As rainfall wipes away the scorch in the atmosphere and soothes the body from unfriendly and aggressive sun bite, so did a public apology on Likee and Tik-Tok by a 10-year-old Chrisland student, involved in a ghastly immoral video recorded in United Arab Emirate (UAE), come with a resounding relief. The ugly video and other suggestive ones on the young girl’s timelines that attracted over 10,000 followers had set the county on fire with bewilderment at such satanic and devious creativity by a young girl, still under the tutelage of her parents. So unbelievable! Very abhorring. And, as clerics would quickly add, ‘a sign of the end of times.’
However, there is a dubious and Satanic foundation for the kind of courage that the 10-year-old Chrisland girl – and her like-minded young ones – exhibited in the video. The video is cast in concrete and iron of Western theories (and now culture) opposed to Christian teachings about sanctity and sexual restraint, which Nigerians have swallowed hook-line-and-sinker in their bid to be validated as civilised and liberated. The Satanic doctrines of the liberation of the human mind from moral inhibition, and of course, targeted as sexual liberty, effectively dispensed with the concept of ‘sin’, with Margaret Sanger, one of its proponents, labelling the Christian teaching about sexual discipline as “the cruel morality.” Wilhelm Reich, a psychologist, lambasted similar Christian teachings as “murderous philosophy,” which created guilt, distorted human drives and gave rise to personality disorders. To some of these theorists, who fanned the passion for immoral, sensual and amorous self-expression, the climax of liberty was unrestrained mating, not just with the opposite gender, but even with other partners of the same gender and beasts, especially those categorised as mammals, entrenching homosexuality, sadomasochism, voyeur (a person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity), sexual exhibitions, pedophile, transsexualism and fetish sexual acts.
Unfortunately, popular concepts that emerged from such warped ideas include the philosophy that gave birth to sex education, under which tender children are exposed to eerie teachings about sex and sexuality; co-education, which allows both male and female genders to mix at various levels of educational institutions; and birth control and related therapies. To a great extent, these practices have inflamed passion for promiscuity in the West, instigating a lifestyle of strange sexual orientations, some so abhorring that our ears would not want to hear about them, and serve as poison to the heart of eyes that watch them. Unfortunately, our educational institutions are now agents for circulating these lifestyles in such a manner that most adolescents take it to mean freedom when they emulate deviant characters and lifestyles that are totally immoral and contrary to their religious orientation, whether Christianity, Islam or traditional worship.
None of the three dominant religions in this country, no matter how liberal, would sanction the clips of the ‘Chrisland 10’ video, and several others in the archive of the young girl’s social media accounts. To many students, it is a sign of growing up to behave and put up acts that are contrary to dogmatic religious teachings and damning the consequences of doing so. This is the tragedy of our country and perhaps, the African world.
Many commentators have debunked the apocalyptic reading of the error of Chrisland 10, as people have lived with such secret illicit adventures for as long as the memory can recall. So, why the outrage over Chrisland 10? The ugly and condemnable practices are aggravated by one revolutionary technological innovation, meant to improve the storage of human knowledge, and reduce the excruciating pressure on the human mind to be able to recollect past events. Therefore, it may be imperative for us to begin by blaming one man by name George Eastman, a former bank clerk, who, in 1888, invented the Kodak photography camera. This technology has the capacity of capturing what is done in secret and in a fleeting moment for storage and recall in the future. The situation was made worse by the ingenuity of another inventor, Thomas Edison, who, in 1891, gave birth to the motion picture, the progenitor of today’s camera. This addition to photography made it possible for man to broadcast visuals to thousands and millions who were not at the secret place where the images were captured. The 21st Century smartphone is made very valuable because of its inbuilt camera, which has liberalised photography and video recording, making this skill that was a preserve of a few professionals, very commonplace for even children to abuse to their own peril.
A combination of the satanic doctrine of liberty and the camera has done more havoc to the Nigerian society than could be imagined or repaired. For instance, the craze for celebrity is anchored on them, a culture of shamelessness, of vulgarity, of lack of moral restraint and abuse of senseless indulgences. In this country, filmmakers would not belch with satisfaction except amorous plots are infused into their creations, even if such scenes are totally unnecessary. The music that trend on popular channels on cable televisions are those that show scantily and stupidly dressed young men and women, showing off the most private sections of their body, and making immoral, sensuous suggestive moves, as a way of demonstrating their dancing skills. As such odd characters are believed to be celebrities and had long digits in their bank balances, or cruise around town with sophisticated and over-sized cars, they become role models for the impressionistic minds, who strive to replicate those unconscionable acts or outperform them as a way of establishing themselves as emerging stars. Those who can’t access the sophisticated camera of established music producers jumped into that circle by producing amateur videos for sharing on social media, seeking followers in their thousands, as a way of launching themselves into the rebellious world in order to ride unto fame. Really ignorantly stupid!
For long, Chrisland will evoke the image of an immoral, misguided and unrestrained student, whose conduct brought shame to the institution and to all parents who have lost control of their children. Let’s use this sober moment to reclaim our children from the slippery and miry clay planted by Satan to swallow them up.
Theophilus Abbah can be reached at [email protected]
