It would be stating the obvious to say that whatever finds its way into
Nigeria is often misused,misapplied,bastardized or simply put used to
create unnecessary commotion and confusion. For today my subject matter
is the social media.
Stories abound of how the yahoo mail and the likes
became a channel through which 'intelligent' Nigerians conned
unsuspecting and some times greedy foreigners. The yahoo messenger also
became a platform for seeking foreign lovers who were believed to have
excess money to spend on their African lovers. Fast forward to the era of twitter and Facebook etc.
Nigerians have characteristically turned this platforms to their
'personal properties' and that of their sometimes confused attention
seeking followers and friends, with each faction claiming to be the
master of the play ground.
It is a common thing to find government 'kids' trying desperately to
convince/confuse their followers and friends that the social media
should at all times be used for praise singing- to outline the
achievements of their bosses while urging others to show their complete
loyalty('mu-mu-ness') to the government(from which they feed fat) no
matter how poorly the government has performed. The opposition 'babies' on the other hand cry fowl at all
times,insulting all those who differ in ideology and understanding
whilst preaching to their relevance seeking followers that the easiest
way to be a lord of the social media is to attack,curse and abuse all
those in government at the same time discrediting all policies and
activities of government( no matter how genuine the intentions are).
This group is also made up of a special category of persons who four
years ago or less were also government kids,stole enough to the
detriment of the same followers they today confuse. This group make so
much noise believing it would take them to the side of the table they
are used to eating from-- after all noise making has worked for others
in the past and present.
One major similarity between this two groups is they both give but
cannot receive. Both groups feed their followers with lies for personal
or political gains which the 'vol-trons' are more often than not too
sentimental and emotional attached to see or decipher. Anyone who points out a lie ,deceit or
false claim is seen as an enemy or friend of the 'opposition'. One thing
they all fail to realize is that the social media is a platform for all
and sundry to bare their minds no matter what his/her neighbor thinks.
If you are smart enough to read the 'rubbish' a person writes you
should be smarter to accept it as an opinion of the individual to which
he/she is exclusively entitled. Cursing and abusing those on the other
side only goes to show ones feeble mindedness,further exposing the
myopic nature of the government kids and the oppressive nature of the
opposition babies- who might tomorrow become government babies. Though the importance of the
social media cannot be over emphasized, ours have become a war zone
where you either agree with me or shut up- I don't give a damn about
your freedom of speech nor association.
The writer is on
twitter(@EnenimUbon).
