diet politcs.

[LobsterUnit]

The Italians are partially responsible for the path Somalia took since independence. Their introduction of pasta and salty foods has greatly reduced the nomads of vital nutrients to the brain, causing them to lose their senses and engage in all manner of bad behaviour. The British are also to blame for introducing tea and sugary biscuits. I fearfor the race once they get hooked on Ugali and Fufu. They will have skinny heads which can't carry strong muscular bodies. This will cause many to become unbalanced.

[Anarchist]

Even those who spent their days tossing major Italian salads were not spared by this plague.

What a calamity!


Time to go back to cambuulo & qamadi.

[Murax]

Anarchist,

One of the biggest wtf moments were when I first heard quule on snet, and asked My pops and He was like Yea I ate it before

[LobsterUnit]

Anarchist, generally societies revolt or speak out when the things dearest to them are attacked. This can range from religion, tribe, nationalistic symbols or shared possessions( economically). leaders in this arena can play on this fact by emotionally appealing to shared symbols of a group. the rape of a women, the desceration of a shrine, the burning of a flag, the looting of a resource-are all useful tools and rallying calls for resistance leaders to exploit. Interestingly, as the great scholar Chaterjee once said, resistance leaders seek to stop their women imitating the occupier in any way, yet for the male it is acceptable to imitate some aspects of western culture. this is given the discouse of imitating to catching up to gain progress. I am myself belief that we need further studies on the cultural attacks on foods and how this can destroy a society. There is said to be a direct correlation between diet and life expectancy. It is no suprise, then, that most fried chicken ships are in poorer areas. Kids who drink energy drinks for breakfast will not do as well as their middle income peers- who may tend to eat more healthy foods. We need to study the case of the Irish famine and the wholescale attack on the buffalo to understand foods wars better.Some SOmali males have been reduced to eating khat as a food. These individuals only eat once a day and the rest of the time khat is their chosen foods of consumption. Somalia will never ever, ever function when a such a large propotion of the population chews khat. Khat is a sign of economic daajlogrophic warfare. 200 years ago most of our fathers never chewed. In fact, khat was exported from outside and still is till this day. When I open my university in SOmalia i will write a book about this.

[Alphanumeric]

Lol. An interesting take on politics.

[Anarchist]

@Gaajo (an esteemed and often misunderstood commandant) - A most excellent analysis.

I humbly await your masterpiece, sure to become a best-seller instantaneously & the talk of daytime talk shows back home.



@Murax - I always thought quule was some mythical S/net invention, you're saying it's real?

[Alphanumeric]

Anarchist, generally societies revolt or speak out when the things dearest to them are attacked. This can range from religion, tribe, nationalistic symbols or shared possessions( economically). leaders in this arena can play on this fact by emotionally appealing to shared symbols of a group. the rape of a women, the desceration of a shrine, the burning of a flag, the looting of a resource-are all useful tools and rallying calls for resistance leaders to exploit. Interestingly, as the great scholar Chaterjee once said, resistance leaders seek to stop their women imitating the occupier in any way, yet for the male it is acceptable to imitate some aspects of western culture. this is given the discouse of imitating to catching up to gain progress. I am myself belief that we need further studies on the cultural attacks on foods and how this can destroy a society. There is said to be a direct correlation between diet and life expectancy. It is no suprise, then, that most fried chicken ships are in poorer areas. Kids who drink energy drinks for breakfast will not do as well as their middle income peers- who may tend to eat more healthy foods. We need to study the case of the Irish famine and the wholescale attack on the buffalo to understand foods wars better.Some SOmali males have been reduced to eating khat as a food. These individuals only eat once a day and the rest of the time khat is their chosen foods of consumption. Somalia will never ever, ever function when a such a large propotion of the population chews khat. Khat is a sign of economic daajlogrophic warfare. 200 years ago most of our fathers never chewed. In fact, khat was exported from outside and still is till this day. When I open my university in SOmalia i will write a book about this.

These is so much in this post... damn.

I would've assumed a single serving of khat would be more expensive than a base meal. Is khat cheaper than a plate of food?

[Anarchist]

Is khat cheaper than a plate of food?

I don't think so. 1 marduuf costs around $4 in Somalia.

But, it's the culture of chewing khat while listening to political talk on BBC/Somali radio, talking war rhetoric & clan bravado that all contribute to the culture of conflict. Or at least the acceptance of it.

If they spent all those hours chewing watching sports or scientific/nature programs or even DIY shows, imagine the outcome?


Over-exposure to news causes all sorts of psychological issues, for one thing it causes unfounded fear & distrust. Add it to khat and you have a paranoid, scared, ignorant individual that is easily susceptible to violence.

[Alphanumeric]

How bad is the problem? It tends to read as a sort of epidemic. And what you're asking for seems to be taking the entire culture and turning it on its head. I wonder if Somalis will ever be free of that.

[Anarchist]

Khat is an epidemic and its correlation to Somalia's conflict is overlooked and rarely addressed. By the nature of the plant, it's an amphetamine type stimulant known to create highs & lows over long periods of time. It creates a sense of euphoria that can last for hours and a slump that can last just as long. By all definitions, khat is a drug with addiction & dependence like most class II stimulants. Not sure what it will take to curtail it (a miracle probably), but if you pay attention to its widespread consumption in Southern Somalia and conflict, there's a link. It wasn't too long after the pre-civil war government's decision to lift the ban on khat and the civil war that ended that government. It may not be the plant itself, but I believe it further facilitated an already growing public resentment of the government. The atmosphere changed after khat became legal, I was around 11 then. Prior to that and specially in places like Marka, Jilib & Diinsoor (which khat was virtually unheard of), the population were calmer & the furthest from having war rhetoric & anti-government tendencies. Men were too busy working their farms & fishing, did not see large groups of men huddling in a corner talking war & shouting about anti-government slogans. In Xamar though, it was becoming more common by the day.

It's a multi-dimensional paradigm, but khat is in there somewhere. And don't get me started on its financial cost on families.

[Alphanumeric]

I can understand the financial costs, but I've never correlated the use of khat with instability. This is very interesting. And it seems then that khat shouldn't be considered part of the Somali culture, as is often assumed. I wonder if a book can actually be written on this.