It is a Good Friday. For the first time in many weeks I have decided to force myself to write a full length Richie Online article have written and deleted a lot of half-length articles between the last time I wrote and now.
A lot has
been happening since the last time I wrote. I could talk about many things to
drive the point of this article home but I will choose to dwell on two events.
Stay with me.
On February
24, Vladmir Putin, the leader of Russia announced that the Russian military was
going to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine, leading to a full
blown invasion which has led to the loss of over 1700 lives. When the war
started, there were a lot of opinions flying around in the social media with
some people blaming the Ukrainian president for the escalation. Inevitably,
some sided with Ukraine and called Putin all sorts of names for starting a war
in Ukraine. Some put up Ukrainian flags and Vladmir Putin to openly show their allegiances
in the war. Others went on to write long essays on why they supported which
side although I must admit that most of these narratives left a lot to be
desired. I will leave it at that.
Then came
March 27. People who were watching the 94th Academy awards were left
in an awkward situation when the unimaginable happened. Will Smith, who was
attending the ceremony got out his seat, stormed the stage and slapped comedian
Chris Rock who was about to present an award at the ceremony. The reason? Chris
had cracked a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith’s bald head. The
husband who had appeared to be initially laughing at the joke later went
violent, assaulted the comedian before returning to his seat and telling him to
keep his wife’s name out of his mouth. Interesting stuff.
When this
assault happened, social media was again divided into two. Some thought that Will
Smith did the right thing. The wise humans in this camp argued that as a man he
was responsible for protecting his spouse, a point which Jada later argued
against by saying she is not the kind of woman that needs to be protected.
Others went on to say that comedians need to be held responsible for what they
say on the stage and that Will was right to make that statement with the slap.
Others argued that this was comedy and should have been treated as such. And
then there were points for the protection of comedians and what have you. The
argument raged on until the next scandal made us forget that Will Smith had slapped
someone on stage at the Oscars.
There we
are then. Two issues that are very different but attracted a similar pattern of
reactions in the social media. Both issues divided opinions and one could have
picked a side and raised some somewhat objective points on why they picked
whoever they were supporting in the frenzy. People got into heated arguments to
the extent of ruining friendships and interactions with others in their arguments
on these issues. I stand with Ukraine. I stand with Putin. I stand with Chris Rock.
I stand with Will Smith. These were the things people typed while at Chigoneka,
which I do not have any issues with, by the way. The issue I have is the
thought process that led to the conclusions, in those who cared to share.
For
starters, some of the people who took sides in these issues failed to
acknowledge the possibility of their side playing a part in the unfortunate
situation that followed. If you think about the Russo-Ukrainian war and the
history of the two countries, there is a lot that has been going on. For you to
understand what is going on that side, the base minimum you can do is to read
up on what is going on that side since 2014 although this goes further back in
history. When you look deeper, you will notice that the conflict is not just
about Putin and Zelensky or Ukraine and Russia. There are a lot of factors at
play which some either have not bothered to check with or have chosen to
deliberately ignore in their thought process. The slap issue? People have
chosen to ignore the concept of comedy, the health issues entangled in the
joke, the implications of violence in public and all sorts of things in their
arguments. All I am saying is that these issues are complex and one needs to be
careful before picking a side. It is okay to pick no side in the same way it is
okay to condemn both.
Then there
is the issue of the pathological urge to pick a side. In as much as the war in
Ukraine will somewhat affect everyone on this rock, I personally understand why
someone in Kabwe, Zambia should be emotionally invested in convincing the other
that Putin is a friend of Africa based on some history post he read on Facebook
or that NATO are doing Ukraine favors based on what they saw on CNN. I think we
could do better with our time and energy, because these are things that do not
concern us and have not direct implications on our lives. The slap? Not even
close to us. While we may be in the aliyense azipanga zomwe zamusangalatsa
season and while we may love to intellectually dissect issues, I think we may
be better off spending our time talking about issues closer to home. Maganizo
anga, eti?
I would
like to talk about arguing from a point of information and not from ignorance.
We live in a complex century which some have dubbed as the “Information Age”.
Whoever controls the information roaming around controls the world, to an
extent and as such it is important to understand what is going on from a
neutral perspective before picking a side in anything. It is important to note
the biases that media outlets and other sources of information have. For those
who like international news, I can give the obvious example of the CNN and FOX
News. When you watch the two channels, you will notice that they report the
same stories from different perspectives with one favoring Democrats and the
other Republicans. Everything from the reporting style, selection of
discussants and interviewees and other things is done along party affiliation
lines. The same is the pattern when you look at other news channels which also
pedal nationalist agendas. This is important because when you look at the news
from whichever source, you need to sieve out the information and discard the
propaganda. This, unfortunately is a skill that is lacking in many in a world
where click-bait journalism is taking root.
I could
write on, but in summary here is the issue. A lot of things will happen in this
world but we will need to pick which ones we need to be emotionally invested
in, because not all of them are worth it. Sometimes it is ok to not pick a side
and to be silent about issues. It saves a lot of energy and time. For the times
that we feel that urge to chip in, I recommend doing some research to avoid
exposing your ignorance voluntarily. lastly, some issues are complex. Although it may seem like there are two sides at play, there may be multiple factors influencing what we are seeing in the media or wherever else. Some things are never in black and white but in numerous hues of grey. We need to understand that it is okay to not pick a side or to stand with anyone when things do not directly concern us.
Have a
blessed Good Friday.
