Interesting, you are right Bwana Ndemo there is just to much simmering anger among us and just for better expression of my point I will use a phrase that was coined from a previous thread "false peace" and the concept that the media has functioned on two extreme ends freedom and suppression. The fact that we express ourselves and how we feel on the social media no matter how negative our sentiments are, is that we are "slapped" by the false peace when we try to express ourselves offline. I would say that the root cause of this problem is not all the sentiments raised on the platform of social media but rather the fact that we Kenyans have failed in the sense of civic education(we need to know that the leadership that is mostly the theme in such social media discussion is not enshrined on a person rather the office eg-president and presidency ) The truth I may say is that we Kenyans assume that the country cannot run without the highest office legislature yet we know that the executive is separated from the legislature to some point ie the public service can function without the later. A concept that failed to be understood much in 2007-2008. People become so over relient on the election and the public service becomes swallowed in politics that it becomes almost irrelevant in government functioning during this time -the like of 2007-08. In my view this very much manifest itself in social media when the same people cannot differentiate between the person and the office.(people think that if there candidate takes office then they will be favoured more than the rest hence hate) we need to separate our thoughts from nepotism tribalism and the likes. Social media only exposes the ignorance of the people. And these can be done through civic education. Please remember, to understand these look at it as addressing the disease rather than the symptoms ------------------------------ On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 12:08 AM PDT Edith Adera wrote:

John F. Kennedy - "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable"

From: Emmanuel Khisa [mailto:oloo.khisa@googlemail.com] Sent: March 19, 2013 9:50 AM To: Edith Adera Cc: oloo.khisa@gmail.com; KICTAnet - Media Editors Forum; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Cyber Cop

+1,

Indeed cyber responsiblilty is not a standalone initiative...cyber exists as a channel for expressing the societal views and does not therefore exist on its on...

The day we realise that gagging the traditional media does not work in the 21st century internet age we will start making steps to tackle the difficult issues the SOUL of the country is struggling with.

We can make noise about responsible internet use but for as long as the media blacks out channels of communications, blogsphere will remain the only media of expression for the populace...

IMHO we are a country that is quick to bury its head in the sand and now we are left with a simmering problem on Agenda 4 which remain unattended to and which is awaiting an opportune time to explode..

Regard On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 9:09 AM, Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.ca<mailto:eadera@idrc.ca> wrote: 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

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