A Generation of Jokers and Humor Mongers?
For a while now, I have been having these rather mixed feelings about something that may really not mean much to many people, especially if they have never thought about the potential danger for Africa’s future. I will try to explain what I am feeling as much as I can.
Over the course of about two decades, there has been internet and electricity penetration into more places in Africa and the positive effect has been massive. More industries have opened up in various sectors, and more young people are doing things that were termed very difficult before, largely because the cost of doing them was really high and it’s now easier to get your services, media content, and even products across the globe with just the push of a button or phone call. But something else started happening: more young Africans also got into content creation and the wave has been massive also. And this rapid expansion was largely due to the Chinese manufacturing boom which created a big market for cheap electronic gadgets like phones, media recording devices, etc., which, in turn, made content creation among young people in Africa grow unprecedentedly. So now we see more comedians popping up everywhere raking in millions of dollars in content creation, freelance journalists making media content available faster and even cheaper than ever before, and makers of memes and comedy skits smiling all the way to the bank. The past couple of years have seen a major rise in this sector of content creation, largely because of the monetization of platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and even Facebook.
Seriously speaking, I have no issue with young Africans making money from whatever they do in the area of content creation, as long as they are not selling dangerous ideologies that undermine the African people.
Now, my concern is this, more young Africans are dropping out of school to pursue content creation. More young Africans are becoming millionaire comedians and skit makers even without any formal training in media practice. We are somehow raising more rich jokers/comedians while our medical doctors, scientists, engineers, and those who could create the infrastructure we need for Africa’s growth are fighting hard to make ends meet. Are we slowly creating a future that will be full of jokers who are contented with buying Chinese gadgets because they can afford them, but lack the zeal to create an African technological system that will create its own gadgets?
There are lots of things to pull out of this concern that is slowly arising in our Africa. Especially how we are trivializing and making jokes of serious matters of real continental and even national interests. Vusi Thembekwayo puts it this way in a post on his TikTok page:
In South Africa, a significant issue is that instead of actively seeking solutions to the problems, people often resort to making fun and jokes about these issues.
This cultural tendency to use humor as a coping mechanism leads to a lack of serious discourse and effective problem-solving. As a result, those responsible for causing problems in society recognize that the worst consequence they might face is becoming the subject of jokes.
This undermines accountability and perpetuates the cycle of problems, as there is little pressure on troublemakers to change their behavior or address the underlying issues.
We should look into this trend before our jokes come back to haunt us.
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