Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

We once coined a phrase in Twirra called the RobAl Syndrome. This is defined as the uncontrollable and self-righteous urge to insult, prematurely report/attack/blame people without checking facts and stick to your story, irrespective of the repercussions.

Anyone who knows anything about me will tell you that of the 8 things that I am, A good pool player is one of the top 5. In pool, there is a term called ‘Kifichiwa White’. A full eclipse snooker. A malicious act based on hatred, fear or unfounded vendetta by someone in power; permanently or temporarily. Also, there is the other thing  called ‘Kujifichia White’. Self Snooker. More like an unforced error in Tennis. An own goal or a silly penalty on Soccer. Dropping the ball in B-Ball.

The new constitution gives us, among other things, 2 fundamental rights. The right to speech and the right to a fair hearing. I rarely, if ever, Agree with @RobertAlai on anything. Not at all. I do not like his always-personal, mostly-unfounded, rarely-fact-checked barrage of insults hurled at anyone from anywhere. This guy seems to have bad beef with everyone. All the time.

If you ever want to develop a Kenyan Version of AngryBirds, he should be top of the list of who should model for the splash-screen.

The 48 laws of power teach us about picking our battles. Pick an opponent. A big one. It is more honorable to lose badly to a formidable opponent, than to totally obliterate and vanguish a weak opponent.

Additionally, Sun Tzu says: “To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength; to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.”

So, the question begs. Where do we draw the line? How do we decide what responsible reporting is; What expressing an opinion entails; What a personal attack is; what clear malice and slander is.

If there is something wrong about a process or an organization, why not approach the people in-charge and talk to them? Even if they are Safaricom, they will always listen and consult [eventually]. You make some friends. You make some money. The trick being that you need to talk to TOP executives. People who can make decisions. Don’t talk to the cooks or watchmen or sweepers. They will just waste your time and inundate you in false hope. Talk to TOP or talk to NONE.

One thing I have learnt from my altercations with Safaricom is that people have fragile Egos. Even if you are speaking the truth. If the sentense does not come out as ‘you guys are the best, the cleverest and have the roundest nipples’, you are immediately classified as an enemy. I have religiously studied the Mpesa System and have a documentation of the Security issues it has.

I offered to share it for FREE with Vodafone so that we can secure our beloved system before Dimitri of Moscow or Chung Hang Lo of Guangzhou takes notice. But NOOOO, there seems to be no gentleman’s way or civilized way of giving such people a FREE solution. For the last 1 year, I have been blocked from Mpesa. Anyone who tries to Hire me to integrate gets a phonecall. Remove Salim from your team or face immediate and perpetual disconnection. Such a nice fella. Such genuine intentions. But Fragile egos, my guy! The result, harsh and cacophonous reactions. Tick.. tock…

So, what happens when we let the RobAl tourettes out? White Ball inafichwa!

I tweeted that I agreed with his last post about Pivot25. 10% of his sentiments were right. 90% were wrong. I came to this conclusion after talking to Erik Hersman. Getting all the facts. He argues that starting developers should not be charged to access IT events. True. I Agree. He argues that Google, Nokia etc should have enough pocket change to cover such events. Since they are sponsors. It is they who benefit anyway. True. I Agree. But he has not contacted Erik or Muendo to find out why the event is being run like it is. He fails to understand and/or appreciate the precedence Pivot25 will set. Then he makes it a personal attack. Again. Mentioning names. Again. This dilutes his argument. His last post now seems like a Kawaida RobAl tourette. Again.

Lesson: Check facts. Don’t add salt to make the argument seem more credible.

Back to code…

Wazi.