We have become a house of Babel where only the loudest get heard

Kenyans have not been talking to one another for some considerable period now, but apparently few have noticed the sad fact.

It is true there is a great deal of prattle and blather all around and quite a deal of bull being mistaken for sagacity, but in terms of real communication, the result is almost zero.

We have become a House of Babel in which the loudest and shrillest are the only ones who get heard.

The rest can only mumble helplessly as their voices are swallowed in the cacophony.

I am a late convert to the doctrine of the “National Conversation”.

Whenever I heard people, especially those in the Opposition call for dialogue, the image conjured was that of political and other leaders huddling around a table negotiating how to share the spoils.

LISTENING

Like many other people, I reasoned that all those folks wanted with their calls for inclusivity was just another chaotic grand coalition government in which one half of the players would complain incessantly about lack of consultation whenever a decision was taken.

But judging from the events of the recent past, it has become obvious that the reason we have not been communicating is that everyone wants his or her voice to be heard and no one wants to listen.

There can never be any sort of conversation if nobody is willing to listen.

What happens in such a situation is that players on the competing sides engage in shrill monologues, and as some sage said, two monologues do not a dialogue make.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Unfortunately, the negative effect of such standoffs brought about by mutual suspicion has trickled down to the rest of us; we have stopped thinking for ourselves and resorted to the brutal art of the insult as the only way to communicate.

The philosopher Plato described this art of miscommunication quite succinctly: “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

This adequately describes what is actually going on in social media – all over the world, not just in Kenya – and why people no longer see any need to talk to one another face to face.

Instead, they communicate through SMS, Facebook and Twitter chatter, and through blogs, which are certainly not the best way to hold an intelligent conversation.

POLITICIANS

When it comes to social media, it is common for those who cannot win an argument to resort to calumny, nasty personal attacks, and all sort of filth.

That is how low we have sunk and I blame our viciousness on the way political leaders behave.

Let me explain myself here: I deliberately refused to join any social media platform except Twitter because I cannot spend my waking hours waging vicarious wars using electronic gadgets.

In any case, what I’ve been seeing in that particular platform and through my email address is quite enough, thank you.

The only saving grace is that Twitter has allowed me to keep abreast of what is happening in the world, and in most cases, I learn what is going on with a delicious immediacy, long before it is in the papers or in news broadcasts. In that sense, it is very useful.

MALICIOUS
However, the very impunity with which the social media adepts go about their stuff is what puts off many people.

Recently, a chap who is celebrated as an indomitable fighter for human rights posted a message against a politician that was not only nasty but quite imbecilic.

It is not clear what the quarrel was about, but calling someone unmentionable names in the guise of exercising freedom of expression is just dumb.

Whether this freedom should not be taken as an affront to the sensibilities of other Twitter users is an issue that must be resolved one way or the other.

As one communication expert wrote, social media should not become “a veritable battleground where insults fly from the human quiver, damaging lives, destroying self-esteem and a person’s sense of self-worth”.

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Did I hear that US President Donald Trump wants to mount a military parade that will cost the country $30 million (approximately Sh3 trillion)?

That spectacle should send shivers coursing down the veins of all the anti-American rogue regimes in the world.

After all, Russia does it, China does it and even North Korea does it all the time. Why should the mighty US be left behind?

Magesha Ngwiri is a consultant editor. [email protected]