Keeping to my current rant against stupid modern technologies, or at least the worship thereof, let us consider the evil that instant messaging can do. For example, in the recent riots in Jos, Nigeria one of the factors that incited the violence was a flurry of instant messages urging, f0r instance:"War, war, war. Stand up... and defend yourselves. Kill before they kill you. Slaughter before they slaughter you. Dump them in a pit before they dump you."
Once this gets started and then forwarded and new messages get added and the whole mess multiplies innumerable times everyone is bound to be scared and edgy. The slightest provocation turns into real violence. I've experienced this on a much smaller scale in Lagos last year. Somebody got a message about gunfire in our area, then forwarded it to all their friends and then they all replied back that they did or didn't hear anything and then those message all got forwarded. Thanks to modern technology, this rumor was able to spread faster than was ever before possible.
All I'm saying is, let's have some common sense here people. Think before you send a message or act when you receive one. In the person to person days of the distant past you could challenge the person and say "Hey, are you sure, where'd you hear that?" Now a days every message carries the same weight, and should be greeted with skepticism and caution. Remember what the dog said.
The above cartoon by Peter Steiner has been reproduced from page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20)only for academic discussion, evaluation, research and complies with the copyright law of the United States as defined and stipulated under Title 17 U. S. Code.
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