The problem, I have come to realise, is that some bodies just refuse to be passive. You ascribe certain narratives. These narratives are meant to fully inform all decision. It is all the information they need. The problem continues to be that some bodies ask “but what about that other stuff?”
Refuse:
verb
Indicate or show that one is not willing to do something.
The problem is that some bodies are not willing to do the things that you told them to do. That some bodies having been willed, show that they will not.
The problem, it seems, is that some bodies will.
Willing bodies are an indication that bodies can will. Bodies, aware of their capacity for will tend towards it. So maybe the problem, then, is that wiling is infectious. That my dress my choice echoed, gathered and infected voices globally. That the class of students who thought they were pushing at a wall in Lang’ata were actually toppling a domino. Perhaps the real problem is that in being willing they remind others of their will, and in reminding others of their will, they will others.
Possibly the real problem is in the math. In realising that the people being willed are more than the people having the will thrust upon them. That tyrannical numbers mean nothing against (un)willing bodies.
“Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which you have been given to understand”
– Saul Williams
The solution thus is to keep them unwilling. Make them chase versions of themselves that they cannot attain. Remind them that true happiness lies in a dark Lamborghini, outside a villa, by the beach, with a perfectly chiseled ‘opposite sex’ partner, with more money in the bank than you can spend. While doing this remind them of the values of a real job. A steady one in a steady company. Remind them of stability. Remind them that their bodies are imperfect, in need of constant fixing. Tell them that whatever natural features they have are a problem. That hair must be straight, curly, full bodied, without growth, unsplit ended and constantly fresh. That skin must be perfectly smooth – a single pimple is cause for alarm.
To ensure this works make sure you keep them untaught. Create a disdain for knowledge. Start a dichotomy between book smarts and street smarts. Make sure that street smarts are valued over book smarts. Keep the school curriculum as far away from real life as possible. In conversation throw your opinion about the real value of reading, something casual like wrapping meat. Remind them that the idea of knowledge is foreign. That reading is unAfrican.
To further enforce this take away their time and money. Not only should pursuit of knowledge be useless; make it a problem. Make it that they have to ask themselves whether they’d rather eat or buy a book. Make it that they don’t have time to read. If, by some anomaly, they do find the time make it that they can’t afford to buy a book. If, by more anomalies, they have both time and money, make it that they have no interest.
If some bodies still insist on willing react disproportionately. Violent outbursts are vastly encouraged. Turn them against each other. Make them so scared that they begin to silence willing bodies on their own. Use this fear without prejudice. Use it to make them blame each other. Use it to deflect conversations from yourself.
Keep them scared.
The problem, you see, is people willing – don’t let them.