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CITY GIRL: Today’s men are weak!


In the Monday paper, I wrote a front-page story on how girls are no longer the weaker sex. Boys are the weaker sex, having been relegated to the periphery as girls run the world.

I talked about how boys have increasingly become spineless, lazy and ambitionless as girls soar, taking over classrooms and workplaces.

Oh! The vile and vitriol that flooded my mailbox and my Twitter account!  “Njoki Chege’s nonsense has made it to the front page of the DN on a weekday?!” said a certain Shiko Nguru on Twitter.

“And I don’t understand Njoki Chege! This woman is a pain in the *** of men. Who cares about her! Cheap bloggers!” said Davy.

“So @njokichege decides all men are weaklings and we all stay with our mums. Fanya research we are not your boyfriends or friends!” Waweru said.

That story was not an opinion piece but a journalistic article that I was assigned by the editor. I just thought you should know, dear reader. I spoke to a few experts here and there, who confirmed our worst fears. The boys of today, the young men, are weak. Simple.

I am sorry to revisit this topic, dear reader, but I just had to unravel this Subaru (and Mitsubishi Gallant)-driving, iPhone-wielding, Instagram-worshipping riffraffs who have refused to man up and take responsibility.

I call them the Blueband boys. They have no sense of responsibility. Some are still living with their mothers at 27 years and expect everything to be done for them.

SHOWING OFF

Those who have moved out show no promise of crossing to the West Side. They are obsessed with impressing their friends with weekly clubbing and weekend outings. They are ever at clubs and bars, showing off how they can buy expensive whiskey and cognac that they clearly cannot afford.

Their conversations always skirt around having fun and binge drinking. Talk to them about investing in something worthwhile, like real estate, and you can almost hear crickets chirping in their heads.

At 29, their fathers were buying land in Thome, Kahawa Sukari and Garden Estate, but these Blueband boys, at 29, are busy buying cheap, plastic Chinese “designer” sneakers at exorbitant prices on the Internet, to show off on Instagram.

They lack the intellectual rigour that is required for deep conversations about life and investment. Most of them have no significant intellectual arsenal to boast of, anyway.

They have never been known to be thinkers. Words like “analytical” and “smart” have never been used to describe  them. Their brains do not work at optimal levels, enough to know that youth is all about planning and executing for a better, brighter future.

These Blueband boys are more concerned about buying a car before moving out of mummy’s house because they think it is prestigious to own a car. They don’t want to struggle from an SQ in Donholm. They want to ‘ball’ from their mummy’s homes in Garden Estate and Lavington.

They think they are saving money by not paying rent, but will spend the extra cash on buying expensive wine at Caramel, a restaurant that is not  meant for losers like them. Caramel is a high-end place where men with real money go to strike multi-billion deals, not for small boys out to spend a ka-salo of Sh60,000.

But who am I to complain? After all, aren’t I just an embittered and cynical blogger with bad teeth who is desperate to earn her unga by writing columns like this? By the way, I am not paid for this column, my friends; I am a journalist who just happens to have a column. You probably didn’t understand that distinction, but lets carry on.

What makes me sad is the arrogance and self-entitlement with which these young men carry themselves. It is horrifying, gutting even, to see how they thirst  for attention, always seeking love and gratification from social media.

BLUEBAND BOYS

In this the age of insta-gratification, these Blueband boys are looking for the approval of their friends on Instagram, and they think their worth is measured by the number of ‘likes’ their photos receive on social media. They are behaving like women, taking too many pictures for show off on social media, and cooing all about their cheap stuff.

They are egoistic self publicists and pathetic narcissists, who, instead of spending a typical day in the office working hard, use office Wi-Fi to upload pictures of their fake Nike and Jordan sneakers.

Didn’t their fathers teach them the power of understated elegance? That a real man does not brag? That you should leave public parading of your shoes, suits and watches to women?

They do not understand the basic rule of being a man: manners maketh man. They have no manners, these boys. Their fathers didn’t teach them to be gentlemen of finesse and chivalry.

They do not understand that a real man saves more than he spends; that a real man always sacrifices for his family, saving  for the future generations.

Which is why these Blueband boys cannot make great husbands and fathers. Let’s just admit it, they have neither the spine nor the capability to withstand the pressures of relationships and marriage. These are the men who are more interested in taking photos of their ruracios, ngurarios  and weddings for social media than actually investing in their relationships.

They are so used to being mama’s boys, always shielded and taken care of. They have no idea of what it takes to care for a woman and child, little wonder that sensible girls like me will never date or marry them. We have left them to university girls who are impressed with three cans of Smirnoff Guarana.

I mean, suppose I got married to a Blueband boy, how do I begin to explain to my daughter why her father is taking photos of food before eating? Blueband boys simply need to man up. You need to step up your game and for once, behave like real men. Walk the path your fathers walked.

And to those of you who say that I have inconceivable standards, when will you raise your ambitions to meet my standards?