Thanks
to advances in information and communication technologies, people overcome spatio-temporal
limitations. We communicate in real time regardless of where we live. Traditionally,
communications and collaborations were made between people and organizations
that somehow know each other well. These times see communications of all sorts
being made between entities that do not know each other in person.
In fact, we use
technologies to conquer new grounds- to create, expand and sustain our
international online presence. Technologies are also places where to make
retreats to- people who are denied of their natural rights (such as freedom of
expression and association) consider technologies as powerful remedies. Thanks to
Internet-based social media, the oppressed are claiming their lost identities. Although
1) some dictatorial regimes aspire to curtain the move, and 2) the technologic
infrastructure in several places is still inadequate, people worldwide are building
online/virtual identities and presences.
The Ethiopian
Diaspora enjoy conversing using websites, broadcast media, Paltalk, Facebook,
and blogs. Issues discussed touch nearly all the contours of life in Ethiopia,
from politics to economics, society to humanity, religion to culture. However,
a limited number of persons are content developers (writers) whereas the
majority are users or consumers (readers). What seems to be interesting is that
users tend to have a significantly different take of the issues considered by
papers.
A closer
look at how people react to published papers including those found in blogs is
extremely important for several reasons. One, it would help us to discern to
what extent readers rightly understand the intentions’ of writers. Two, the
analysis would indicate the degree to which published works are relevant to the
general community. Three, based on this, editors/writers could identify and
suggest topics for further discussion. Four, based on comment analysis, writers
could improve their style of writing for maximum impact. Five, the analysis
could inform us to narrow down the gap between writers and readers in the end.
In this
paper, I categorize readers based on the comments they leave to papers they
read. To do the analysis, I reviewed threads and threads of comments provided about
papers published in major websites. An unscientific qualitative content
analysis of comments resulted in the identification of eight major categories
of people. It is found that we have people who tend to hold extremely opposing
viewpoints in relation to the issues discussed in the papers. More interestingly,
there are people who tend to bring extremist groups to a middle ground. The categories
are succinctly described below.
The sympathetic
These people
generally tend to identify with authors and support their arguments and
conclusions. They express their sympathy in various ways. They generously thank
writers for their contributions and request them to keep writing. They also
forward papers to their networks and they leave behind tens and even hundreds
of “Likes”. Even more interestingly, these people ask writers to turn their
ideas into workable strategies. A typical comment of this type is: “This is a
very timely and constructive idea; I appreciate if you are interested to form an
interest group based on your idea”.
The assassin
The assassin
are the exact opposite of the sympathetic. Their viewpoints are in sharp
contrast to that of the writers’. They throw away nasty terms (insults and
curses) to the writers. Worse is their attempt to go after writers as persons. They
try to assassin the identities, fames, and dignities of writers by resorting to
the latters’ perceived or actual weaknesses, shortcomings, and/or limitations in
other areas. Examples of comments of this category include: “This person is a
remnant of the fascist Derg”, “This writer must be a cadre/from Tigray,” ”This
guy was fired from his job because of his incompetence and work ethic”. Generally,
the assassin usually tries to assassin the writer as a person and not the idea
conveyed in the paper.
The delusional
Delusional
people are those who consciously or otherwise dissociate themselves from
reality, evidence, truth, and logic. They deny that the Ethiopian Diaspora is a
huge potential for real social change. They also deny the imprisonment and
persecution of those who dare to talk their minds. They deny that the regime in
Ethiopia is dictatorial. Others of this category deny that the government there
did and could do something good to the country. To these people, the roads,
schools, universities, health facilities, dams, and condominiums built are
nothing but mere mental constructions. The delusional are extremist if not
terrorist people.
The developmental
The comments
of this category of people indicate that Ethiopia is a truly developmental
state comparable to some of the fastest growing economies and democracies worldwide.
To them, the infrastructure built and the double-digit economic growth reported
are more than adequate evidences for that. They describe how fruitful,
relaxing, and empowering were their visits to Ethiopia. They list mega stores, luxury
hotels, lodges, and restaurants built in Addis Ababa and in major towns and
cities. And to demonstrate the improvement of the lives of millions, they mention
how busy these catering businesses are. They also try to ascertain that
Ethiopia attracts more than ever a great number of foreign investors with a bid
to bolster agricultural transformations. Stated simply, these people tend to
define the quality of life in Ethiopia by their comfort zones.
The gradual
These people
hold that economic development and democratic governance could not be brought
about overnight. “Rome was not built overnight” is their motto. They narrate
how slowly the western world developed both economically and in democratic governance.
To cover up all the socio-economic odds and evils in Ethiopia, they tell that
even New York and Washington DC host beggars, criminals, the extra wealthy, and
the excluded. Simply, they are overwhelmed by the economic and political changes
taking place back home and count on time to witness even beyond-imagination
changes.
The west phobic
To these
people, all the problems in Ethiopia occur simply because of the invisible and
evil hands of international organizations and the governments of the western
countries. They argue that globalization and the Internet are powerful ways of
exploiting the resources (both material and human) of the South- Africa. They believe
that in order for Africa to prosper, the west must engage with them proactively
and out of sheer good will. They believe that the IMF, the World Bank, the EU,
the US and other multi-and bilateral organizations must make a policy change if
we want to see Africa uplifted to the next higher ‘stages’ of development. To these
people, African governments are servants and resource bases of the west.
The fighter
These people
firmly believe that genuine and lasting socio-economic and political change
could be brought about by armed struggle. Their rationale is that the government
in Ethiopia does not understand peaceful discourse and discussions and the only
language intelligible to them is force. They as a result consider online communications
including papers as a waste of time and energy. To them, armed struggle could
bring change to the scale of a full-blown revolution. That means, all the armed
struggle must be waged from being within Ethiopia.
The police
These people
tend to play a mediational and police role. They have a huge concern for the
wellbeing of the country and they would like to see a common platform where the
regime and the opposition could stand and converse. Their comments are intended
to create such extremism-free zones. They highlight the perceived-to-be-good
points of other commenters and advise others to cultivate good online morale. They
are against people who leave nasty words against writers.
Concluding remarks
The aforementioned
categories of people are just the major ones. One could come up with lists and
lists of other categories. Plus, the eight categories are not mutually
exclusive; a person could behave differently in different times and to
different papers. A reader of a particular paper, for instance, could
simultaneously be sympathetic, gradual, and police. Or, s/he could be an
assassin, fighter, and/or west phobic. The most important question to ask is
however related to the potential contributions of these categories of people to
the advancement of democratic culture and social change in Ethiopia. There
would not be a clear answer to this but one thing remains crystal clear. That a
civilized online behavior (commenting) that entirely focuses on the ideas
discussed in publications/papers is a demonstration of self-worth, mental
health, moral responsibility, and accountability. Anything other than that is a
saddening waste of precious psychic energy.
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