There are many people that achieve
great things in their lives. Many people attribute the reasons for their
success to God, the support of their family and friends, hard work, and perseverance.
But the strange thing is that few ever thank the haters. The ones who did not
believe, the ones who criticised, and the ones who wrote them off. Perhaps no
one thinks the haters are worthy of any mention at all, maybe this needs a
rethink.
Zambia is blessed with a lot of
creative minds. There are writers, musicians, painters, sculptors,
entrepreneurs and many others. Some of these individuals churn out some pretty
impressive stuff while others do some pretty horrible stuff too. However, in
this arena you need to tread carefully and be very cautious with what you say.
Any criticism could be seen as a PHD syndrome. Many people have even gone as
far as attributing that the reason why Zambians are unsuccessful is because we
do not support each other. We are expected to blow the trumpet for each other,
pretend we like each other's work, and praise everything even mediocrity, just
so we can be socially correct.
When an artist releases a song and a
few people say that the song sucks they are viciously attacked and called
haters. People then pull out the PHD Syndrome card as a way to shut them down
so that everyone else can ignore them. For example, B-Flow recently wrote an open letter to Taylor Swift for her
'Wildest Dreams' music video. An unknown artist called Portia Clark then
criticised it on Facebook. What happened next was an army of people criticising
what she had done. Some called her a hater, a PHD individual, and others even
suggested that she should have sent him a private message instead. My take on this is that just because B-Flow is
Zambian it does not mean that I am bound to praise and support everything he
does. I should do so based on its merit. On the suggestion that Portia should
have sent B-Flow a private message is ridiculous, B-Flow made his letter public
so too there should be no problem with any praise or critique given in public. As
I write this blog, I know that there will be people who will like this piece
and there are those who will not. If I am criticised will I curl up at a corner
and cry. Hell no. By making this
piece public I should be also willing to take on any criticism that comes in. I
do not expect everyone to sing Kumbaya with me and send positive energy my way.
Haters do not receive the credit that
they deserve. They have motivated people to work harder just to prove them
wrong and in the process they have succeeded. They have given people a second
opinion even though it may have been unsolicited. Haters have provided people
the inspiration to write songs, paint, and write books. Yet none of them even
claimed any royalties. They have brought people down to earth. Showing them
that not everyone is singing their praise and applauding their every action. Haters
have toughed up people by training them to develop the resilience to survive in
the tough creative industries. Let us not forget the free publicity that haters
provide. Haters do have an integral part in our society even though they are often
misunderstood as having the PHD Syndrome. What might need consideration is what
actually constitutes PHD Syndrome.
I do not agree with the use of PHD
Syndrome card every time someone criticises something. Also we cannot also dictate
to people how they should criticise. We cannot also tell them to be gentle,
kind, and positive while they are criticising. People will always have different
tastes, likes and dislikes. Haters should not be crucified instead their place
in your success stories should be recognised, because whether you like it or
not, the haters are going nowhere. So deal with it.
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