#iStandWithAhmed: Twitter HashTags And The Parable Of the Speck and the Log

If there is one (more) thing social media has helped us achieve, it is ‘globalizing’ a local problem, empathizing with people and situations across seas. People in Europe pledging solidarity for a cause in Asia or Nigerians supporting an Arabian so his or her human rights are not trampled upon. We have seen successes, well, as far as hashtags go, with #BringBackOurGirls, where FLOTUS (First Lady Of the US), Alicia Keys, Neyo, etcetera called on the immediate past Nigerian government to act fast in rescuing the kidnapped Chibok girls in the Northern part of Nigeria by extremist Islamic sect, Boko Haram. Unresolved. #BlackLivesMatter is also a hashtag that has chronicled the alleged inhumane treatment black Americans get in the eye of the American Police department; unjust killings and what not. Some have even said #BlackLivesMatter is racist, thus trend #AllLivesMatter. Yet another hashtag. More often than not, these hashtags help streamline or summarize the background of these incidents, ultimately making a call to action to ‘participants’ as well as the larger community to lend a voice to the situation at hand.

I posted a story about 14 year old Ahmed Mohammed, a Texan school boy who was arrested after his teacher thought his homemade clock was a hoax bomb and in that report i mentioned the hashtag #iStandWithAhmed was birthed as a result of the incident. The hashtag trended across social media, so much so that US president tweeted an invitation to the boy to the white house alongside other fortune 500 organisations. In all of this, one tweet that caught my eye was Nigerian radio personality, Osi Dirisu who brought the effect of Ahmed’s arrest closer to home.

Ure tweeting u stand with Ahmed. How about standing with Segun who gets arrested in Lagos cos he is carrying a laptop without a receipt

— Cinderella Man (@Osi_Suave) September 17, 2015

I am of the opinion that sometimes, it takes the public humiliation and reportage of one to establish the sensitive nature of an issue locally or internationally. Maybe Ahmed’s arrest is one of such. Maybe not. Nevertheless, arresting young boys in countries like Nigeria is a norm by the police. It is as mundane as traffic in Lagos. From casting aspersions on their looks as “Yahoo boys” to as Osi above pointed out, carrying laptop without receipt, this is an occurrence that has played on way too long.

So, should we not empathize with others?

By all means, do! But, have at the back of your mind that you cannot fight another man’s battles for him. Especially if you have a raging battle on your end. Logical enough? Even Jesus in the Bible says to remove the log in your eye before trying to remove the speck in your neighbour’s eye. It is high time we amassed support from among ourselves for ourselves. Often times, we are too quick to jump on hashtags that promote or in this case are aimed at condemning misdeeds. We are quick to stand for other people. Quick to drop our own hashtags like a hot ball of puff-puff (Only one Bukky Shonibare and a few have been ‘faithful’ with #BringBackOurGirls), but very active taking up a challenge about a ‘foreign’ cause; one that may not remotely be a Nigerian problem. Too quick to be JeSuis somebody or say #WeAre some other person. The amount of time, retweets, shares, likes, reposts we give to ‘foreign’ causes would do us a world of good if we channeled same to our own home grown problems. Even I am guilty of this. From the hesitation from pleas to retweet a post seeking funds for someones medical bill to posts about a missing person, it is almost as if i am more aligned with promoting a foreign cause, mostly because there is almost always closure or there is a lower chance that the hashtag is a hoax so it does not rub off on me badly. (I feel so sad i just typed these words. Honesty is like giving oneself a wedgie. It’s humbling and humiliating all at once). Don’t get me wrong, Nigerians are hashtag hit makers. What with #BabaWhileYouWereGone, #NigeriansInHogwarts #InANigerianHouse #SecondarySchoolInNigeria #, i could go on and on, but the truth is, these are not the real issues. Well, maybe except for #BabaWhileYouWereGone, #BabaNowThatYouAreThere hashtags, etc.

#BabaNowThatYouAreThere plss help us reduce d air inside burger peanuts snack… pic.twitter.com/MtszYeHs1D

— CU Humour_Island (@Humour_Island) May 29, 2015

And, if we don’t tell ourselves the truth, we will have it told to us by the same people we always ‘stand’ with. The ones who have seemingly smaller problems or maybe even bigger problems (it’s all about perception) and hopefully when it is time to ‘stand’ with us, they do so without hesitation.

Stand with Ahmed. Please. Do. And when #SegunObiAndUsman need you and me to stand with, by and up for them, please. Let’s.