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I think many people don’t know whether to pity or laugh at Nonhle Thema. Since no one really knows what to say of her meltdown on Twitter, people choose to laugh instead.
We talk about what she is doing because we can’t believe she really is doing what she is doing on Twitter. At times we wish that she isn’t really tweeting the things she’s been saying.
Exhibit A: “im not playing.change is coming.no more humble poor girls on tv.its time for us to shine.....IM BORN A WINNER...” she wrote at 08:10 on June 19. Yes. That’s right. She said it. The first thing I thought of when I saw that tweet I said to myself, “I'm not sure whether Nonhle needs Chuck Norris or Jesus. Or both.”
First of all, we must acknowledge that she has done well for herself. Financially that is. She has made a lot of money as she has told us on the social network. I quote, “at 29 im worth 10 million bucks.lol.to all my haters.eat dust yall..” That’s a lot of money.
What lessons can we learn from this? Whatever this is because it doesn’t have a name yet.
1: Never believe your own hype.
I’m a firm believer in being your own biggest fan. As I say to my friends and I’ve said on Twitter, “Be your own biggest fan and critic.” The problem with believing your own hype is that you stop at fan, you never get to critic. When you are critical of yourself, you realise that you didn’t make yourself. Other people were involved in your success. Being critical of yourself is acknowledging that you can always improve.
2: You don’t have haters, just people who don’t agree with you.
In an effort to reinforce their own importance to themselves, many people insist on calling people who are critical haters. There is now no longer a distinction between fair criticism and hate. Some criticise because they are trying to help. Others because they want your attention. Others simply because they don’t like you. Learn to know who is who.
3: More often than not, we don't need saving from others, we need to be saved from ourselves. Many times people shoot off their mouths and ask Jesus to help them and save them from haters and evil mongers of the internet and real life evil mongers. (I think I just made up a phrase, “evil mongers”). The truth is, most of the time, we set our own path towards destruction. There is usually no one to blame but ourselves. In the words of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, Cassius says to Brutus, “The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
4: The more successful you are, the more humble you should become.
Arrogance is all the rage lately. Be loud and show how strong you are, how you can stand against those vile people who try to shout you down. The natural defence is to stand and shout and tell people how much better you are than they are. But when you have already made it and are successful, you don’t have to prove anything. Just be humble, your humility will propel you even further. Unfortunately, humility is not cool in 2011. It’s just not winning. Humility is not weakness. It’s strength.
5: You can't surround yourself with people who agree with you all the time, who cheer you when you should be humble.
You will have people who want to tell you, you are doing right when you are doing wrong, people who will insists on helping you believe you own hype, avoid these people because they want something from you. They won’t be there when you need them, when you lose yourself, when you lose everything. When you realise this, they will be gone and they will have taken everything. And the people you shunned because they were telling the truth will still be there.
6: It's important for people to have friends who can be real. When your friends are fans, you won't see the woods from the trees.
(Here is Nonhle’s Twitter Timeline. Amuse yourselves.)
I think Nonhle Goes Off on Twitter is a highly entertaining reality show. It is fun to watch. We all really enjoy it. Is she self-destructing? The more I think about it, the more I realise she isn’t. There is a plan here. It’s badly calculated, but it’s a plan nonetheless.
My prediction? This doesn’t take rocket science. Nonhle Thema is going to have another reality TV show. I suspect it won’t be on TV, it will be web-based reality TV. That’s what the Twitter outrage is all about. It is to attract attention to it before it launches.
It will probably be how she managed to stay tough and survive the hate she got on Twitter when her show Nonhle Goes to Hollywood was being panned online. It’s her revenge. It’s all part of the act. I would want to bet R20 with her, but I’m not rich like her, I need this R20.
- Follow Khaya on Twitter.
Send your comments to Khaya
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
We talk about what she is doing because we can’t believe she really is doing what she is doing on Twitter. At times we wish that she isn’t really tweeting the things she’s been saying.
Exhibit A: “im not playing.change is coming.no more humble poor girls on tv.its time for us to shine.....IM BORN A WINNER...” she wrote at 08:10 on June 19. Yes. That’s right. She said it. The first thing I thought of when I saw that tweet I said to myself, “I'm not sure whether Nonhle needs Chuck Norris or Jesus. Or both.”
First of all, we must acknowledge that she has done well for herself. Financially that is. She has made a lot of money as she has told us on the social network. I quote, “at 29 im worth 10 million bucks.lol.to all my haters.eat dust yall..” That’s a lot of money.
What lessons can we learn from this? Whatever this is because it doesn’t have a name yet.
1: Never believe your own hype.
I’m a firm believer in being your own biggest fan. As I say to my friends and I’ve said on Twitter, “Be your own biggest fan and critic.” The problem with believing your own hype is that you stop at fan, you never get to critic. When you are critical of yourself, you realise that you didn’t make yourself. Other people were involved in your success. Being critical of yourself is acknowledging that you can always improve.
2: You don’t have haters, just people who don’t agree with you.
In an effort to reinforce their own importance to themselves, many people insist on calling people who are critical haters. There is now no longer a distinction between fair criticism and hate. Some criticise because they are trying to help. Others because they want your attention. Others simply because they don’t like you. Learn to know who is who.
3: More often than not, we don't need saving from others, we need to be saved from ourselves. Many times people shoot off their mouths and ask Jesus to help them and save them from haters and evil mongers of the internet and real life evil mongers. (I think I just made up a phrase, “evil mongers”). The truth is, most of the time, we set our own path towards destruction. There is usually no one to blame but ourselves. In the words of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, Cassius says to Brutus, “The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
4: The more successful you are, the more humble you should become.
Arrogance is all the rage lately. Be loud and show how strong you are, how you can stand against those vile people who try to shout you down. The natural defence is to stand and shout and tell people how much better you are than they are. But when you have already made it and are successful, you don’t have to prove anything. Just be humble, your humility will propel you even further. Unfortunately, humility is not cool in 2011. It’s just not winning. Humility is not weakness. It’s strength.
5: You can't surround yourself with people who agree with you all the time, who cheer you when you should be humble.
You will have people who want to tell you, you are doing right when you are doing wrong, people who will insists on helping you believe you own hype, avoid these people because they want something from you. They won’t be there when you need them, when you lose yourself, when you lose everything. When you realise this, they will be gone and they will have taken everything. And the people you shunned because they were telling the truth will still be there.
6: It's important for people to have friends who can be real. When your friends are fans, you won't see the woods from the trees.
(Here is Nonhle’s Twitter Timeline. Amuse yourselves.)
I think Nonhle Goes Off on Twitter is a highly entertaining reality show. It is fun to watch. We all really enjoy it. Is she self-destructing? The more I think about it, the more I realise she isn’t. There is a plan here. It’s badly calculated, but it’s a plan nonetheless.
My prediction? This doesn’t take rocket science. Nonhle Thema is going to have another reality TV show. I suspect it won’t be on TV, it will be web-based reality TV. That’s what the Twitter outrage is all about. It is to attract attention to it before it launches.
It will probably be how she managed to stay tough and survive the hate she got on Twitter when her show Nonhle Goes to Hollywood was being panned online. It’s her revenge. It’s all part of the act. I would want to bet R20 with her, but I’m not rich like her, I need this R20.
- Follow Khaya on Twitter.
Send your comments to Khaya
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
