Social media has gone crazy. I mean stark raving mad. It’s a sewer. What do we see there? Women displaying their ample posteriors and thin waists. Sometimes they bare it all, leaving nothing to the imagination. Men performing lewd and disgusting gigs. Folks spewing filthy epithets.
Their mothers should wash their mouths with soap. Restless youth using primitive and uncouth Artificial Intelligence-generated images to lampoon and shame their leaders and “enemies.” Then there’s TikTok, the app where anything goes. I am tempted to think that this, too, shall pass.
But today, I want to vent my anger on those who forcibly include others – willy nilly – into WhatsApp groups no matter how noble their purpose, or intent. Please cease and desist.
Kenya is a poor country by almost every global measure. I know Kenyans like to compare themselves with other African countries. They retreat behind something akin to an “African standard.” I don’t know of such a standard, and I refuse to accept one.
For example, a very close friend of mine jokingly referred to Nairobi as the “New York of Africa.” I laughed uproariously. We were about to land in one of Nairobi’s airports, and looking down, we saw Nairobi lights shining brightly in the night sky. Indeed, Nairobi is a well-lit capital compared to many African capitals. But that hardly makes it the “New York of Africa.” That’s measuring Africa by reference to others. It’s an implicit admission of Africa’s inferiority.
The story is told of an African statesman who was visiting Europe. His European host pulled him aside and showed him a map of the world at night. Europe was brightly lit while Africa was pitch black. The European asked the African what he saw. The African described the obvious. The European then remarked that Africa is the “Dark Continent.” He then wryly added that while Europe was asleep, Africa was busy working at night. Working in darkness, and fulfilling the Lord’s charge to “go ye forth and fill the earth.” I leave the rest to your prurient, but fertile, imagination. But the story of the contrast between Europe and Africa is one of development, not comparative standards.
What’s my point? Because we are impoverished as a people, we’ve succumbed to the philosophy of fatalism. That’s to say we’ve accepted our fate at the bottom rungs of society. As a result, we embrace self-humiliation and the degradation of each other as virtues. We have lost all sense of shame and ethics, especially on social media.
It’s OK to criticise leaders, obviously, because that’s the exercise of free speech. But not every free speech is laudable, ethical, or morally acceptable. Let me give you an example. You may disagree with your parents, but it would be an abomination to use AI to depict their genitalia on social media. It’s a form of protest, but an abominable one.
It’s this permissive, though most often legal, use of social media that’s caused collective madness in our society - not just in Kenya, but all over the planet. It’s so easy to type, click, and send. Usually, once you sent a message on social media, it’s difficult to “unsend” it. Even if you do, there will be an imprint somewhere, such as a screenshot. As they say, the Internet doesn’t forget. Any idiot with a phone can type, click, and send. They can throw all sorts of epithets against people they’ve never met using the anonymity of social media. This, to say the least, is the basest form of cowardice. Some fool somewhere in the basement can write anything about anybody.
This brings me back to the formation of WhatsApp groups at the drop of a hat. Look, I understand that because we are poor we need help in many facets of our life. But we shouldn’t make begging a form of life, a culture of life. I see many people forming all sorts of begging WhatsApp groups.
From raising school fees (a noble one), to supporting funerals (a questionable one), to launching self-aggrandising projects in the guise of charities only for the money to end up buying personal cars, or building houses in the village. How low can we go? We are doing all of this because it’s so easy to type, click, and send. If we had to pick up the phone and call folks to beg, we probably wouldn’t do it.
Personally, I am sick and tired of being included in extortionist WhatsApp groups. Whatever they are meant for, leave me out. For one, this practice exposes one’s personal contacts to total strangers without consent. If you, or your family, can’t afford an expensive burial, please don’t plan an expensive one to show off. Just hold a small ceremony with your loved ones and the pastor and put your person six feet under. They will be comfortable and won’t know whether their burial was simple.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X: @makaumutua.
