Of Superstition and Rubbish

Ignore the above picture for now and let’s talk about something…

“A malicious mind can plant a lie and watch it grow viral in minutes. Such is the power of the new media” – Tade Ipadeola

I have been racking my head lately on how these numerous weblinks called the internet could bring together a mass of people without congestion. I have also been trying to appreciate its significances in our lives, placing it side by side with other of its numerous evils and see how they could individually be measured out. Certainly, the new media is now a new language disdaining our borders and cultural divergence. Just when you think something is new and chic, other newer events speedily drab it into out-datedness. Such is the smartness of the new media. We move; we post; we laugh; we text; we tweet and watch videos almost simultaneously, multitasking ourselves.

When we talk about this new media, let’s also factor in the phone. The phone technology is making history with this innovation too. At times, you cannot just pinpoint which is driving which; the Internet or the mobile gadgets. Our phones indeed are no more what they used to be. They have become major platforms keeping us on the go with the new media. With the streamlining of our lives into the virtual, it would now seem we have also hauled our greases and grimes onto it. This is really interesting if you ask me. How? Well, that means our use of the internet now goes on to show previews of what our physical lives are – an extension of our real lives; with the rubbish and the irrational.

Are you still with me on this? Okay.

I am doing this short post not to cast sarcasm at the superstitions being broadcast and spread with the wings of this media. My two friends have done that here and here. I would just write a few things about them and hopefully believe my phone and fb wall would be rescued from the incessant attacks they have been under in recent days. It is now a fashion that people rebroadcast public panic that claim to show the love of the sender to one. You should be familiar with this. Have you ever received a message on your phone or on any of your social accounts; telling you to spread some God’s news to ten people and receive His blessings? You certainly should have. The message does not stop there. If it does, it will indeed not have been anything near disturbing. It will simply go on to detail the repercussion of not forwarding such message. The last I received of such was from a friend. This particular one gave me the options to be saved from Hell Fire if I forward it to all my friends or become deaf if I refuse to. That was indeed taking it too far. I called the friend, informed her of my displeasure and flayed her when she insisted on the truthfulness of the message. Haba, why are we a people so given to believing anything speaking religion and protection???

There I am.. in red

Phew… And when I thought the drama had climaxed, some few weeks ago, while I was trying to reply comments on this blog, another came in again. It whimsically forewarned me not to put on anything red on a particular day in order to save myself (my blood actually) from becoming a sacrifice in the redemption of Nigeria. That really turned out to be a comedy of some inane sort; as the message came on the very day it advised against. And I was already in red. Lol. However, Adunni said “if this is what it will take to redeem Nigeria…, then let’s do it cheerfully”. Anyway, let’s leave that for now, it is subjective considering how our past heroes have always been messily treated. I don’t want to join the list.

Following that, there was another insane one, a-cosmic-atomic-waves related panic. The message asked we switched our phones off at a particular time to avoid losing the phones to cosmic-atomic-waves. That really had me jerking in convulsive mirth as my phone got the message one hour past the time. To prove its credibility, it went further to cite BBC as its source. Chai! If only the composer of the message knew I had BBC as my computer’s homepage.

Let’s get back to the first post-picture now and consider the irony of it all. That sight certainly shouldn't be unusual if you stay around here. What actually interests one is to see the opposite of what it denounces sitting together with it. One thing this questions is the extent some can go in employing the absurd to scare and make people act to their rules. That doesn’t do it. If you have an opinion, don’t create public scare to make people believe in it, explain why they should.

NaijaStories has just released a Dana Anthology to memorialise the victims of the Dana plane crash. That is one fine message to pass across. If you are looking for a broadcast to forward, kindly inform your entire contacts-list to download this anthology and preserve the memories of those hurriedly taken away from us. That is a noble broadcast to make viral, not the heaven-promising-red-avoiding rubbish!!!