Rasna Warah tears into facebook

This is an excerpt from an article in the Daily Nation by columnist Rasna Warah

...as Time writer Lev Grossman so rightly put it, while the Internet allowed people to lead double lives – real and virtual – Facebook “smooshes together your work self and your home self, your past self and your present self, into a single generic extruded product.”

What is worse, “On Facebook, there is only one kind of relationship: friendship, and you have it with everybody. You’re friends with your spouse and you’re friends with your plumber.”

Moreover, writes Grossman, “relationships on Facebook have a seductive, addictive quality that can erode and even replace real-world relationships”.
....

Facebook also has a narcissistic quality about it. Tom Hodgkinson wrote in The Guardian in 2008 that Facebook appeals to “a kind of vanity and self importance” in people and encourages a “disturbing competitiveness around friendship” where “quality counts for nothing and quantity (i.e. the number of friends you have) is king.”

Critics have argued that instead of connecting people in meaningful ways, Facebook actually isolates people, who spend more time online rather than doing things that strengthen relationships, such as talking or sharing a meal.


http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Why%20you%20will%20not%20find%20me%20meeting%20%20friends%20on%20Facebook%20%20/-/440808/1086722/-/jjtqd5z/-/index.html

Consultations between the Principals to Pick the Chief Justice - Part 1

Kibaki: Habari Raila, na wewe ulipiga kelele mingi sana?

Raila: Hapana mzee, unajua tulikua tunacheza siasa!

Kibaki: Anyway i'm told u have proposed a structured approach to negotiations

Raila: Yes his excellency, to avoid any disputes in the end

Kibaki: How about we start by defining the scope from which we can pick the Chief Justice.

Raila: Thats a good idea, after all we don't want to leave the king naked

Kibaki: He must be a judge of the Court of Appeal

Raila: Thats OK

Kibaki: He must either be a man or a woman

Raila: Yes we must be gender sensitive

Kibaki: He must have been born from Nyanza or Central

Raila: Thats OK

Kibaki: Ok lets get more specific, I insist that one of his/her name must begin with K

Raila: <thinks quickly> Lets include R and O

Kibaki: Fair enough. Ok the last letter of the first name must be an A

Raila:<thinks quickly>Yes that's fine with me

Kibaki: I like the progress we are making. Ok, one of the letters in the first name must be an 'I'.

Raila: Thats OK

Kibaki: He must be below 60 years old

Raila: <Picks up his phone, makes a call to Dennis Onyango and then...> His excellency, i object to that. We must blend youth and experience. Unajua wengine ni vijana lakini akili ni mzee. Wengine ni vijana lakini anaamka asubuhi anaenda kuvuta bangi. mwingine ni mwizi, leo ako Korti hii, kesho ako ile

Kibaki: I agree with your thoughts, the Right Honourable Prime Minister. Now, I think we have covered much ground for Day 1, how about we resume consultations tommorrow?

Raila: <Visibly excited> Ni sawa mzee..naona we're finally acting in the best interest of the country. I pay tribute to you..

Muthaura and Dennis walk in...carry away their boses note books...