If you are looking for balanced and rational arguments, the last place you want to check is social media. These platforms are notorious for rewarding sensationalism, gotchas, clapbacks, and ad hominem salvos. It doesn’t matter if you grant the argument of the other side or steel man your opponent’s position because you are trying to be intellectually honest, all that nuance doesn’t mean a thing if the goal of your interlocutor is to ridicule.
Because algorithms are built on a model that monetises virality, the sadist instinct to ridicule has become more incentivised. On social media, if it shames, it flames; if it humiliates, it circulates. If you are a celebrity or someone who opines online, you have to make peace with the fact that faceless accounts will not be charitable in their interpretation of what you say or do. You either damn the consequences or you maintain a low profile. But even if you do your best to maintain a low profile, trouble may decide to flirt with you though you never set out to court it.
For days on end, Kunle Afolayan, veteran actor and producer, faced the ire and opprobium of disingenuous social media trolls over a clip of him complaining about the comedic and sensational culture of movie promotion in Nollywood. Citing Funke Akindele and her ilk as an example, he says he doesn’t know where they get the energy to make countless skits when promoting their new releases. He doesn’t want to have to dance to promote his movies. Little did he know he had committed blasphemy by mentioning Funke Akindele. The dragging started the moment the clip began to circulate. Funke’s fans began to impugn his character, accuse him of jealousy, and even discredit his filmography.
Funke Akindele has maintained a streak of box office success for a while now. Every time she releases a new project, it breaks her previous record. But behind these record-smashing successes lie a culture of algorithmic buffoonery that is required for promotion. This is not to take anything away from the appeal of her movies. From a free market perspective, more than anybody in the industry, she understands what Nigerians want to watch and she does a good job of giving them.
She released Jenifa as a two-part instalment some 15 years ago. Jenifa pioneered a new genre of comedy that employs linguistic absurdity. The franchise was so successful that she did a TV spinoff that lasted multiple seasons. The Jenifa schtick would later serve as a template for skit makers like FalzTheBadGuy. Even streamers like Peller have taken a page from that playbook. It would be disingenuous to deny that Funke has had a huge impact on the culture, for better or worse.
Given her towering achievements in the industry, cinema lovers deify her as the box office goddess. They could care less if she has to dance or debase herself to promote her movies. The results speak for themselves. It doesn’t matter how measured or balanced you are; you will be excoriated by cinephiles if you say anything they perceive as critical of her, especially if you are a fellow actor or producer. They may tell you to go market your movies the way you deem fit if you have a problem with promotional skit-making and dancing. Or they impugn your motives as being jealous because you are not as successful as her. Instead of addressing the points raised, social media users would rather insult.
A travel YouTuber, Steve Ndukwu, got excoriated a few days ago for exposing the fraud in Voodoo practice in the Republic of Benin. Contrary to the belief that Voodoo masquerades are not humans cloaked in colourful costumes, Steve’s drone footage shows where these scammers secretly put on their props before coming out to perform as masquerades. This exposé rubbed social media users the wrong way. He was accused of being insensitive and disrespectful of the culture of a country that had welcomed him. It would be poetic justice if other African countries deny him visa because of this act of disrespect, they say. He was called every unprintable name in the book. Apparently, it’s perfectly fine to be fraudulent and fool people as long as it is done in the name of culture. I found it risible that Steve was the problem, not the fraudsters who present themselves as mythical beings from the spiritual world.
Nigerians don’t know how to argue. As a writer and content creator, I’ve had my fair share of commenters accusing me of several things. I recently made a video on how Ibrahim Traoré has appointed family members and cronies in key positions in government. By being nepotistic in his appointments, I explained that we might be looking at the rise of another Dictator perpetuo. I added that having a strong anti-Western position does not automatically translate into competence. Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe frequently excoriated the West in their rhetoric, but they were terrible leaders. But I am also not dogmatic about democracy being a necessary precondition for economic progress, I added. A balanced view, so I thought. Only for me to get accused of being paid. I was told to shut up about my mixed feelings about Traoré. No one made any attempt at deconstructing my position to show why they thought I was wrong.
Being trolled comes with the territory. There will always be bad-faith actors who intentionally misconstrue what you say or engage in bad belle ad hominem attacks (accusations of hating someone for being successful). But there should be a healthy counterweight of constructive critics who puncture holes in your arguments, not on your person. Discourse becomes impossible when your motives get impugned and you now have to defend your character.
This silliness also manifests in political discourse. Try writing a constructive critique of the OBIdient movement and watch them come at you with pitchforks. If you acknowledge Tinubu for doing anything good, you get accused of being paid or you get questioned on why you are not talking about XYZ instead. It doesn’t matter that you are factual or logical, social media is too manichean and toxic for any of that. I got a dose of that last year for sharing my thoughts on the then tax reform bill. A balanced position, so I thought. But I got a number of comments accusing me of getting paid.
I think we need to teach more philosophy in our schools. From secondary schools, if I may suggest. We need to teach logic and argumentation. The farcical nature of online discourse is proof that education is not a scam. Ironically, we are wont to sloganize school na scam. We should be able to disagree without the insults and personal attacks. But with the additional incentive of monetisation, it’s probably a pipe dream to expect sanity on social media anytime soon.
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