Karyia tchiri-tchiri … Täri yamo, a free and sexy lie! … It was understood that the advent of cell phones and social networks would not pass without harming some of our moral values. For example, the cult of truth embodied in our traditional societies has already suffered greatly.
Have you not been repeatedly surprised to hear a friend, a passerby or a colleague tell, in the open air, beautiful novels, while exchanging a phone with a distant interlocutor? A typical case: One day, while a crowd of customers was waiting for service at the counters of a local bank, an old man, good-looking enough to inspire wisdom and confidence, received a call, and, responding to his interlocutor who apparently wanted an accurate idea of his position, fired : “Hello, yes! No, no… Now I’m driving at the entrance to Bernie Ngori, because I have to deal with the emergency in Dosso. I’ll be back tomorrow evening….”
Imagine the evaporating look of all those around him who couldn’t beat a big, seasoned lie, live, live! But given that the author in one of the banks is in the process of making a withdrawal, it was easy to guess that the real reason for such a forfeiture would relate to a financial obligation that he did not want to fulfill. And since a mobile phone gives him a chance to get out of his way, why bother? And scenes like that, you often see them. As it is, in addition to being an instrument of all controversies, the mobile phone is, for some, a privileged instrument of public lying.
What then of all these audio and written messages, as well as these videos, all stitched together with well-arranged lies and with pictures taken from somewhere, if not edited, to give a touch of realism to a truly false story? It is the belief that the truth no longer exists in this world as some people who lurk behind the screen of their computers or smartphones have found a new profession in lying and exposing false rumours.
What happened to the moral principles that advocate truth and its victory over lies? What moral lessons do we inculcate in our children when the latter, who nevertheless watches over and represents us, is not ashamed of lying in their presence? The problem is all there!
Asan Somana (onep)
