By Yirenkyi Lamptey
Most a familiar reader of this page will be worried about the use of the term “moron” because it is an uncomplimentary term, whose usage are out of tune with this page. And so it is essential to state right away and explain sooner than later that Ti-Kelenkelen intends its use not as an insult, but as the statement of a fact. The referent of the term is US president, Donald Trump, who has insulted Africans yet again; and this time around the insulted set includes Haitians and El Salvadorans. It was during a bi-partisan (of Democratic and Republican Party representatives) discussion at the White House, Washington DC. He was talking about one of his campaign-promise issues, immigration, when he used the uncomplimentary term “shithole countries” to describe all the above-mentioned people. Ironically, for a man in the position he occupies, that term best describes him more than it does anyone else.
The more troubling point made by his insults of Africans and others who are not whites, the consistency of it and the garbage he has been spewing since he started campaigning for president in 2016, is that it points to certain personal character traits that raises questions about his character constitution and about an individual who leads one of the most powerful nations of the world.
Interestingly, the day after Trump is reported to have made the insulting statement, he is again reported to have denied saying it. Yet, Democratic senator, Dick Durbin, who was also at that White House discussion on immigration, confirmed Trump used the term “shithole countries”. That is sad! For, in addition to being a moron Trump is also a coward – not bold enough to own up for statements he made in his bravado moments or when in his elements.
“Moron”
The online Oxford dictionary defines the term “moron” as “a stupid person”, but more relevant to the way it is used herein is what the dictionary says is the way it was first used in these modern times. The dictionary says it is originally a Greek word of the same spelling and neuter gender of “moros”, which means “foolish”. However, in the early 20th Century “moron” was used “as a medical term denoting an adult with a mental age of about 8–12”. A human being aged 8-12 is a child and one of the “normal” characteristics of that age is talking without thinking first, which should not be a habit of an adult.
A child is supposed to have lived with parents and been around adults who (depending on the seriousness of the infraction) would have shouted at, warned and even whipped the child for saying certain things or doing certain acts. That way, a child, growing up, learns to talk and behave appropriately, thereby becoming an adult who generally thinks before talking or acting. Please let no one with a conventional Western-educated mind misinterpret that to mean indoctrination or suppression of a child’s individuality. There is a canyon of difference between teaching a child to believe false things (indoctrination) and teaching a child appropriate speech and behaviour. That has nothing whatsoever to do with suppressing a child’s capacity to express himself or herself.
In Africa, our Elders say in Akan: “Ye nyenabofra; ye teteabofra” – We do not breed children; we raise (or nurture) children. And if for aeons human beings have learnt to even teach some animals to understand human speech and even take instructions, then we, as human beings, should expect ourselves to raise children into better adults. Yet that appears to be the opposite of what happened to this US president, Donald Trump. It is as if his parents were AWOT or absent without termination (my own coinage) or he did grow up totally away from elders.
Anyone who interprets that to mean I am excusing the parents or adults in young Donald Trump’s life is right, because with my little experience growing up, I have learnt that some children never learn what adults persistently teach them in the area of appropriate speech and behaviour. Thus he or she grows into an adult yet still talks and behaves like an 8-12 year old. That is a moron.