“Look, I think we should sit down and talk about all what is going on. There is so much to talk about.” Yes there is indeed so much to talk about! Isn’t that nice! I mean someone coming out and suggesting a few of you discuss things isn’t something you hear frequently. Why? Well at the risk of slipping somewhere down the road I’d say because we are scared of real discussions! How about that! (Thanks for having saved me from slipping and hitting the ground.) Incidentally a couple of recent ‘breaking’ social media stories come to mind when I use the term, ‘at the risk of…’
One is a veteran of the social media known to many as a reserved soft speaking individual. If he had his detractors, and he has many, it is not about how he presents his arguments but about the contents of the arguments themselves which deal about, what else, politics. A week and some days back he uses the term “… at the risk of angering many…’and then you know what he does? He tells his audience that he was for gay rights and supports same sex marriage arguing if two people loved each other it was their decision or something like that. He said he even voted so some thirteen or so years back. Having lived abroad for so long for some his comments wouldn’t have made it anywhere to any breaking news.
Look ours is still a very conservative society where people are serious about their cultures and religious beliefs and have drawn the lines not to be crossed. Thus, when anyone goes astray all hell breaks loose. Especially when there are issues no one is ready to talk about the reactions are passionate irrespective of age, gender, or religious affiliations. The anger the person ‘risked’ was so emotional and red-hot in some ways you feel sorry for him for having miscalculated to the point of being taken as some sort of a pariah! One thing is sure, his target being the Ethiopian audience he should have taken time to dig deeper into his decision to go public. As we said him being a well-recognized public figure he should have been the first to know that every word he says and every gesture he makes would fall under scrutiny. This is not about blaming him; this about being socially responsible in tomes when society seems to be torn from all sides by a thousand and one issues. Of course, he finally apologized for his actions and for angering so many of his country folk and largely, if not totally, people seem to have been convinced enough to let the issue rest.
Then there was the story of this young youtuber with more than a million subscribers. In fact when it comes to local news on line no other youtube channel seems to have anywhere close to his million-plus subscribers. That indeed tells a story or two about this young man. Recently I think he flies across the Atlantic and he wanted to share some of his experiences with his followers. Most of us would have done exactly that, tell a few of our adventures if not all on them in some foreign land. Now this being a very sensitive age we’re in contents matter. Things you might have brushed aside as insignificant some years back are no more trivial. What you thought would cause a laugh or two or prompt the smiles in otherwise stern faces might backfire. That seems what happened to this young man.
The story is that he goes into small shop sort of place and comes out with some burger and surprise, surprise, it was some burger which broke the floodgates and the young man was in form an outpouring of genuine denunciations and the usual social media nasty stuff.
(“What! Don’t tell me you people are now bickering over some burger thousands of kilometers away!”
“Well, sort of!”).
According to the narratives the burgers were not any other burgers. They are named after Satan! That, indeed, is news! I’ve to admit that I’ve never heard of such a thing; Satan Burger! That’s crazy! No it isn’t this young man tries to make small potatoes out of the issue and in fact munches on the burger all the time jovial and playful! The avalanche of ‘genuine’ condemnations, curses and the usual social media four-lettered abuses were so intense you’d think the young man would just disappear. Well later he came out and apologized for his actions.
Then there was this story of some poem which really plunged the social media into some tsunami where passions spilled over. A lady who supposedly is a success business lady engaged in the agricultural sector reads a poem by a popular writer in commemoration of Father’s Day. It was a spiral that involved her, the poet and even her mother and others. Somehow the poem is blamed for eulogizing Lucifer and her reading it put her and the poet in the firing line. Let alone the social media crowd even her mother didn’t have enough nice words for her. There were calls for her to apologize but it seems she is having none of that; not yet, anyway.
One thing we miss is that still most of us don’t have about the minute details of the burger and the whole story behind it. It would have been good if someone gave us some rundown so that there is no misunderstanding. Of course those who argue, “It’s none of our business talking about burgers in other lands!” have their points. For some it might even sound as luxury talking about such things.
We’re not in a society where there are thousands of researches at any given time on various timely and crucial issues. So we don’t have much researched and believable material to support our ideas with. “Look, a few months back a research was made at the…” No, we aren’t that lucky; not yet at least. So the only alternative is speculating. That, dear readers, is the one thing that anyone is accused of since ‘speculation’ has become some common ground for most of us.
I think that most of the uproars on social media or elsewhere are caused largely because of incomplete stories or lack of heart to heart discuses before jumping into conclusions!
Case closed!
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 9 JULY 2023