In Zimbabwe, We Don’t Cry for Lions
5th August 2015
An Actual Zimbabwean intrudes a little reality into the Narrative.
Did Cecil live near your place in Zimbabwe?
Cecil who? I wondered. When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: One lion fewer to menace families like mine.
My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years studying in the United States.
Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people? That all the talk about Cecil being “beloved” or a “local favorite” was media hype? Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from “The Lion King”?
In my village in Zimbabwe, surrounded by wildlife conservation areas, no lion has ever been beloved, or granted an affectionate nickname. They are objects of terror.
August 5th, 2015 at 20:51
And, of course, your one (count them: one) Zimbabwean speaks for all Zimbabweans.
Just like Donald Trump (count him: one) speaks for all Republicans.
August 6th, 2015 at 03:33
He is certainly more knowledgeable about Zimbabwean opinion than all of the First World Whiners who are choking ‘social media’.
If Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson can speak for all black people, then this guy can speak for all Zimbabweans. Sauce for the goose….