Nigeria: Give way on Twitter too

Quite irked, I really was

The greatest danger in having a torrent of opinions is it begins to erode the banks of moderation and flood the plains with controversy.
— Akin Akíntáyọ̀ (@forakin) September 25, 2013

I posted the above tweet yesterday as I tried to contain my anger in dismay of some views expressed on Twitter.

There is nothing wrong with having opinions on many topics, in some cases, that person might well be a polymath, and we need the engagement of such brains on the diversity of issues that crowd the Nigerian discourse on Twitter.

Where I have issues is when opinions consistently offered unchallenged become a burdensome and unconscious form of hubris breeding intellectual arrogance causing disabling ignorance as Peter Drucker the legendary management consultant once said.

Give space for others

Sadly, when people occupy the opinion space so commandingly, we lose the input of the less articulate, but more knowledgeable leaving all of us the poorer for it at first and then allowing for the propagation of error and falsehoods that seriously needs debunking.

Even I have been reticent to enter into some scraps because it can both be laborious and energy-sapping, besides it descending into a shouting match, though I do my best to avoid that and settle for agreeing to disagree, moving on soon after that.

My tweet used the analogy of a torrent as in that of fast-moving body of water, possibly a river, and the banks being the ability to allow in interaction and discourse with the plains being the wider audience that might read the stuff, flawed as it might be.

Espouse good engagement

We all in terms of what we know, what we embrace, what we tolerate and how our patience is exercised, have a solemn duty of sorts to call out those who with their views upset the community of fellowship and the equanimity we espouse.

The simple advice I find myself wanting to give is, if you are prone to the verbal diarrhoea, find a private convenience with a huge water closet to do your thing, and when you leave, a finger depressing the air freshener for a minute would give others the opportunity to use the facility soon after you.

Thank you.