Not too long ago I published an article on this platform with the title “The need for writers in our society.” In the said article I stressed the need for societies to ensure the continued evolution of writers in every way possible. This is because of the immeasurable advantages societies that place emphasis on reading and eventually writings stand to gain over others. Having writers around especially promising young writers who think big, excavate deeply, explore and analyse critically, project and articulate nice thoughts into meaningful and fascinating scenes which seek to bring to limelight some silent facts, events and happenings for societies to reflect and make out lessons from, could perhaps be the most reassuring of all gifts.
This article is birthed out of a conversation I have had with a colleague whom I share similar opinions on most issues of concern especially those issues that have to do with proper and moral child upbringing. It is based on this that I feel his observations and words of caution for parents and guardians of our children on this subject matter deserve reechoing. Like I mentioned in the foregoing, my earlier article encouraged societies to commit to anything readable; novels, periodicals, almanacs, newspapers and the likes as avenues that could help greatly in actualising the “NEED.” This article therefore serves as an extension to that admonishing, that readers today should be selective in whatever they read. This is extremely important especially now that all manner of writings and authors are out there with different motives; good or bad.
Some are even utterly ignorant of what they are writing about. Therefore one has to be extra careful and needs to filter and seek guidance on what to read or not, so that one cannot be easily misled into believing and affirming the validity of what is rather laced and characterised with inconsistencies, sheer lies, utterly untrue, framed and concocted that is capable of influencing the mind to think prematurely and act in a wrong direction.
Most parents today, especially the elite class have a great deal of passion for their children to master and be proficient in the language of the west; English language. This is why at every point in time, they try to expose those kids to all manner of platforms for accessing books and any written texts without having to bother about the source, much less the effects; positive or negative. Some of these books do more harm than any good. Perhaps this explains why the society is right now beclouded, more than ever before, by a “moral confusion syndrome” that is heavily characterized by all manner of ills, and which is rapidly spreading like a lit fire on a fabric.
Sadly enough, this has deeply penetrated every aspect of our societies. For instance it is a fact in some books or literatures mostly to do with religious histories today, one must be careful of contradicting ideologies and dreading manifestations for fear of being easily misled. Ways must be explored to ensure that they are carrying a safe and/or harmless message. This is particularly even more important when seeking religious knowledge, and this should be before a renowned religious scholar who will be a guide as to what and what not to engage as a reading text in order for us to be free from becoming victims of the said ills. Today because of the gravity of the propound negative and lasting effects these would have on the society, a times one is even much safer to read local daily newspapers, academic journals, rather than going for the random off the shelf books and materials elsewhere.
Therefore parents, concerned individuals and the larger society should make it a priority to strictly monitor what these young men and women engage as a reading text.
Mustapha Makarfi, Kaduna
