Whether we admit it or not, there is a fierce information warfare competing to take hold of the jello (our brain) measuring 5.5 x 6.5 x 3.6 inches (about ten tennis balls) sitting in our cranial cavity. It is daily being bombarded by laser beam of misinformation, exaggeration, mis-attribution, propaganda, innuendos, insinuations, deep fake and outright lies. The goal is to manipulate our perception and control our behavior spanning from what we eat, buy, wear, our belief and perception of reality about our institutions and government.
The human brain has not evolved enough to handle its bombardment with so much conflicting information at the same time. That is why confirmation bias has become its default operational model. Confirmation bias is the propensity of the human brain to acquiesce and accept as fact information that comports with and confirms pre-existing bias, no matter how absurd it is.
It is almost as if we are at the early stages of losing our critical and analytical thinking skills. Most of us have surrendered our brains, thoughts and minds to AI generated algorithms to do the thinking for us.
Sadly, the people behind these algorithms have obliged us by manipulating our minds.
So when you read the above headline US Economist | Wednesday August 28, 2024, Economist Cartoons Tinubu Private Jet as Nigerians starve”, what comes to your mind. Did you think that the cartoon in question was released by “US Economist” a news organization or Steve Hanke a right wing Neoconservative economist who served under Ronald Reagan? What social media will not tell is that the latter is true. The entire story is based on a cartoon and about ten to fifteen words on X (formerly Twitter) by Steve Hanke, a John Hopkins professor who has made Tinubu-basing a cottage industry. Yet that story has been picked up by the usual suspects, the Tinubu-Hate group and blown out into a major news headline on Nigerian social media. That is the classic M. O. of propaganda and perception manipulation on social media.
When did it become the fricking (don’t want to be vulgar) business of a White Neocon who probably has not set his feet in Nigeria ever to dictate to our president when he decides to replace the fleet of inoperable flight-unworthy aircraft in the presidential fleet? Of course these same bozos would be the first to castigate us as incompetent brutes should God forbids our president and his cabinet is incinerated in a rickety plane crash like they did when the Iranian president died in the same circumstance.
Yes, these are indeed extremely tough times for our country and our people, but by golly we must not succumb our brains and our sovereignty to malicious outsiders who wish us no good and have contributed to our socio-economic and political downfall.
Sadly, and because fake news and opinion journalism sell, old media newspapers like the Tribune, Punch and Arise TV among other have junked their journalistic pretensions and instead have hired highly talented opinionators (cloaked in the undeserved garbs of Journalists) to peddle beautifully crafted hateful opinions and perception-manipulations.
Let me repeat once more that there is a vicious information warfare to turn the Nigerian citizens against its government and in the process decapitate the Tinubu regime and our hard earned albeit frustrating democracy and turn the ethnic group against one another. Sadly this phenomenon has become a global epidemics. Most national security agencies from the CIA, FBI and M-6 have set up sophisticated anti-propaganda units to confront this menace. It would be criminal negligence if the Nigerian government does not set up similar unit in the country. Fake news have led to ethnic and racial massacres from Bangladesh, to Indian and across Europe. Mischief makers will call it descent into authoritarianism and infringement of the freedom of speech.
Information has been weaponized and no responsible government will sit by indolently while the country security and sovereignty are been threatened by information warriors. Yes, we must defend vigorously defend our fundamental right to freedom of speech, but w will all be risking it all if we allowed evil doers to hide behind the veil of free speech to destabilize our country.
We must jealously guide, armour and insulate your ten tennis ball jello (brain) against the misinformation and outright manipulation.
