Shouldn't we all be locked in the filthiest police stations......

Source: Standard Media

Eight members of parliament had their day in court  where they were charged with incitement to violence. The eight had been languishing in police cells since Tuesday when the magistrate ordered that they be incarcerated pending completion of investigations into their case by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

As I reflect about the plight of the six, a question that keeps coming to my mind is aren’t we all haters? Shouldn’t all of us have our day in court? Shouldn’t all of us be locked in the filthiest of police cells so as to reflect on the amount of hate that we spew whether online or socially?

While the eight may have been open in their alleged divisive rhetoric, a good number of us are closet tribalists (I borrow the term from Miguna Miguna’s Peeling off the Mask). We hate, divide people send signals of hate, we polarise, we just do anything that would justify our hate of other people but hiding under the freedom of expression and other constitutional clauses.

 Just take a look at the social media and you will understand what I am talking about.  The politicians who are the haters in chief have mobilised online armies that are more of rabid attack dogs. The armies consist of half-baked communication professionals purporting to be communication strategists and citizen journalists who have no clue what impact their hateful content can do. These armies attack with ferocity. They churn hash tags like mills. They spin stories in blogs to justify their conscription into the army.

We cheer politicians when they hate and spread malice about other people. We hate and hate some more. When we vote, we vote with our hearts because our heads have become dysfunctional, we can’t reason and we can’t see sense.

As a nation, we purport to want address the issue of tribalism and hate and even form organisations to address the same.  But no sooner are the organisations formed than we steal the carpet of reputation from them. Without reputation any organisation is a shell.

Ask Hon Francis Kaparo, he of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and he will tell you the reputation gap in his organisation is as wide as the ridge between Ngugi wa Thiong’o Makuyu and Kameno hills. In fact the perception out there is that the organisation is a toothless bulldog where political cronies are rewarded.

What then should we do?

I honestly don’t think that I have an answer. However, this country needs a serious, sombre and thoughtful reflection about what and where hate is taking us. 

Can’t we have politics without hate? Wouldn’t political addresses and discourses make sense without hate? Can’t we do hashtags without polarising the country? Can’t we just be mature enough to take responsibility of guiding and guarding our nation and know that we can survive without hate? 

Can’t we…?

Can’t we….?