The Error of Hasty Public Generalization

The click-bait nature of social media and our refusal to go beyond the surface of issues, will leave us outraged over nothing every time an issue comes up.

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I was offline when a friend called to ask my opinion about a certain issue that was trending here. She was already angry and had formed her opinion on that 'opinion'. I told her to give me a day so I read in detail exactly what was opined in the article that prompted the conversations. She called later in the evening and I asked her, "did you read the article that caused the outrage?", she said no but she saw parts of it. I simply asked her to read it and then we will talk about it. When she called later, I had nothing to add because she saw facts clearly for herself.

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Two weeks ago, I was listening to a particular program on a radio station (planetfm) in my city and I was following the commentary on a certain topic. The two commentators dissected a video (an interview) that was trending and sincerely, I was shocked because the 17 minutes video I watched had no semblance to anything they said. I was really hurt, not because they misinterpreted what I was sure they did not even watch, but because they wield a platform where millions of citizens could form an opinion just because of their analysis. I decided to call the station, and also send a mail to the customer service. I followed it up with sending messages to the two presenters telling them they had mislead deliberately millions of people, and that they owed us well researched news and analysis as well as the courtesy of truth and fairness in their reports. I got a response. And I was right that they were analyzing what others analyzed and not the source (the video)

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Last week, my dad's friend called me to share his annoyance with the Water Resource bill pushed by the Presidency. I had nothing to say because I did not see the content of the bill, and neither did he when I asked. I had no idea what anything was about. I just woke up one morning and everyone at home was talking about it. I told him that we should shield our swords until we identified who the enemy was. I was not going to waste my bullets and later discover that the enemy was still on his way and that I'm already out of bullets. As much as I have very strong distrust for the government of the day, I have learnt to carefully sieve through their policies before I react or applaud.

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Why am I sharing the above? It's becoming really appalling and dangerous how we rush to dissect issues without a clear understanding or even a basic first hand information of what is making us outraged. Maybe it is done deliberately, but I have read somewhere that half baked knowledge is worse than no knowledge at all. I used to be this person who will get angry whenever something that inconveniences me comes up. But over the years, I have learnt to not fall prey to sensationalism and to also use my head when things come up.

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"what was said", "who said it", "what was the occasion", "why was it said", "where was it said", "what's the background to this story" etc. You don't prepare a pot of Afang soup with just the afang leaves. It is an ingredient but it is not the only ingredient that will make a pot.

We are not going to make any progress as a people when we run straight to the market square at the first sight of the masquerade. It worries me, but I just thought to share this.

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Do have an amazing weekend dear friends. Have grand moments of joy and happiness.