with empty bowls and supplicatory faces, but these are arguments made on full, not empty stomachs. It is also possible to criticise efforts like this as being more about publicity than charity, and one defence I’ve always put up against this charge is that most human actions have a goal and a motive, which are not necessarily the same. Even if their motive was publicity, their goal, undeniably was charity, and indeed, it was well outstandingly achieved, and remains a symbol even now.