Culture Segregation - by That Dark Writer

We Are the Problem—Let’s Not Pretend Otherwise Let’s face it—some of us are hypocrites. Scratch that. All of us are. But when it comes to culture—our culture—some of you just give me a pounding headache. And trust me, it’s not from overthinking; it’s from watching people disgrace themselves in the name of modernity. I've come to a painful realization: we are our own problem. Yes, us. This generation, in particular, doesn’t sit right with me. In fact, it doesn’t sit at all—it flops. Today, I’m here to call out culture segregation. A disease we proudly carry and pass around like a badge of shame disguised as class. We’ve normalized the wrong things and thrown the right ones into the trash—sometimes even spat on them for good measure. And no, I’m not trying to paint myself as holier-than-thou. I’m part of the mess. I can’t even write this entire piece in Yoruba—and that says a lot. It bothers me deeply that speaking our native language is now seen as something to be ashamed of. When did this start? Who decided that the language of our roots was suddenly uncool? If a girl speaks her language fluently, it’s a red flag. If a guy has a local accent, you all start twitching like he committed a crime.“She speaks too much Yoruba. Ew, that gives me the ick.”“He has an Igbo accent. Yikes, so embarrassing.”E ni ronu. Please, take a moment and reflect. If your brain was actually working overtime on useful things, you wouldn’t have the energy to be bothered by accents or local tongues. Honestly, kainpe—you have better things to worry about. Tell me how, in the name of all that makes sense, speaking your own native language is "irritating," but rolling your tongue to speak someone else’s is trendy and admirable? I can’t for the life of me understand the way this generation thinks. And I try. God knows I try. Let me spare English for a second—it’s a global bridge language. But Korean? Really? We see you—learning Korean like your survival depends on it. And you’re so proud about it, you shine your teeth while flaunting it as if you discovered a cure for cancer. And Chinese? Don’t even get me started. Here’s the twist: the same languages we ridicule, the same tongues we dismiss as "too local," are the ones outsiders are desperately paying to learn. These people are investing time, money, and effort to connect with a culture you were born into for free. But no—it’s too bush for you. Too uncivilized. Too local. You walk around with this misplaced sense of superiority, looking down on your heritage while praising foreign cultures that have deep respect for theirs. It’s almost laughable. Meanwhile, our oral history—the stories, the proverbs, the language—is slowly dying, and what are we doing? Obsessing over our favorite celebrity “oppa” who doesn’t know we exist. Some of you can’t even form one correct sentence in your native language without struggling, but the moment someone says “Annyeonghaseyo”, you start talking like a broken radio. Oga oo. You people amaze me. Every single time. And I don’t mean that in a good way. Girls especially. Yes—awful lot of you. You act like fluency in your own language is beneath you, like being culturally grounded is some kind of shame. At this rate, what will be left of our identity in the next generation? Who will carry on the stories, the songs, the language? Or are we planning to raise kids who speak Korean fluently but have no idea what “Ẹ káàárọ̀” means? Honestly, think. Deeply. Before it’s too late.

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