A person types on a computer. These days
outspoken Tanzanians with social media outlets can get hounded by
demented statements clearly crafted as a form of psychological
terrorism. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
One cannot write about Black Lives Matter and its significance to humanity without expecting some backlash.
I got a missive recently that was redolent of white privilege, outrage, condescension and ignorance that I plan on framing, having earned such high praise. If you’re not making someone furious, you are not hitting some hard truths.
The incident made me think of
my elder who recently read a few statements on the Internet about
Jenerali Ulimwengu written by trolls and widely spread. She concluded
that social media is a seething pit of evil curses and has decided never
to venture there again. I understand. Despite the Indian Ocean being so
mild, I cannot swim in it or any other because the few times I tried
there have been riptides, near-drownings and a poisonous sea-snake
involved. Introductions are everything.
These
days outspoken Tanzanians with social media outlets can get hounded by
demented statements clearly crafted as a form of psychological
terrorism. Public discourse is being infiltrated. Conversations get
derailed by an emphasis on being “right,” rather than correct, words are
turned into weapons, cruelty reigns, all our prejudices and privilege,
fear and ugliness encouraged. I love a good argument as much as you do,
and science has totally proved that swearing is therapeutic, a skill and
a sign of intelligence.
Without interaction and
communication, the human experience is possibly not ‘human’ at all.
Conversation, in whatever form it takes, is a must.
As
such, what happens to us when we lose the civility in our public
conversation? Observing the rise of uncivil, weaponised discourse in
Tanzania online these past few years made me realise why it is so
discouraged here: it defiles the person offering it as much as polluting
the environment in which it exists.
Back in the blogging days I had one condition for
leaving the comments section open: No Ugly Insults Allowed, Only Elegant
Ones Please. Receiving emails from supportive readers keeps me going,
receiving emails from angry readers keeps me challenged and offers rare
opportunities to engage in some hopefully elegant insulting. Cathartic,
and an intellectual exercise, but also useful.
I
am hoping for Tanzania in particular and for East Africa in general,
that we will shake ourselves out of this strange stupor and remember our
manners.
We have always been civil people, even
at our very worst, and the argument could be made that going back to
that will be cathartic and constructive.
We’re
going into elections, we’re going to have a lot to disagree about and I
am hoping we will remember that gathering under the tree in the centre
of the village is and always be part of our practice of democracy. If
you wouldn’t break wind there or defecate a statement, why do it online?
Elsie Eyakuze is a consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report: E-mail: elsieeyakuze@gmail.com
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