Social Media can be an excellent source of misinformation. For the most part, we all know that. Our timelines are often filled with junk that is either unknowingly misleading, or deliberately inaccurate, either way it does the reader no good. Junk that serves only to get you to unknowingly download a virus or spend a few moments reading a pop up add. Squashed in with all of the nonsense, are the real voices, the thoughts and opinions of our peers. I find it ironic that the people who need to be heard the least; have the biggest audience and the largest following when it comes to social media. The biggest clowns have the largest parades. The least knowledgeable among us grab the most ears, nod the most heads, and lead the most astray.
Every day, I see more and more people speaking out on very serious social and political issues. Most speaking out of their emotions, ignorant to key facts pertaining to their issue at hand, and calling for action that would not provide an effective solution to the problem. Many of us, me included, allow ourselves to be lead astray too often; pulled off the path of focus and into nonsense debates and hypothetical situations. We could have used that time to study on the work of Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop.
In my opinion, what he had to say was worth hearing. His opinion is valid because it carries the weight of decades of research along with tested and proven hypothesis. His findings are not centered on how he felt in his heart, but what he discovered through study.
While studying the origins of the human race, Diop was able to disprove the popular European myth that Caucasians founded and ruled in ancient Egypt and the Middle East. Dr. Diop pioneered scientific techniques such as Carbon Dating, and the Melanin Dosage Test. (used to test and verify the melanin content of Egyptian mummies) He then used those methods to go on and prove that a “Black Egypt” was responsible for the rise of civilization throughout Egypt, Northern Africa, and the Mediterranean, INCLUDING Greece and Rome.
To this day, forensic investigators use Dr. Diop’s technique’s to determine the racial identity of badly burned accident victims. Although we lost Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop in 1986, his impact on history, anthropology, physics, and modern science is still felt today, over two decades after his passing. That is staying power.
When I see Cleopatra cast as a Caucasian women, when I see biblical figures cast as white men and women, I don’t just THINK it is weird, I KNOW it is wrong, it has been proven. We can thank the good doctor for that. There was no ranting, there was no race bashing required, it is proven and accepted as fact through his teachings, and that is all there is too it. Sure, some of the incendiary memes that you can find online might make you feel better, but they don’t help the situation, they only make it worse. If we are to learn anything at all in our short time on this planet, we have to start HEARING the right people, and tuning the wrong people out.
