Of faith and Sexy Chick

Biswadip Mitra - Look at this man in vest. This is Akon... the Senegalese-born singer, if you call him a singer at all. Watch his videos and you’ll see ‘hot’ girls all over him. They’re enough to cover-up the pathetic lyrics of his songs, idiotic tunes and above all, Akon’s miserable voice. I often doubt whether his so-called fans are actually his fans or of those sexy chicks.

Well.. well... Sexy Chick is one of Akon’s songs. Actually, he’s a guest vocalist in that track written and produced by Frenchman David Guetta. Still, it’s got Akon there. That’s enough to get the chicks dance like hungry lizards. Yeah... that’s a bad comparison. Forget it. But have you watched the video? I have... Akon as usual with the girls. The setting, as I understood, is that of a ‘pool party’ that’s gone raunchy and where Akon lords like a priest.

So what does Akon preach? What else, but ‘love’. Take that word in every possible way — hip shaking, scanning, frisking, smelling, hugging, rubbing, swimming... it’s exciting to be an Akonian. One can make the full use of the special hormones — adrenaline, testosterone, oestrogen, progesterone and the rest. You know what I mean.

Does Akon preach ‘peace’? He might believe in the saying ‘Make love, not war’, but folks in Sri Lanka think otherwise. There are recent reports of violent protests in that island nation over Sexy Chick. The problem began when some keen viewers noticed a white statue of Lord Buddha that’s visible for about three seconds across the video’s frames. Akon is then mostly busy with the girls in swimsuits who are doing their best to heat up the ambience. And this infuriated the Sri Lankans who are predominantly Buddhists. As a result, Akon’s show on 20th April in that country has been cancelled; he hasn’t been granted a visa. And his chicks certainly won’t like to face the peace-loving stone-throwers. That ain’t sexy at all.

We know that this is just one of the many incidents of violence in the name of ‘faith’ and ‘pride’. In due time, people will forget about this one too. Akon has apologised and told the world about his spirituality. He will possibly perform in Sri Lanka at a future date. But isn’t it bad that the benign Buddha is made to look vulnerable by his followers because of few crass performers? Why are we all so insecure about the strength of our faiths?

As you know, Philip Pullman’s recent book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, tells us about Christ, the manipulative twin brother of Jesus. In the story, it is Christ who betrays Jesus and turns him to the authorities. Pullman has cited four Gospels as his sources. Certainly it will ruffle many ‘right’ feathers who were already antagonised by Pullman’s earlier trilogy His Dark Materials. But can the new book or any such book shake a devout Christian’s faith in Jesus?

I believe, no ‘faith’ can be so fragile that a stupid video or some foolish cartoons or some banal paintings by an over-hyped artist will destroy it. I agree that if our sensibilities are really hurt, we can protest. But that’s not through violence. It is one thing to be strong and upright, and another thing to force others to respect our values. ‘Respect’ under duress is a lie. ‘Respect’ has to come from within.

I think, the problem lies in our inability to comprehend the tenets enshrined in our respective faiths. But we are too eager to cover-up our failings; we are keen to show off our commitment to our faiths. So we resort to violence and other gimmicks. That way, we are far far worse than Akon. Yet, some of the worst among us are often hailed as the champions of ‘faith’ and ‘pride’, when in reality they are self-serving individuals. We disrespect our ‘faith’ and ourselves when we fall prey to their falsehood.

© Sakaal Times