Zimpapers Logo

Social media has created a new man who survives on validation to the point that even his meal is viewing content for their network of friends

Leroy Dzenga Correspondent

The time is nigh for Africans to redefine their existential methodology, taking the positives from the outside world, but maintaining their pride in identity which has made the continent distinct.

Going through international news channels one has a high chance of coming across some “Breaking News” especially on attacks somewhere across the face of mother earth.

Europe, the Middle East and West Africa have, of late, become the recipients of these absurd threats to life.

My theory is that the new post millennium era has been characterised by a deep moral denudation which has seen individuals detach themselves from their conscience.

Someone on the other side of the screen might say morality has never been legal tender in the so-called progressed societies, I say that is a topic for another day.

The unfortunate phenomenon is omnipresent across the globe and Zimbabwe is no exception.

However, closer to home, our predicament is in a different format.

We may not have terror threats on our doorstep, but 325 reported rape cases every month is a societal cancer of equal proportion.

This is the same country that has seen the rise of an unheard animal called a “female rapist”.

Surely our value system is now nothing, but a faint line in the gloomy sky where safety is no longer guaranteed even among the men of “cloth”.

Pastors and uniformed law enforcement agents have also hogged the headlines for the wrong reasons, chief among them duping and taking advantage of those who usually take refuge in their presence.

The finger is not pointing to them in isolation.

The porous moral fabric is overlying over everyone’s heads with just a distinct few who can be struck off the list.

The main cause of all these social ills the world is faced with is the spirit of individualism which the consumerist world has cultivated in us.

One of the key tenets of capitalism is that there is an unregulated behaviour of corporate entities which are only bound by forces of supply and demand.

That same behaviour has translated to human interaction with lawlessness becoming a mammalian trait.

People have become more concerned about lining their pockets than the well-being of their cohabitants.

This is because the main goals in life have been reduced to owning the latest technological gadgets and German precision automobiles.

Motivated by the need to outwit the rest in owning the best of goods, human actions are now subject to.

To get a full comprehension of the predicament at hand, the crimes and courts section in any newspaper are a good point of reference.

Another contributing factor is the self-aggrandisement element brought through social media.

Social media has created a new man who survives on validation to the point that even his meal is viewing content for their network of friends.

Consequently, competition is birthed on these platforms creating unnecessary pressure on participating beings to flaunt the most glittering gadgets and appealing lifestyles.

Unfortunately, the means in some instances do not match with the desire and our people end up being forced to leap beyond their financial elasticity.

I never thought I will be alive to see an African society glorifying commercialised infidelity, the “Blesser” phenomenon was an all-time low in our moral standings.

So much for the Internet and its normalising element.

The rot has not spared any section of the demographic, age was once a sign of sagacity and societal maturity with the elderly being seen as harmonic citizens.

Sadly, the case has since changed.

An elderly man of means had to be thrown behind bars for 14 years after victimising his niece.

Traditionally, the niece would rush to the uncle to seek counsel on challenges encountered.

Now if the same person who is supposed to provide guidance has to be incarcerated to save those in need of guidance, our value system becomes utterly confusing.

The time is nigh for Africans to redefine their existential methodology, taking the positives from the outside world, but maintaining their pride in identity which has made the continent distinct.

While the diffusion of innovation is inevitable, ideas should be absorbed with restrain.

There is need to remember that the global village might be existent, but the actors in it are standing on unequal terrain.

The agendas of those in this aggregated grouping are assorted, some appearing to be sinister.

In existence are trends which are passed to facilitate our self-destruction.

We cannot be importing all elements lest our viewpoints are diluted beyond recognition.

However, it is important to remember that some of the thorns in our humanism are purely home-grown.

The world is becoming an open system where people are governed only by the fear of death, some even exhibiting stubbornness towards mortality.

In this give or take environment Africa needs to reconfigure herself to see if she can go back to the golden days where a sense of family was visible across the land.