MUMMY, I WANNA BE A PORN STAR!

This may not be all appropriate for the myriad of thoughts going through my head at the minute but today, I'm feeling like the voice of reason in a world gone mad.

It's the second year anniversary of Anna Nicole Smith a playboy playmate who made fame by taking it all off. And while claiming to be as open minded as the next man, My head cannot seem to come around the publicity about to be launched ( again )and the media flood gates to open once again..

Anna Nicole smith died last year for reasons the doctors called 'accidental' even though her blood was found stuffed with antidepressants, analgesics and amphetamines, generally all the A's that wasn't your friend. And as if the furor caused by her death was not enough, it had to be overshadowed by the greater debate on the paternity of her child Daniellyn. At that time, I barely knew the woman but the tragedy of her death was forced down my throat by E news as well as the ensuing mystery that surrounded this death.Hence i followed this case from its origin till the day Larry Birkhead was declared the father. I may not have known what feelings i had at that time, but today i do and what i do feel is distaste and angst. Yes, anger at what the world has become, with only one coherent ringing thought in my head. 'All this for a porn star.' She was not a porn star, I'm forcefully told. 'Soft porn not hard core' fine distinctions that make no particular sense to my weary head. Here is what the world is turning to. I know i have no right to be mad but when a porn star is celebrated in such societies, one is prone to ask 'what about the rest? How about the real heroes, how are they being encouraged? And then that sentence about being famous. 'it's when you're a celebrity', when you are famous' What criteria is 'famous' judged by. J.b Cooper is famous. Should i break out of a prison? Abacha was famous, ow about killing anyone who stands in my way or General Idi Amin 'famous'. I'm sure my freezer still has some space for some human heads! Here's a thought, How about real heroes too busy trying to make a living to have time for seeking fame, How about trying to survive, fame is the last thing on your mind when you barely know where the next meal is coming from.

My friend's mother would say that the devil seats on the statue of liberty with his arms folded, legs crossed, cheek in smile as he grins to himself saying. 'my work here is done'. Then, i'd dismiss her words as ramblings of a dissatisfied soul but today i really get her. See,It's not about America but the entire world, of the sins we have committed in the name of liberty, our overstepping all boundaries in the pursuit of freedom when we barely understand what it means.Today I see differently and the fire she saw from the distance, i see it burning up my clothes. It is never only about one person but the bigger picture, the greater and outward condition of a society in the depths of moral decay where everyone is so eager to fit in, so keen to be judged 'in', so anxious to be thought open minded. Yet,what do we seek in open mindedness? To Accept all. All words, all thoughts , all ideas, all innovations accepted without question is the name of being open minded and in return be given the power to judge anyone who doesn't conform as a freak of nature, a wierdo, a close minded person.

This may sound like a general rant against all things western but it isn't, What concerns me is the rapidity in which my immediate society accepts all western ideas with open arms. Hence the culture of pornography, multiple partners, open relationships, homosexuality and indiscriminate sex is accepted and glorified in, leading to an unbelievable hike in the number of HIV and STD patients . And somewhere along the way, we have lost our morals, our values and culture hence we walk about blinded as if in a zombie haze. I have no particular grudge against Anna Nicole Smith or her child, an innocent who has no idea what world she'd been born to, They say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead hence apologies to all her numerous fans who went on an hunger strike at her death or are still mourning for her loss as this is not being unkind. It is the unfairness of life that strikes me where we dismiss the people worth being celebrated as insignificant and glory in the glamour of people who'd made no difference in the world.

The world gone mad forgets the poverty stricken mother who died, is dead or dying at the minute for the entertainment of a pop star shaving off her hair. It forgets the mother and child abandoned in war,this woman who feeds her child her own blood in the absence of water. Instead, It holds its breath on the scandalous report of actress A stealing actress B's husband. We're each so lost in the minuteness of our own world, our tiny existence that we forget that there is a bigger picture,That though our lives may end, a new generation would arise.What kind of a life would these future archaeologist discovered us to have lead.Would a scientific report be something in the lines of. 'The Millennium generation lived a boisterous life of partying and playing with no distinguishable invention except an improvement on former technology. Discovered a 5ooo year old condom in the ruins of what they'd call a nightclub along with primitive bottles they filled with alcohol' And i pity our next generations to come, is this the society into which we want to raise our kids, with the idea of a perfect life being that 'very famous, very rich porn star or actress who clubs all night and thinks Africa is a country. Where are the role models, where are our mentors? Who will we look up to as our ideal?Where else can we look except the Internet,books and television?The newer generations are absorbing these ideals like a sponge, And It's already happening, this trend of oral fixation where the desire for immediate gratification reigns supreme.And concerned individuals are putting words like 'It's cool to be smart' and 'Virginity is not a disease on bill boards.'

My kid sister who'd grown up in Nigeria where every child's dream was to be a lawyer, a doctor or accountant had a rude cultural awakening in her new school where all of her friends aspired to be musicians, actresses, basket ballers and fashion designers. There's nothing wrong with these professions but who will be our lawyers, our doctors, our architects and bankers?Are we gradually progressing to a world where there will be technology but no competent technologist, where there'd be patients and no doctors to treat, a world gone mad where there would be no such word as innocence and in one classroom, a child would open her shirt revealing her 'barely there' breasts and declare to her aging teacher.' When i grow up, I'm gonna be a porn star!'