If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you its still mango season, and we blending them into juice. I’ll even tell you a lil twist, throw in a banana into the mixture and surprise your taste buds.
If you were having coffee with me, I would ask your opinion on the internet if it had done more harm than good, to the fabric of the world; if world governments could or should ban or restrict access to some of it?
I watched a BBC report about how social media use is linked to an increase in depression and teen suicide. The UK government is considering taking legislative measures against social media companies if they do not purge harmful content from their sides.
The crazy weird thing is sometimes the harder you try to purge something the more you sensationalize it. There was this game, targeting vulnerable teens, that trended in some circles early last year, challenging them to do tasks which would ultimately lead to suicides; I dont know if anyone else noticed that the more people actually gave out details warning people to not play the game, the more people actually sought out the challenge….
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you, thats the thing with social media and the internet, news spreads like veld fire. Are more people commiting suicide or more people hearing about it cause of social media or maybe both. Simply banning the social media will not fix anything whats broken inside some people….
Coming back to home, our government ordered an internet shutdown, as it was blamed for the violent protest and later the internet was restored but partially with restrictions to social media sites. A constitutional court ruling later ordered full internet services be restored on the technicality that only the president would have had the authority to issue such a directive and not a minister and that was that, but still leaves loop holes in the constitutionality of ordering internet shutdowns, this wont be last the time it happens…..
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that its open season at the fake news factory; its really difficult to know whats happening especially when even the official information channels contradictory and entirely whole accounts of whats happening.
A hoax message went viral about how people using VPNs to access the internet were being investigated by the police, till the police had to issue out a statement that they were doing no such thing.
If you having coffee with me I would tell you I wrote a post with ten simple ways you can use to check if something is fake news, Stop Reflect Verify so you can share responsibly
While the internet was down the were untold cases of atrocious violations to men, women and children, by people dressed as security agents which never made the news. The government attributed some of these acts to “rouge elements“
Sky News broke the story of security forces in Zimbabwe beating a man
The president’s official twitter account shared an excellent and decisive response to this news story but what has me worried is that, the are so many other things that havent been responded to, the state broadcaster carries on as its business as usual.
Do we have to wait until news makes international headlines for it to be true? When you have so many people desperate for news any news about whats going thats a perfect breeding ground for fake news…..
According to The Herald, a local newspaper Zim is under a co-ordinated media attack and that SkyNews is not accredited to operate in Zimbabwe and their report is unbalanced…
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that for now its calm, but its that uneasy calm and everytime I see a group of police officers or soldiers, I feel a slight panic coming on, like maybe I am somewhere I should not be or doing something I should not be doing, or perhaps I wrote something I shouldnt have (hang on a second while I reread this post)
Well thanks for dropping by, I hope you have an awesome week, whats your truth?
~B
PS We lost a legendary musician and icon Oliver Mtukudzi and the other post I have been writing is in honour of Samanyanga
Becoming The Muse 
Thanks B for the information on whats happening in your neck of the woods.
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Hi B! I think those mango-banana smoothies would be even better with a shot or two of rum in them. Just saying…
I’d also say that the internet has done, and will continue to do, far more good than harm. If it wasn’t for the internet, I’d have no idea of what’s actually going on in Zimbabwe right now. I mean there might be the odd headline when the international media decides to care about people in the Global South for half a second (meaning when they can make money off the Global South), but I wouldn’t be able to read the perspective of a real person who actually lives in Zimbabwe: AKA you.
I’m still hoping everything turns out alright, but it’s horrible to hear about the atrocities that have already been committed. Stay safe…
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Hey Josh you might be onto something with the rum suggestion!!!! I will have to investigate and write up an article while I am at it ….. **cues draft post **
The internet has its faults but its benefits far outweigh the bad with or without it there will still be people in power making terrible decisions while those with the good ideas never seem to get the power…
Thanks Josh
~B
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Haha, let me know how the rum suggestion turns out!
Yes, the advantages of the internet far outweigh it’s drawbacks. Connecting people with one another is a powerful tool!
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