As many of you know I started KBW over a year ago in an effort to bring Kenyan bloggers together into a forum where we could discuss and exchange ideas, share opinions and build a community around those ideas and ideals. It has been very interesting and uplifting watching this come into being. And I have said many times, bloggers are my favourite kind of people!
What I have not shared though is my reaction to the hilarious, silly, childish and pathetic criticisms of KBW l have heard over the last couple of years. I hope I do not have to put a massive disclaimer explaining that I do not think that all criticism is bad. You can work that out for yourself right? Let me just have some fun writing about the lame ass attempts at insults sent our way.
1.) “You KBW bloggers you are so polite. Everybody loves everybody.”
This is actually my favourite attempted attack on KBW as it tells us all about the attacker while showering KBW with good light. We have a community of thinking, responsible adults who share their feelings through their blogs and even though they may disagree with each other they still conduct the debate in the good spirit of engagement. If you want an example, go through the archives on different blogs and look at opinions on Live8 and the whole Make Poverty History campaign. You will not find two blogs that shared the same point of view. Some were very opposed, others loved it. But you know what, we are all still here and we have moved on to discuss other things. That’s what intelligent people do, we debate, discuss and move to talk about other things together because we have not insulted each other to the point of offence.
People who try to knock us by saying that we are polite to each other are idiots (haha how polite is that then muppets). Since I started KBW we have never had any rules of engagement, any code of conduct. No made anyone sign anything saying that you have to treat each other well. KBW members are polite to each other not because they have to but because they WANT to. If you can not understand that people can hold different opinions but remain civil, that people can oppose each other yet remain friendly, that people can debate without insulting then you need some serious help.
In fact we have a kind of natural selection taking place. When people want to debate and engage in civil and robust debate, when they want to be part of a vibrant community they register that blog as part of KBW. When they want to insult, when they want to be derogatory and offensive they deliberately keep that blog outside KBW. Natural selection. No one makes them do that, they just know. And that for me is the best advertisement we have for KBW. We have high standards. We will not dilute them for anybody.
2.) “You KBW bloggers, you are such a lovey dovey family”
Now someone please explain to me how this one is meant to be bad. Again I feel it is all to do with the respect KBW members have for each other. The people who insult us thus confuse our respect for blind acceptance. I respect most of the KBW bloggers. That does not mean I blindly accept all they write (I mean for crying out loud we have frigging Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea supporters up in here, the misguided souls). But respect them and treat them with respect, yes I do that. I will not go around blogs writing, “this is bullshit, this is bullshit, don’t take it if you cant dish it out” because that is stupid. If I disagree then let us debate. I do not need to eat their first born to make my point.
3.) “You bloggers are not true Kenya. You have computers and money.”
Look at this idiotic attempt to define Kenya and Kenyans. Kenyans do not have computers and money. You can have a computer, you can have money but if you have the two together … WHOA … you better apply for Ugandan citizenship because you can not be Kenyan!
That is even before we deal with the basic assumption that all bloggers and rich and work for Dell or Microsoft with 24 hour access to computers and the internet. Umm yeah. Muppet.
I am proud of KBW. I am proud that we are making a name for Kenya online. I am proud that we are developing a strong and healthy respect for Kenya online. I a proud that we lead the way as a vibrant African webring. I am proud that we do not walk around insulting each other on our blogs. I am proud that we can agree to disagree in a civil manner. I am proud that before we agree to disagree we can have spirited debate. I am proud that I have made many friends through the webring. I am proud that some of our members consider each other family. I am proud that people on KBW think twice and collect their thoughts before firing of insult after insult. I am proud that the best insult people can swing at us is that we get along. I am proud that we have shown that a Kenyan online community does not have to pander to the lowest common denominator. I am proud that I can send the KBW link to my siblings, parents, uncles, aunties, professors, former classmates, work mates and not have to think twice. And most of all I am proud that thus far no one had to tell us how to behave, no one told us that we have to be polite or that we should not insult each other. No one told us, we just did, it became normal, because that the kind of community we wanted and that is the kind of community we have.
If you have made it this far, congratulations! As a reward here are some pictures of an adult goat at a nature preserve which adopted a baby rhinoceros whose mother was killed by poachers (click on the slideshow).
) If only Kenya had fans like these (who also happened to be female), we might go far! 
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