Let us glocalize our media for moral progress

The fact that morality is a product of social construction is well established that I don’t intend to lecture Kenyans on. A quick example can be found in Prof. Greenfeld’s excellent essay titled “Modernity and the Mind” that seeks to explain the Russian revolution inspired by the ‘envy’ of modern nations in the West, particularly, France. 

The ‘envy’ was captured by Russian dramatists Dennis Fonvizin, who after visiting France, could not help but conclude that he saw more bad things happening than good ones and many bad people than good. The same rationale seems to apply everywhere in the world. Having seen France, Fonvizin saw no reason to adopt the Western model but surely envied it. In the essay, Greenfeld concludes that what is actually a virtue in France is, most likely, a vice in England. Is modernity the anti-thesis of morality?

Morality and the new normal

Can one therefore argue that immorality is a result of the envy of foreign cultures that paves way for cultural assimilation and subsequent cultural imperialism? Or is immorality simply self-inherent in those that play God, are in the business of ‘othering’ and are convinced that their ideas of humanity and creativity are incontestably rich for uncritical adoption by emerging others? 

Who is responsible for the cultural collapse in Kenya? The obvious culprit is the media but it is not that simple. Immorality has been a thorn in our flesh even before the advent of mass media. But can we trust our ‘foreign’ media to be ‘custodians’ of morality now that immorality is becoming the new normal? If you don’t agree with the latter, then you have not listened to Jaguar’s lamentations in the local hit song Kigeugeu that describes all sorts of immoralities perpetrated by politicians, doctors, wives, constructors and drivers.

Law and order

I am convinced that if an Englishman or woman would visit France, then he or she would be ‘happy’ with the ‘virtues’ in France even though some of them might be ‘vices’ back in England due to law and order. Would the same persons find the same measure of happiness with the ‘virtues’ in Kenya that would compel them to visit again? If not, can the law really be our antidote to immorality given Kenya’s dependence on tourism? 

The answer is complicated and requires a whole thesis. However, history has proven that law and order can be used to tame the reptilian brain of deviant characters in the society. When this is well done, it helps shape moral behavior. That is why liberal Western societies believe in freedom but within the confines of law and order. Without the latter, which entails rewards and punishment in social learning theories, then the society can be a jungle.

Africanizing modernity

Instead of importing foreign programmes, the media should support the production of local content that reflects the realities in Kenya. The current local edutainment programmes such as Tahidi High, Machachari, Inspekta Mwala, Heartlines, The legendary Vioja Mhakaman and Vitimbi, Papa Shirandula, Waridi and others should be supported since they can influence and shape behavior in the country positively. 

The most successful evidence of the role of local edutainment initiatives in shaping societal morals is found in South Africa where locally produced content has helped address challenges like HIV/AIDS, crime and poverty.  However, this calls for thorough investments beyond the media to include liberal arts educational training that would Africanize modernity.

Newtown shooting is business unusual in Hollywood

The recent terrifying event in Newtown, United States where a gun man killed 27 people among them 20 children has raised questions on gun control laws where the President has called for change. Apart from that, the incident has also subtly introduced debates about television violence where interestingly, following the shooting, Hollywood, the greatest entertainment machine in the world, has employed self-censorship (business unusual) of violent content fearing that it could be insensitive with the news still fresh in the minds of audiences.

Cable networks like HBO, TLC and NBC either postponed or cancelled airing programmes with violent content. The Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York even canceled the screening of Tom Cruise's violent new movie, “Jack Reacher”. The argument being that, in the wake of national tragedies, entertainment companies in the US ritualistically assess the content of their programming to ensure it is not offensive.

However, the Newtown incident is a new challenge to media scholarship in the United States which dates back to the early theories of media effects that centered on whether or not, in deed, television causes violence. The latter position was dismissed in audience research giving too much credit to the intelligence of the audience as opposed to the power of media content to influence audiences. Media scholars must now go back to the theoretical drawing board to methodologically investigate various hypotheses regarding the validity of claims held about the relationship between television and violence in the society. 

Luckily, with the advent of new media, there are new ways of investigating media, particularly television, content for violence which, traditionally, has been centered on audiences, the technology itself and content. For example, the three dimensions in new media such as interactivity, demassification and asynchroneity can be used by scholars to follow-up individual audiences as opposed to mass audiences (demassification) to examine how they interact with technology such as cable networks and utilize programming (asynchroneity) and the potential effects of such habits. It will be interesting to see whether the ‘time worn’ bullet theory will be given a new lease of life in the new hypotheses that will emerge and possibly new media theories in the wake of the Newtown event.

For now, Hollywood’s response to the shooting largely supports the premise that television does influence the audience and its content can sometimes be offensive. Violent programming has a significant effect on the audiences and may be the sources of societal violence as evidenced in the July 20 2012 Aurora movie theater mass shooting in Colorado US during a mid-night screening of the movie “The Dark  Night Rises”. Even though the suspect was being examined for mental illness, he confessed to have wanted to kill people and law enforcers found a Batman mask in his apartment. Batman is a fictional comic book and 1986 character of the television series “The Dark Nights Returns”.