MzDarkSkin:

[b]OAM4J [/b]not trying to be funny, but there are 14 parishes in Jamaica. But aside from that, I am glad you and the other two gentlemen enjoyed Jamaica. I plan to travel to Africa myself. As for Jamaica, I am going back next year  , I am SOOOO excited! I will be in Ocho Rios and may visit Kingston for the parties LOL but Ocho is my spot .

safariman:

@OP sorry to be off topic.

I have to defend myself regarding Bennyboy11 accusation of me not being a Nigerian and a wanting to claim AA

If anyone has a chance, please check out Bennyboy11's limited posts (most of which are about Ghanaian affairs, huh?), but yet, he is here on NL accusing me and questioning my Naija nationality/authenticity and furthermore, that I want to be an AA because I once referred myself as an AA in a previous post when I should have said correctly that I am a Nigerian/American "N/A", and not an AA.

Sorry you lost me there, what's your point about my posts regarding Ghana? Are you saying I shouldn't be on Nairaland?

MzDarkSkin:


[b]@BK [/b]that was an ignorant statement you made by contrasting Shemar Moore to Wesley Snipes. In case you are not aware in Africa AND Jamaica, there are ppl who favor them both. There are places in Jamaica where the majority of the people are multi-racial/creole or should I say light in complexion. Those people have children with darker skin toned Jamaicans whose children then come out with Shemar's complexion/features. Same for Africa. Both men could go to Jamaica and be mistaken for a native. I dont know what that was all about.

PhysicsQED:

Bennyboy11 if you don't know anything, don't just speak up merely for the sake of peaking. Why fabricate stuff just because you feel offended about something?


In reality, as Nigerian in America, I have heard many Nigerian Americans refer to themselves as African American, especially the kids of immigrants (though not necessarily the parents themselves), no doubt because within American society that's what they are ultimately seen as, and because some identify with the AA struggle/culture/etc. I've seen many NA's in AA cultural groups while in college. And for official census purposes and for filling out racial information before tests or surveys, Nigerian Americans are "African American or black American" (1 choice, as in, these two are considered equivalent).

safariman is obviously not a kid, so he doesn't have the excuse of just actually seeing himself as no different from an AA, but if you were in America, you would have immediately realized that his use of African American despite being Nigerian was in the more general sense it is used to distinguish black Americans from non-blacks. While he and some other Nigerian Americans may refer to themselves as African American to demarcate what ethnic bloc of America they belong to or for official purposes, he should have avoided using it in the context of this discussion, but that doesn't mean that it has anything to do with insecurity.


As for him being one of those "ghana hating nigerians" I haven't seen any evidence of that and he admitted upfront that Lagos was more dangerous than Accra without trying to diss or downgrade Ghana in anyway to make up for having to make that admission, like a real Ghana hating Nigerian would have. His claim on ghana being more dangerous than Jamaica seems implausible without any evidence and only based on supposed "atmosphere" so I can why you're annoyed, but don't resort to character assassination ("ghana hating nigerian" and fabrication ("Any Nigerian or Ghanaian for that matter that refers to themselves as an African American has some insecurities,". This whole digression should end here.

safariman:

Quote:
Sorry you lost me there, what's your point about my posts regarding Ghana? Are you saying I shouldn't be on Nairaland?

My point was you are on a Nigerian forum, but most of your posts are about Ghana.  And yes, you have the right to be here on NL, but you shouldn't be accusing someone of falsifying their nationality just because I said I referred to myself as AA, which when pointed out, I quickly corrected to say that I am NA.  You went hellbent to say that if you were a betting man, you'll put up your mortgage and I then challenged you and you balked

@ PhysicsQED
Very well said and observed

MzDarkSkin:

Fellas! Fellas! let's quit with the tribalistic/insulting comments. There is nothing wrong with comparing Africa to Jamaica so long as we come with facts. The facts are you can get robbed, killed or kidnapped in both places. Not all of ANY country is bad, even Somalia has its "good" parts. It is true, as Safari says, that the Jamaican gov.t strives extra hard to protect its reputation and visitors and it is also true that if an outsider does choose to venture into the inner cities they run a risk with their lives. Also, i am more than sure the same applies to Ghana and even Nigeria. So lets not get out of hand with the back and forth and accusations. Bennyboy, as I stated JAMAICA as a country is not a crime capital, Kingston is ONLY a city. No matter how much you try to emphasize on how "safe Ghana" is, I AM NOT ASKING YOU, Ghana has its dangerous areas too, hun. Jamaica is only associated with Kingston's flaws because Jamaica is amongst the top five most known nations in the world and people study our every move so much, that nothing goes unnoticed (be it good or bad) and we end up stereotyped. People know us but they don't [i]KNOW [/i]us, and you are one of those people.

[b]@BK [/b]that was an ignorant statement you made by contrasting Shemar Moore to Wesley Snipes. In case you are not aware in Africa AND Jamaica, there are ppl who favor them both. There are places in Jamaica where the majority of the people are multi-racial/creole or should I say light in complexion. Those people have children with darker skin toned Jamaicans whose children then come out with Shemar's complexion/features. Same for Africa. Both men could go to Jamaica and be mistaken for a native. I dont know what that was all about.


[b]OAM4J [/b]not trying to be funny, but there are 14 parishes in Jamaica. But aside from that, I am glad you and the other two gentlemen enjoyed Jamaica. I plan to travel to Africa myself. As for Jamaica, I am going back next year  , I am SOOOO excited! I will be in Ocho Rios and may visit Kingston for the parties LOL but Ocho is my spot .

Bennyboy11:

You attempt to defend the guy but invalidate your points in the same sentence so I guess your points make my points. Basically you are beating about the bush!
Yes he isn’t a young child born in America like you rightly said and one doesn’t need to live in America to know what African American typifies. Context is everything , this is a Nigerian forum and he is talking about comparing Ghana to Jamaica as an African American, what the hell is that all about? He isn’t the only Nigerian living in America on this forum so please save it, your argument is baseless.
You also realise he is making a very annoying argument with no facts about Ghanaian crime. It is actually ridiculous comparing Ghana to Jamaica in that way so what should I think? why is it unheard off for a Nigerian to hate on Ghanaians and vice versa?
So what if he didn’t say Lagos was worse than Accra, he could be ashamed of being Nigerian and also hate Ghana, the two are not mutually exclusive!

safariman:

@Bennyboy11
Somehow from reading your earlier posts, I missed the point where you referred to yourself as a Ghanaian, but my bone of contention all along with you was that you said I was not a Nigerian, and willing to bet your mortgage i.e "if I was a betting man" and I challenged you on that fact, but I didn't know all along you meant betting on[b] conclusively [/b] proving that Ghana was saver than Nigeria. How is that provable?

Anyway, I am done with this discussion

@ PhysicsMHD
Please let it rest. Thx. I am on this forum to lend my expertise, experience give help where and when I can and to learn

safariman:

@Bennyboy11
but I didn't know all along you meant betting on[b] conclusively [/b] proving that Ghana was saver than Nigeria. How is that provable?

PhysicsMHD:

"What the hell is that all about"? Calm down, son.

It's about distinguishing between being a Black American- somebody who's observing from an American perspective- and being a city or village Nigerian from somewhere who's never lived in the West and whose observations on safety don't have the standard for security that an American does, period. He made a mistake by not saying that he was a naturalized African American and commenting from that point of view, but he didn't take into account the need to be precise. Where he should have said something like as a "non-African American black American" (think how awkward, unwieldy, and strange that sounds and you'll see why you wouldn't say anything like that either) who's familiar to some degree with a few parts of both countries, I think such and such.

In fact I'm not even certain it's clear that he even made the mistake of conflating what he was trying to identify as (Nigerian American) with what you or bkbabe assumed he was (AA) because he said "as African American" which could be distinct in interpretation from saying "As an African American" and instead just mean an American who is African. It was probably his assumption that the phrase "African American" could be interpreted literally, in which case what it states- an American of direct (recent) African origin- is exactly what it means and describes him exactly, rather than interpreted by the Africans on this board the way it is used by Continental Africans to distinguish between themselves and real AA. This should not be too hard to understand. Some phrases are ambiguous and what they are describing can be misinterpreted if not used carefully or replaced with something less ambiguous.


As for Jamaica being safer than Ghana, I completely disagree, but I simply haven't seen the slightest bit of anti-Ghana statements from him or jealousy though I can see how someone could be embarrassed about Nigeria and then try to throw subtle jabs to downgrade Ghana without being able to brag about Nigeria in that particular area. I just don't see it in this case. It seems he really believes that certain parts of Ghana have a more dangerous atmosphere, but once again, I think he needs to see more of the non-tourist Jamaica for a significant period of time. People aren't making up the known statistics.

safariman:

^^^
Good point

Bennyboy11:

Good point? I hope you actually looked at bkbabes links. So how ignorant do you feel now? [/b]Note how Ghana does not even appear in the top 62 countries of the murders per capita list

[b]I hope you raelise how ridiculous you're looking right about now

Bennyboy11:

Ok nice try but now you are really starting to struggle. You are trying to defend the indefensible and I must commend you for even making an attempt.  Unfortunately safariman leaves you with nothing to work with.
Culture and environment might affect perception in different places but that’s irrelevant to this argument. He is what he is in spite of his supposed ability to identify with differing viewpoints.

Your argument is based on the false premise that the more security a place provides the safer the place.  The reality is that a lot of the time high security just serves as evidence that a place is not very safe.  You could go to a remote isolated village where the concept of security is nonexistent and feel completely safe because the worst you get there is petty crime. Take Israel on the contrary as an example, they probably have the most advanced security apparatus on the planet. Even buses have detectors, however Israel is simply not a safe place because of the constant threat of terrorism. So don’t confuse two separate issues. A place is not unsafe because of the absence of security it is the presence of criminality that makes it unsafe. The presence of Western standard security like you said has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

The other issues you raise regarding moving words around and what it could then mean is purely semantics and I think you were starting to struggle there. If the guy was misquoted he would have said so.

PhysicsMHD:

Who says he's identifying with differing viewpoints by expressing his viewpoint as an American when he is, in fact, an American?




^^^
The above is based completely on the misinterpretation of "standards of security" to mean security operatives. Now I know I'm not talking with an Ghanian American, but rather a Ghanian since your mind immediately to went to soldier stuff at the mention of standards for personal security. It's amusing to see someone think any kind of reference was made in my earlier post to Americans having standards of security in the sense of having standards for security personnel, armed guards, armored convoys, etc. The average American outside of government or law enforcement knows nothing about what standards these security operatives/apparatuses  are supposed to have and rarely, if ever, sees such high security operatives so I would certainly not have asserted and did not assert that by merely being an American he could come and start pontificating to Jamaicans or Ghanians or other groups about what kind of armed guards, what kind of bomb squad, what kind of high security apparatus, etc. constitutes a quality security apparatus. That's another matter entirely.

It's a bit funny that someone immediately of thinks of guys running a security apparatus when standards of security are mentioned within the context of observations on safety. Let me make it plain and unequivocal since you completely misunderstood my earlier post: the average American has higher standards for what constitutes a secure or safe atmosphere or environment. It's that simple. I wouldn't even be found anywhere where petty crime was abundant and a police force was not vigilant or could not be relied upon to do something about that (still) unacceptable crime or make a significant effort against it, and neither would the vast majority of Americans. That's just one of several things that makes an American's standard for security higher than that of a Nigerian who's never been outside of Nigeria or lived long in the West.


He was not misquoted and I never said he was. Rather, his very literal use of words was misinterpreted and he immediately clarified what interpretation (the completely literal one) he meant for his words the minute someone (bkbabe) misinterpreted them.

safariman:

@bk.babe97y
When I said good points, I was actually acknowledging that you were right and made a good point. i.e. when deciding safety from looking at it form the statistics viewpoint, but I was saying based upon my observation and perception when I visit, therefore, I came to a different conclusion