Bwana Ndemo,

As I reflected on your unenviable job as a “cyber cop” (watching you on The Trend last Friday) and stumbled on this article by Gaitho entitled “The demented postings on social media must stop before blood flows” http://www.nation.co.ke/blogs/-/446672/1723754/-/ee6vonz/-/index.html  it occurred to me that we probably need something deeper, while we must address the madness online.

You’re on record here advocating for policy/decision-making based on empirical/research evidence. I recall your spirited campaign about the Cancer Bill that MPs excitedly passed without the benefit of scientific evidence as to “the actual cause of cancers in Kenya”. You argued that you wished they did not get excited about addressing the symptoms of the problem, but the root cause.

As you crack down on cyber haters (to address the symptoms of the problem), could we also ask ourselves a couple of questions (listers, feel free to add more questions) to get to the ROOT CAUSE of this ANGER:

*why are people so angry?

*is this anger only in cyberspace?

*If not, to what extent is it a reflection of simmering (unexpressed) anger on the ground?

*what are the implications of unexpressed anger?

*why are people comfortable to express such deep anger online and not offline? What are they afraid of?

*How can long-lasting co-existence be achieved, once and for all?

* etc etc etc

Someone has work to do as we try to address the short-term symptoms – is it the academic community? or pollsters can have a post-election job to do? I don’t know, but the RROT CAUSE, we must find including the solutions.

Reflective Edith