We are becoming a petty nation
Mmegi Editor | Wednesday August 3, 2016 15:58
We believed in the Setswana adage: ‘mmualebe o bua la gagwe’. That simply means that everybody has a right to a view, however divergent. But in this new era of social media, that has since changed. The young generation instead of leading the debate to take this country forward, is engaged in pettiness.
Social media bullying is a reality. Few countrymen and women are harassed on a daily basis by fellow citizens who hold a different view. If one dares to differ in a debate, he/she is labelled, harassed and insulted. Social media especially Facebook and Twitter are the grounds for vitriolic and defamatory comments about others without any slight provocation.
Nowadays it is either you are for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) or for the opposition. There is no fence seating in our body politic. Every conversation is politicised. This is a sign of bad things to come. We have allowed party politics to permeate all the aspects of our lives to the extent of sneaking in politics in every discussion.
Yes we agree with the philosopher Aristotle that everyman is born a political animal. We agree that politics influence our existence in this world but Aristotle did not have in mind the current reality in Botswana when he coined that phrase.
Yes, politicians hold too much power that they tend to control our existence with, but there is more to life than party politics. We cannot all be politicians.
Back to the issue of public debates in this country! We used to have seasoned debaters in the leader pages of newspapers. The debates were captivating and well informed and read. The media also played an important role in that aspect by encouraging contributors to send their letters to the editors.
That was before the advent of social media especially Facebook. Nowadays even leading thinkers do not influence the agenda in the country. They keep their thoughts to themselves.
Thought-leaders have since disappeared from the face of this earth. The university professors nowadays do not encourage public debates. They do not even research and publish in leading journals in the world.
Their space has been taken by idle minds on Facebook. Everybody with access to a smartphone is now a think-tank. Like we said above, it is either you belong to a certain school of thought or in an enemy camp.
This country is not progressing because of this type of pettiness. We have since become a petty nation. The media should change the status quo.
Today’s thought
“The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.”
- Christopher Lasch