By Ali Sabo
Human beings wherever they are and of whatever tribe, religion or race are organically expected to have compassion, to have sympathy and to be their brothers’ keepers before anything else. The primary responsibility of a human when calamity befalls his/her brother or even an animal is to help them by whatever means possible. Humans over the years are known to be their brothers’ keepers, humane and merciful towards one another. But with changing time however, the invention of new things and manipulation of religion have systematically eroded that sense of compassion and of empathy that humans have had – in fact – they have started losing their entire pool of conscience as a result of a drought orchestrated by preventable technological flip sides.
The coming of the internet and its multiple infestations have turned many a citizen into journalists with a self-accorded right of breaking news as they happen without any regard for established journalistic ethos. The thirst for breaking news by everyone has made people to lose their primary sense of responsibilities as humans. On many instances people were allowed to die or suffer undeserved infirmities simply because somebody wants to break the news of their death or suffering or misfortunes. To whom? To the imploding number of social media numbs who feast on news contents without interrogation or impeachment – a people who find it appropriate to find and share a content that will hurt others or reveal the failure of someone they don’t like. Many of the videos and pictures people are sharing on social media these days would have been of no relevance if they had acted as they were supposed to, but because they wanted to generate celebrity-like traffic on their timelines so that their names could be mentioned and celebrated or even deified, they resorted to the cynical manufacturing of bizarre news content with the damning proclivity to stir up violence and enmity among a people or perhaps just to earn the credit for breaking the news first. I have seen countless streams of videos and pictures where people were drowning, burning, or being stuck on vehicles but instead of the witnesses of such tragedies to save the victims they had resorted to recording the event with their mobile phones. Quite a disgusting attitude. Isn’t it?
What bunch of heartless beings are we turning to? From the little knowledge of both Christianity and Islam I have and the researches I have painstakingly made, I have come across many divine injunctions that are encouraging people to be of good character, help and love one another regardless of their faith. But humans in their cruel nature are defying what is written in their Holy Books just to be able to quench their horrible thirst for wickedness. I call it wickedness because it is only a wicked creature who have lost his touch of humanity that will resort to covering his fellow humans as they die while he had the golden opportunity to save their lives.
This issue of citizen journalism needs to be taken seriously by all concerned citizens over and above relevant authorities. Government needs to do something, by punishing anybody caught allowing others to die just because he wants to break the news of their death. Also, the society needs to discourage people from this moronic and imbecilic tendencies by avoiding, frowning and reporting those people to appropriate authorities for proper punishment. The fear of this evil practice and its attendant consequences is not only about us but more importantly it’s about the safety of the upcoming generations. If we allow things to continue this way, then the future would be scarier than the gloomy situation we are witnessing now. Our children need to be taught the values of humanity, morality, love and compassion.
May God save us from the evil within us.
Ali Sabo works with Centre for Information Technology and Development in Dutse, Jigawa State. You can reach him either through email: aliyuncee@gmail.com or his twitter handle @alygee124
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Sky Daily
