When God is in the Land

I have just read the account of someone's revelation, the conclusion of which was that God told him the President Jonathan is His man and that God is with Him. Not wanting to be dismissive of what might be a true revelation, also knowing that I had to align every revelation with scripture, I thought about men of God in the Bible who were in political office: Joseph, Daniel, King David.

God was with them and a veritable sign of that was that the people prospered under them and The mighty hand of God was shown in His involvement with these people. In the case of Joseph, God used him to prevent what would have been the disastrous results of a famine. David was used militarily to bring peace to the people. Daniel's life and his encounter with the lions left the people in awe.

I do not see a correlation here with the case of Nigeria. The people continue to suffer. Death has invaded the land. Our citizens began to consume our female children and God has not shown Himself to our leader, like He did in time of old?

Instead of showing our leader how to secure and create provision for the future of Nigeria as He did with Joseph, the opposite has happened here.

Instead of investing in building the foundations (Nehemiah style) that have been destroyed: education, health care, roads, shelter, electricity, we continue to enrich other nations by our patronage and our contracts. It seems to be that our treasury is just for a few people.

On the other hand, I also thought about kings that God had used for His own purpose. Kings who were non- Jews. We should all spend time in the Book of Ezra and see what conclusions we draw.

I have decided to set that 'revelation' aside only because I could not align it with scripture.

The other interpretation of the revelation is that the reason things are getting worse is because God is angry with Nigeria. Could it be that He is with the president but that the nation itself is under judgment?

Hmmmn. I have to research that.

That's my vantage point of view.

Designing the Future and Development of Agriculture in Africa: If it Doesn't Work for Women, It doesn't Work

There is a lot of rhetoric and activity driven by the different agricultural interests in Africa. We seem to have taken a piecemeal approach to our development. Some of us are advocates for gender equality, others advocates of technology, others still, advocates of climate issues. It is of great importance that agriculture professionals and activists begin to recognize that agriculture in Africa is one single organism, one in which every piece is significant, and must be addressed as it relates to the others. There are pressing issues today if we must achieve sustainable agriculture in Africa: gender equality, robust extension services, the ageing of agriculture, to name a few. This write-up will discuss a position that proposes a system that incorporates the different interests and aspects into one continuous whole.

Gender Equality

Women have been referred to as the “pillars of African Agriculture.” There are sources that indicate that women represent as much as 90% of farmers in Africa.   Yet, there is ample evidence that they continue to be marginalized.

The obstacles faced by women are cultural, legal, educational, and economic. Cultural factors include customs that prevent women from owning or inheriting property, customs that prevent a woman from directly interfacing with a man who is not her spouse, or a relative. When a woman is prevented from ever owning property, it represents a permanent bar on that woman’s ability to elevate herself and her family economically, or to ever become an owner of her own farm. Even when a woman is able to own her own farm, if her culture prevents her from interfacing with men who are not related to her, she will immediately be at a disadvantage in receiving extension services, since majority of extension workers, as few as they are, are of the male species.

Legal barriers exist where African communities are under different laws that regulate how long women can work, which type of work they may perform, and in whose company they could do it. In addition, in communities where customary inheritance laws negatively impact the women, many of the courts and legislatures have not caught up with intervening. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that a woman who is uneducated, and still struggling to feed will have the knowledge or the wherewithal to stand up and fight, even when there are national laws that favor her. There is a higher level of illiteracy among women farmers in Africa, and this is a crucial factor in their access to, comprehension and utilization of agricultural information and services.

All the factors discussed above contribute to women farmers’ economic difficulties and constraints. Most of these constraints are systemic. They will need to be addressed systemically.  One of the ways to begin to dismantle the constraints include information. It includes information that bypasses the traditional obstacles, going directly to the women farmers.

Extension Services

If women are the pillars of African agriculture, then extension services constitute the lifeline of African agriculture. Agricultural extension is a vital and indispensable mechanism by which information and advice can be delivered to the farmer. In much of Africa, this very important component is grossly lacking. The rudimentary history of extension services in Africa predates 1914, where in the then Gold Coast, instruction on agriculture was given in government-assisted schools and some agricultural stations.  Today, agricultural extension is not filling the gap that it should. There is a dearth of quality resources, and a severe shortage of agricultural extension officers. It has been estimated that in Africa, there is one extension worker for 4,000 farmers, compared to one for 200 hundred farmers in developed countries. In an FAO study in 2005, an evaluation of extension resources in some areas of agriculture in different parts of Africa described the training and support provided to extension agents as “low quality.”  The best of the educational materials were produced by international bodies.

Therefore, regardless of the research breakthroughs, new resources and technology, timely troubleshooting cannot be available to the average farmer in Africa without the conduit of the agricultural extension services and personnel.

The implication of this to the cause of women farmers in Africa is that they are on their own, especially when the systemic, cultural, educational, and economic constraints are present. The average woman in agriculture is therefore isolated, without meaningful recourse.

Even if there were more agricultural extension workers, there would not be enough of them to travel the wide expanse of the African terrain. There are challenges that go beyond the scope of agriculture, such as travelling, language, local customs, and funding. Judging by the need to reach the women where they are, literally and figuratively, it is highly important to seek solutions that circumvent some of these constraints. The solutions must address the issue of quality of resources, travelling, language barriers, local customs, and funding. Today’s solution to the information barrier is technology.

Technology in African Agriculture

The attempt to utilize technology is not new in African agriculture. The materials provided by international organizations have often required some form of technological audio visual device such as slides, films, and projectors. These have been of limited use in rural Africa, and they never did belong to the farmer, nor did the average woman have direct and ongoing access to such materials and information. The supply of the materials and information lasted only as long as the funding lasted, with no avenue to further disseminate or update them. This points to the need for Africans to begin to develop what will work for Africans.

Another issue with materials that are made outside of the user’s location is that they are often planned and designed in the laboratory, under ideal conditions. Therefore, they have reduced benefit when attempts are made to implement them by the end user. They often cannot be used for “here and now” situations that require direct answers to specific questions. In the absence of knowledgeable and sufficient extension workers, there is a need to utilize low tech resources in a manner that they would yield maximum results. These resources must also be designed with a focus on the most isolated woman farmer. Today, that technology is the telephone.

Out of Africa

It is not arguable that the cellular phone is the most ubiquitous piece of technology in Africa today. It will be foolhardy to develop an agricultural extension program that does not utilize the phone. Even when a woman does not have a personal cell phone, there is a high chance that she knows another woman who does. The quickest way to reach her with information, usually in real time, is the telephone.

A robust and extensive use of telephone technology in agriculture in Africa is a thing of the future, but it is a journey that we must embark on. With the rapid rate of change today, the future of agriculture in Africa rests on extension services, and the future of extension services rest on technology. We must begin to design and plan for Africa by Africans. There are beginnings of such a movement already.

It is important to mention innovations such as the M-PESA in Kenya, the application of the e-wallet in Nigeria. However, there are other innovations that are developed by Africans, or with the African market in mind. Such is the case of Su Kahumbu, who observed that cattle owners in her community were losing money by selling below market rate, buying the wrong kind of feed, or failing to breed their cows at the right time by missing the window of when the cow was in heat. She designed an application through which the farmer could receive advice, information about market rates, and other pertinent information, all of which came directly to the farmer’s phone by text, without any intermediary. More information can be found at http://www.icow.co.ke/

Another resource that is designed for Africa, and that can be modified for wide usage in the continent, is an animation video series produced by the University of Illinois about using neem seeds as a natural insecticide. The animation video is rendered in a Nigerian accent, in English, and it uses materials and artifacts, that are common to the African environment. The video can be translated into any African language.  It can be found using this link: http://susdeviki.illinois.edu/SearchResultView.aspx?id=36&vid=1

One cannot ignore the problem that many of the women farmers do not have personal phones, or that when they do have phones, the phones can do no more than receive calls and texts. This must not become a show-stopping barrier. The resources must be prepared and available. As the value of the services become apparent smart phones will become the phone of choice. In addition, non-governmental agencies might be able to fill that need for many of the women farmers who cannot afford smart phones. Our challenge is to create and provide materials, curricula that reach the farmer where she needs it. It must be just a few keystrokes away.

The use of technology will not render obsolete the agricultural extension worker. It will only assist them to reach more people, streamline their work on one hand, and expand it on the other. Technology by itself will be a tool in the hands of the trained, knowledgeable, and innovative extension worker. That extension worker is to be developed and trained for the work of this century and beyond. One is forced to ask the question: where are the personnel who understand technology and agriculture? While the farmer understands farming, she does not understand technology. The young people understand technology, but do they understand farming? Do they even want to understand farming? That leads to the issue of the ageing of agriculture.

The Ageing of Agriculture

Where are the farmers of tomorrow? Can we adequately utilize technology in agriculture without young people? We will never be able to reap the full benefits of the potential of technology in agriculture if we do not have the personnel who straddle both worlds. Much has been written about today’s African youth’s lack of interest in farming. Whatever the reason is, the reality is that there will always be a need for farmers, and this is the time to begin to establish educational programs and policies that make agriculture a viable option for a livelihood. It is not likely that we will achieve this in a short period of time, but we must begin.

To start, we must engage young people in the world of agriculture so that their technological expertise will be used towards addressing specific problems that arise out of expressed needs of farmers. A concerted effort to familiarize Africa’s youth with agriculture from the earliest years, and throughout schooling years is needed. These programs must cast a visionary eye to the future and take a long-term approach.

The Way Forward

The indisputable goal is the establishment of extension services powered by technology dedicated to information and undergirded by favorable national policies (e-TIPS). Tomorrow’s extension services will include a database and repository of information, tailored to each community, translatable into local languages and able to be transmitted to those who need it by telephone. The way forward must include a few critical ingredients: planning, commitment, and cooperation.

It is not uncommon for African governments to establish programs that are abandoned almost as soon as they are established. Therefore, it is time to keep agricultural issues on the front burner all the time. National governments must be committed to agriculture as the main stay of their welfare and economy. This commitment must include an effort to educate the citizenry regarding the place of agriculture in the prosperity of a nation.

In addition to the commitment, there must be adequate planning. The best minds in the different fields, including educators, technology and agricultural professionals, administrators, and researchers must be engaged in creating a product, a curriculum, a program that is responsive to the needs of the people it seeks to serve. If we don’t engage in thorough planning, we hold in jeopardy, our future freedom and that of future generations of Africans. A nation is not truly independent until it can feed itself.

Silos, international silos, should be a thing of the past. African countries and communities must work as one to share information, successes, setbacks, and resources. Therefore, the new formula must include international cooperation across the continent. The programs planned must be broad enough to be applicable in different countries, but be adaptable enough to be usable by and available to the average woman.  A mobile phone application was developed to be used by the nomadic Himba people of Namibia. A demonstration of the application can be found here: http://tve.org/reframing-rio/films/life-apps/life-apps namibia/index.html#.UsZLgvM4_5Y.facebook.

When technology in agriculture is tailored to the local community, it will make a difference.

Finally, it is imperative that all program be planned with the women in agriculture in mind because, no matter how brilliant our ideas are, if it doesn’t work for women, it doesn’t work. And judging by the sheer number of women farmers in Africa, whatever we do for them, we do for all of Africa.

Resources

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312190379.html

FAO Fisheries Department, Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service. Aquaculture extension in sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 1002. Rome, FAO.

Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, and Tazeen Hasan. 2012. Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa. Africa Development Forum series. Washington, DC: World Bank. DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-9533-2. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0

Doss, C.R. 1999. Twenty-Five Years of Research on Women Farmers in Africa: Lessons and Implications for Agricultural Research Institutions; with an Annotated Bibliography. CIMMYT Economics Program Paper No. 99-02. Mexico D.F.: CIMMYT

Lucas, C. P. (1913). A historical geography of the British colonies: Vol. Ill, West Africa (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Tadele, G. and Gella, A. A. (2012), ‘A Last Resort and Often Not an Option at All’: Farming and Young People in Ethiopia. IDS Bulletin, 43: 33–43. doi: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00377.x

Dead Wives are no Different From Disposable Plates

Just the other day, I was having a discussion with a friend of mine, David. We got talking about a mutual friend who had lost his wife a little over a year ago. I asked Mobi how our friend was doing and he told me that he was fine and was now in a new relationship. I made a comment about how easy it is for these men to move on, to which David replied, "He has tried o. After all, one year has passed."

Needless to say, the discussion went on with David trying to convince me that "it is not easy for brothers", and I of course maintained my position that the rate at which some men move on smacks of their wives being no better than paper plates. I know of a man who had printed cards for his new wedding three months after his wife was buried. There are those who are remarried in 6 months. There are those, like David, who think anything beyond one year is long suffering.

Of course, the dead is dead, and life must go on, but how easy will it be to bear, to realize that one year is all a wife is allotted, after all the years of sacrifice she might have given to the marriage?

It's not easy being female!


Well, David and I never did agree. What do you say?

Designing the Future and Development of Agriculture in Africa

Designing the Future and Development of Agriculture in Africa

Until it works for women, it doesn’t work™

There is a lot of rhetoric and activity driven by the different agricultural interests in Africa. We seem to have taken a piecemeal approach to our development. Some of us are advocates for gender equality, others advocates of technology, others still, advocates of climate issues. It is of great importance that agriculture professionals and activists begin to recognize that agriculture in Africa is one single organism, one in which every piece is significant, and must be addressed as it relates to the others. There are pressing issues today if we must achieve sustainable agriculture in Africa: gender equality, robust extension services, the ageing of agriculture, to name a few. This write-up will discuss a position that proposes a system that incorporates the different interests and aspects into one continuous whole.

Gender Equality

Women have been referred to as the “pillars of African Agriculture.” There are sources that indicate that women represent as much as 90% of farmers in Africa.   Yet, there is ample evidence that they continue to be marginalized.

The obstacles faced by women are cultural, legal, educational, and economic. Cultural factors include customs that prevent women from owning or inheriting property, customs that prevent a woman from directly interfacing with a man who is not her spouse, or a relative. When a woman is prevented from ever owning property, it represents a permanent bar on that woman’s ability to elevate herself and her family economically, or to ever become an owner of her own farm. Even when a woman is able to own her own farm, if her culture prevents her from interfacing with men who are not related to her, she will immediately be at a disadvantage in receiving extension services, since majority of extension workers, as few as they are, are of the male species.

Legal barriers exist where African communities are under different laws that regulate how long women can work, which type of work they may perform, and in whose company they could do it. In addition, in communities where customary inheritance laws negatively impact the women, many of the courts and legislatures have not caught up with intervening. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that a woman who is uneducated, and still struggling to feed will have the knowledge or the wherewithal to stand up and fight, even when there are national laws that favor her. There is a higher level of illiteracy among women farmers in Africa, and this is a crucial factor in their access to, comprehension and utilization of agricultural information and services.

All the factors discussed above contribute to women farmers’ economic difficulties and constraints. Most of these constraints are systemic. They will need to be addressed systemically.  One of the ways to begin to dismantle the constraints include information. It includes information that bypasses the traditional obstacles, going directly to the women farmers.

Extension Services

If women are the pillars of African agriculture, then extension services constitute the lifeline of African agriculture. Agricultural extension is a vital and indispensable mechanism by which information and advice can be delivered to the farmer. In much of Africa, this very important component is grossly lacking. The rudimentary history of extension services in Africa predates 1914, where in the then Gold Coast, instruction on agriculture was given in government-assisted schools and some agricultural stations.  Today, agricultural extension is not filling the gap that it should. There is a dearth of quality resources, and a severe shortage of agricultural extension officers. It has been estimated that in Africa, there is one extension worker for 4,000 farmers, compared to one for 200 hundred farmers in developed countries. In an FAO study in 2005, an evaluation of extension resources in some areas of agriculture in different parts of Africa described the training and support provided to extension agents as “low quality.”  The best of the educational materials were produced by international bodies.

Therefore, regardless of the research breakthroughs, new resources and technology, timely troubleshooting cannot be available to the average farmer in Africa without the conduit of the agricultural extension services and personnel.

The implication of this to the cause of women farmers in Africa is that they are on their own, especially when the systemic, cultural, educational, and economic constraints are present. The average woman in agriculture is therefore isolated, without meaningful recourse.

Even if there were more agricultural extension workers, there would not be enough of them to travel the wide expanse of the African terrain. There are challenges that go beyond the scope of agriculture, such as travelling, language, local customs, and funding. Judging by the need to reach the women where they are, literally and figuratively, it is highly important to seek solutions that circumvent some of these constraints. The solutions must address the issue of quality of resources, travelling, language barriers, local customs, and funding. Today’s solution to the information barrier is technology.

Technology in African Agriculture

The attempt to utilize technology is not new in African agriculture. The materials provided by international organizations have often required some form of technological audio visual device such as slides, films, and projectors. These have been of limited use in rural Africa, and they never did belong to the farmer, nor did the average woman have direct and ongoing access to such materials and information. The supply of the materials and information lasted only as long as the funding lasted, with no avenue to further disseminate or update them. This points to the need for Africans to begin to develop what will work for Africans.

Another issue with materials that are made outside of the user’s location is that they are often planned and designed in the laboratory, under ideal conditions. Therefore, they have reduced benefit when attempts are made to implement them by the end user. They often cannot be used for “here and now” situations that require direct answers to specific questions. In the absence of knowledgeable and sufficient extension workers, there is a need to utilize low tech resources in a manner that they would yield maximum results. These resources must also be designed with a focus on the most isolated woman farmer. Today, that technology is the telephone.

Out of Africa

It is not arguable that the cellular phone is the most ubiquitous piece of technology in Africa today. It will be foolhardy to develop an agricultural extension program that does not utilize the phone. Even when a woman does not have a personal cell phone, there is a high chance that she knows another woman who does. The quickest way to reach her with information, usually in real time, is the telephone.

A robust and extensive use of telephone technology in agriculture in Africa is a thing of the future, but it is a journey that we must embark on. With the rapid rate of change today, the future of agriculture in Africa rests on extension services, and the future of extension services rest on technology. We must begin to design and plan for Africa by Africans. There are beginnings of such a movement already.

It is important to mention innovations such as the M-PESA in Kenya, the application of the e-wallet in Nigeria. However, there are other innovations that are developed by Africans, or with the African market in mind. Such is the case of Su Kahumbu, who observed that cattle owners in her community were losing money by selling below market rate, buying the wrong kind of feed, or failing to breed their cows at the right time by missing the window of when the cow was in heat. She designed an application through which the farmer could receive advice, information about market rates, and other pertinent information, all of which came directly to the farmer’s phone by text, without any intermediary. More information can be found at http://www.icow.co.ke/

Another resource that is designed for Africa, and that can be modified for wide usage in the continent, is an animation video series produced by the University of Illinois about using neem seeds as a natural insecticide. The animation video is rendered in a Nigerian accent, in English, and it uses materials and artifacts, that are common to the African environment. The video can be translated into any African language.  It can be found using this link: http://susdeviki.illinois.edu/SearchResultView.aspx?id=36&vid=1

One cannot ignore the problem that many of the women farmers do not have personal phones, or that when they do have phones, the phones can do no more than receive calls and texts. This must not become a show-stopping barrier. The resources must be prepared and available. As the value of the services become apparent smart phones will become the phone of choice. In addition, non-governmental agencies might be able to fill that need for many of the women farmers who cannot afford smart phones. Our challenge is to create and provide materials, curricula that reach the farmer where she needs it. It must be just a few keystrokes away.

The use of technology will not render obsolete the agricultural extension worker. It will only assist them to reach more people, streamline their work on one hand, and expand it on the other. Technology by itself will be a tool in the hands of the trained, knowledgeable, and innovative extension worker. That extension worker is to be developed and trained for the work of this century and beyond. One is forced to ask the question: where are the personnel who understand technology and agriculture? While the farmer understands farming, she does not understand technology. The young people understand technology, but do they understand farming? Do they even want to understand farming? That leads to the issue of the ageing of agriculture.

The Ageing of Agriculture

Where are the farmers of tomorrow? Can we adequately utilize technology in agriculture without young people? We will never be able to reap the full benefits of the potential of technology in agriculture if we do not have the personnel who straddle both worlds. Much has been written about today’s African youth’s lack of interest in farming. Whatever the reason is, the reality is that there will always be a need for farmers, and this is the time to begin to establish educational programs and policies that make agriculture a viable option for a livelihood. It is not likely that we will achieve this in a short period of time, but we must begin.

To start, we must engage young people in the world of agriculture so that their technological expertise will be used towards addressing specific problems that arise out of expressed needs of farmers. A concerted effort to familiarize Africa’s youth with agriculture from the earliest years, and throughout schooling years is needed. These programs must cast a visionary eye to the future and take a long-term approach.

The Way Forward

The indisputable goal is the establishment of extension services powered by technology dedicated to information and undergirded by favorable national policies (e-TIPS). Tomorrow’s extension services will include a database and repository of information, tailored to each community, translatable into local languages and able to be transmitted to those who need it by telephone. The way forward must include a few critical ingredients: planning, commitment, and cooperation.

It is not uncommon for African governments to establish programs that are abandoned almost as soon as they are established. Therefore, it is time to keep agricultural issues on the front burner all the time. National governments must be committed to agriculture as the main stay of their welfare and economy. This commitment must include an effort to educate the citizenry regarding the place of agriculture in the prosperity of a nation.

In addition to the commitment, there must be adequate planning. The best minds in the different fields, including educators, technology and agricultural professionals, administrators, and researchers must be engaged in creating a product, a curriculum, a program that is responsive to the needs of the people it seeks to serve. If we don’t engage in thorough planning, we hold in jeopardy, our future freedom and that of future generations of Africans. A nation is not truly independent until it can feed itself.

Silos, international silos, should be a thing of the past. African countries and communities must work as one to share information, successes, setbacks, and resources. Therefore, the new formula must include international cooperation across the continent. The programs planned must be broad enough to be applicable in different countries, but be adaptable enough to be usable by and available to the average woman.  A mobile phone application was developed to be used by the nomadic Himba people of Namibia. A demonstration of the application can be found here: http://tve.org/reframing-rio/films/life-apps/life-apps namibia/index.html#.UsZLgvM4_5Y.facebook.

When technology in agriculture is tailored to the local community, it will make a difference.

Finally, it is imperative that all program be planned with the women in agriculture in mind because, no matter how brilliant our ideas are, if it doesn’t work for women, it doesn’t work. And judging by the sheer number of women farmers in Africa, whatever we do for them, we do for all of Africa.

Resources

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312190379.html

FAO Fisheries Department, Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service. Aquaculture extension in sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 1002. Rome, FAO.

Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, and Tazeen Hasan. 2012. Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa. Africa Development Forum series. Washington, DC: World Bank. DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-9533-2. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0

Doss, C.R. 1999. Twenty-Five Years of Research on Women Farmers in Africa: Lessons and Implications for Agricultural Research Institutions; with an Annotated Bibliography. CIMMYT Economics Program Paper No. 99-02. Mexico D.F.: CIMMYT

Lucas, C. P. (1913). A historical geography of the British colonies: Vol. Ill, West Africa (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Tadele, G. and Gella, A. A. (2012), ‘A Last Resort and Often Not an Option at All’: Farming and Young People in Ethiopia. IDS Bulletin, 43: 33–43. doi: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00377.x

In African agriculture, information is power

In African agriculture, information is power

The Trials and Triumphs of Being Born Female: Inheriting the Family Title

Should gender matter? In many cases, an uncontrollable (certainly not by the one who was born) circumstance of birth has such long standing consequences. When we bring our babies home from the hospital, should the course of their lives be already determined because of the child's gender? Apparently, this is a phenomenon that affects royalty and commoners alike.

According to a news report in the Daily Telegraph, "It is a layer of aristocracy unique to Britain, and for more than 400 years the title of baronet has been passed dutifully from father to son.

But now, for the first time, women may be able to inherit the title in England under a proposed change to the centuries-old system.

Four baronets have succeeded in adding an amendment to a Bill making its way through the House of Lords that would let them pass their titles to their daughters.

The legislation had originally been introduced to allow dukes, earls, viscounts and other hereditary peers to pass their titles along a female line of succession. However, it left out baronets, prompting a campaign by the four families.

The Bill is known as the “Downton law” after the anomaly of female succession at the heart of ITV’s Downton Abbey, in which the character of Lady Mary, the eldest daughter of the drama’s fictional earl, was unable to inherit the family seat because it had to pass to a male heir."

In this case, fiction has influenced reality....for the better.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10540898/Ladies-who-could-soon-be-a-leaping.html

The End of Public Civility

There's a popular judge on TV. I've watched her for years, for her straight forward, no-nonsense way. However, she's been grating on me lately. Is it necessary to be so aggressive with people?

As a lawyer, I feel that part of the purpose of court shows would be to educate the people about the law...a little bit. It is not necessary to get into a situation where the judge seems to be fighting with one or both litigants.

One of my children would not watch her. The child thinks this judge is plain rude!

Has she gotten worse or did I just outgrow her shenanigans?

Then there's the story of the "Housewives". I am still trying to find out why school teachers spend their time teaching children how to conduct themselves, only for them to grow up and behave improperly on TV, and be paid for it. Are these people really like this, or are these people acting?
                            

And then there's Omarosa! She's back on Celebrity Apprentice. The girl's gotta pay her bills, right?

Truth be told, nobody wants to watch boring TV. The greater the drama, the more people watch. The more people watch, the more money is made.

The success of these people is really only a reflection of who we are as a society.

They are who we have become. I don't like it.