We read Chinua Achebe‘s Things Fall Apart as a foil to The Heart Of Darkness in college. But the name of Achebe’s novel has become highly prophetic especially as a testimony to the times we live in.
The way I see it, the horrific incident in 2012 December just opened the floodgates for the reportage of the kind of bestiality that exists in our society today. And it seems that the beasts are always trying to one up each other in their sadistic turn of mind by inflicting the most unimaginable torture, assault on people; women especially.
And while for the most part we seem to have a citizenry who is outraged by the shocking turn of events, we also seem to have social commentators, politicians and people in a position of power and responsibility who either are content to play ostrich and turn a blind eye, downplay the events or merely give newsbytes on prime time t.v.
Social media platforms are very powerful. Whether people take to a particular status update or comment because it seems fashionable to do so or because it’s struck a chord with them; it allows for the proliferation of information. This is essential in getting to know the pulse of the people out there since it’s dynamic, real-time and reflective of their collective thought process.
What I find truly disturbing is that beyond ranting on Facebook, Twitter and blog posts and gathering for peaceful marches and prayer vigils, nothing really concrete has emerged since 2012 December.
Where the fast track court has managed to sentence the perpetrators of a crime that caught the world’s attention, the overall lawmaking and governance of a nation has failed to curb the tendency of people from acting out their barbaric fantasies or whims.
Which does point out to the seemingly obvious answer that people have devolved to baser state as time goes by and are inclined to act on cavemannish proclivities instead of letting the voice of reason, sanity and humanity impact them in any way at all.
Is this the dawn of the new Dark Ages? Truly a sad commentary about the times we live.
Random. Structured. Haphazard. All Me. 