As they increasingly drip into politics, entertainment, sports, chieftaincy and other areas the enigma grows reports Gordon Offin-Amaniampong
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There are some videos/messages you see or read that break you down—you become emotional. There are some that inspire and move you to do extraordinary things. There are wow videos.
And there are others that seek to split your sides or crack your ribs or make you have belly laughs. That’s right you laugh till you drop flat on the ground!
The New Media is doing all of the above now—taking them to levels that make one wonders, what’s going to happen next. Question as to who’s doing what and how it’s going to be done often remains problematic.
In short, users have to deal with it anyhow. And do you think that’s hyperbolic?
Wait till you get swooned or someone gets the last laugh of you.
Fact is you absolutely have no clue, what you’re going to see/read the moment you switch your cell phone back on. It could be a prank message about the death of a loved one or a video made up to create panic and fear.
In recent times, we’ve read such news regarding the deaths of Her Majesty the Queen of England Elizabreth, boxing legend Mike Tyson, African billionaire Aliko Dangote and Ghana’s football maestro Abedi Ayew Pele and many more.
Suffice to say every hour generates something new, something eerie and sometimes one is bombarded with ‘Passco’ videos. ‘Passco’ is a term secondary school students in Ghana used back in the day. And it simply refers to past examination question (s).
Better translation something that’s outlived its usefulness or of no significance.
Indeed what users see/read every day on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp platforms are mind-blowing. Ordinary people are doing extraordinary things with their smart phones in every habitable place (s) on the planet— fusing humour into areas such as politics, entertainment, sports, relationships, religion etc.
Where does this trend take us to?
I have no idea. It’s a mixed bag. Sometimes the goods are good and other times they come in bad taste. There are absolutely no gatekeepers in this field. Someone wrote: “If you can’t watch them just ignore or delete them and stop whining.”
Over the past week or so my eyes had seen a lot and I have had my ears full.
I saw two clips posted on WhatsApp. Both videos had gone viral on social media. The first footage probably ten seconds had two main characters—Man and Snake.
And the other one had a man who appeared like a preacher or teacher feasting his audience’ ears with miracles and prophecy stories— admonishing Christians to be wary of latter day Prophets. And I must tell you I loved both videos to pieces.
They grabbed my attention; they tickled me from head to toe. And in the end I asked myself:
Is this not what life is all about?
Try and put a smile on your face, because when you smile the indwelt being gets excited.
It makes the day’s activity hold its sway and everything around you attracts that positive vibe. That’s my thought. I’m still beaming with smiles as I write…
Anyway, this is how the scene unfolds in video one, which I intend to dwell on: The man looks like a famer who’s either heading home or going to farm. From the scene, one can tell it’s a —typical backcountry setting, yet there’s a camera to capture what transpires.
I told you, you never know who’s doing what and where the message/video is going to come from.
As the farmer walks down the craggy dirt road, the second character (Snake) is snaking its way from the scrubland. They’re destined to cross path, but none has any idea—who, where, what, when, why and how that’s going to happen. Suddenly that moment brings itself.
And the laughter begins…
Instantaneously the man falls to the ground upon sighting the snake. It looks like a cobra. Cobras are naturally dangerous. That might’ve scared the crap out of him—spewing his heart into his mouth. In fright he drops a bucket of water rendering the ground slippery as he wobbles helplessly.
The cobra doesn’t get it easy too. The weight on him seems too heavy to bear, as he struggles to free himself from an imminent danger. Who can stand Man, the one fearfully and wonderfully made by the Most High?
A close look reveals, the man grabs the cobra lifts him high and the squirmy, slimy, sleazy guy falls like a meteor from the sky—from one end of the battleground to the other side of the road near the bush. The man he encountered runs away without looking back.
Happy ending no one is killed. All they left behind was hilarity!
So, the new media is capable of doing many things. And I pray people behind these rib-cracking videos will do more to inspire our politicians. It’s my hope also that they would minimize and if possible curtail these wild rumours which tend to put society on edge.
Preferable videos such as ‘the Generous Duck’ feeding the red fish would tremendously help.
How cool would it be if politics were devoid of insults, hatred, lies, fear, earth-shattering statements and clashes?
Of course social media have by far done more good for politicians than harm in the 21st century politics. The new media have put many politicians at the top rung of the political ladder.
Many of them today are tweeting, face-booking. They’re on WhatsApp and other networks engaging millions outside their geographical locations.
Some have successfully launched their campaigns to run public offices on these platforms.
Take 2016 democrat presidential nominee for example: When Hillary Clinton joined Twitter in 2013, major news outlets immediately rushed to publish stories about her Twitter account. The Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and Huffington Post treated the whole twitter story as breaking news.
Reporters Emma Axelrod and Amalia Perez believed; “\By joining Twitter, Clinton bolstered its legitimacy as a serious platform for political discourse.”
Clinton’s Twitter biography modestly declares that she is a “Wife, mom, lawyer, women and kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon,, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD…”
In short Clinton used Twitter to brand herself as humorous person as an appeal to young voters.
But it’s pretty hard to trust the players in this game. The irony is that they sit with their political opponents at pubs and taverns to quaff.
And thereafter mount on political platforms and spew hatred that tend to rile up their supporters to resort to clashes and skirmishes. They spread hatred, throw insults as if they’re hurling stones at birds and peddle lies that are potentially deadly to cause division and acrimony.
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