Nat Galarea Gbessagee wrote

Gentlemen,
What some of you guys are trying to deny? Why the personal attacks on Ms. Williams for writing what he has observed of Liberian men? Certainly, many of us might not be guilty of everything or guilty of anything on Ms. Williams' list, but can anyone of you gentlemen sincerely deny that you have never heard or seen people do some of the the things Ms. Williams has catalogued?
Indeed, gentlemen, we need to respect the opinions of our fellow men and women even where we disagreed with them. Ms. Williams didn't say that every Liberian man is guilty of the things he has listed, but generality is the best option in the kind of list Ms. Williams has produced since her interest might not be to point out specific instances in her own life or the lives of friends and relatives, but rather to bring to public attention that these kinds of behaviors exist among Liberian men, and that these behaviors are not helping to promote the kind of unity and family cohesion we all professed to want in Liberia. So what the personal insults gentlemen, when generality is the name of the game in everything that we do in this world.
For example, whenever we in Liberia make statements to the effect that the Americo-Liberians abused and marginalized the Natives for more than 100 years, we do not mean that every Americo-Liberian participated in such abuses, as evident by the roles of Albert Porte, G. Baccus Matthews, and Edwad Wilmot Blyden; when we say the Nimba people connived with Charles Taylor to destroy Liberia, we do not mean every Nimba person, as evident by the role of Kerper Dwanyan and others. Indeed, when we talked about the Krahn and Mandingos working as allies to prolong the civil war in Liberia, we do not mean every Krahn person or Mandingo person, as evident by theroles of by Sekou Damante and George Dweh. But all the statements and references to Americo-Liberians, Krahn people, Mandingo people, and Nimba people are true because scores of people from each of these ethnic groups did some of the things the groups were collectively accused of. Certainly, when we say the American people elected President Bush or the Liberian people elected President Sirleaf, we do not mean that every American or every Liberian voted for President Bush or President Sirleaf.
Indeed, in like manner as the examples in the last paragraph, Ms. Williams is right to use generalization to refer to the characteristics she has observed of Liberian men. In fact, Ms. Williams is a fair person because as a woman, she started with the characteristics of Liberian women first before venturing into the characteristics of Liberian men, so why the insults on her gentlemen? What did Ms. Williams do that is different from the generalizations many of us make everyday about Natives, Americo-Liberians, education, culture, Christianity, sports, development, and other local practices in Liberia? For instance, are we not generalizing when you we call fellow Liberians who can speak, read, and write in some of the local languages of Liberia "illiterates" because they didn't go to western schools? Are we not generalizing when we talk loosely about "qualification," "competence," and "leadership ability" of people in Liberia based on the notion that some of these people do not have college degree or have not worked in government before? So why and how come one of you have the audacity to state that "generalization is bad"? And you think you now know enough to abuse Ms. Williams for expressing her opinion about Liberian people? Can you gentlemen point to any of the characteristics of Liberian men as listed by Ms. Williams that you find to be untrue or you are still in denial? Moreover, can you explain what Liberian men mean by "every dirty water put off fire" if you think the characteristics Ms. Williams has listed are not true?
Look, gentlemen, this is a public forum for the frank exchange of idea and those of you who cannot accept to face the truth should simply hold your peace and refrain from insulting others for their ideas. After all, no one stopped you gentlemen from writing about the good characteristics of Liberian men, so why insult Ms. Williams for writing about the negative characteristics of Liberian men? In fact, I think many of you don't even bother to observe the pattern of writing of people on this listserv because you want to make judgments of others without the basic facts. For me, I have followed Ms. Williams' writing, and her strategy in this specific case has been to point out the negatives and positives of Liberian men and women. She first wrote about the negative characteristics of Liberian women, followed by the positive characteristics of Liberian women. Hence, I believe she is doing the same thing with respect to the negative and positive characteristics of Liberian men. So gentlemen, sit back and relax and listen to what Ms. Williams has to offer and stop your attacks on her!

Nat Galarea Gbessagee
11/17/07
P.S. I am a Liberian man and I agree with everything Ms. Williams said about Liberian men. Now, do I fit into every characteristic profile she has presented of Liberian men? NO. But I am guilty of some of the characteristics she has mentioned? Yes. And do I know some Liberian men who are guilty of almost every item on Ms. Williams' list? Yes. And so do all of you gentlemen!
Nat Galarea Gbessagee