POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY : Sierra Leoneans are still wearing baby diapers and drinking breast milk

WE ARE STILL WEARING BABY DIAPERS AND DRINKING BREAST MILK IN SIERRA LEONE

By KABS KANU

Not even media in so- called advanced democracies are unaligned. I don’t like to use the word OBJECTIVE because it is a relative term. Its meaning depends on the context, connotation and denotation. So, if media are aligned, their characterization as objective or not depends on the user and where that user stands.

Any media can be described as objective or otherwise . The truism of the label depends on who is using it and for what purpose.

CNN , MSNOW, New York Times , New York Daily News, Washington Post, USA Today etc .are objective media to people who loath the corrupt, elitist, racist , anti-people and big money politics of the Republicans party. To the grassroots, liberal , pro- people DEMOCRATS, these are iconic media. But the Republicans will bitterly disagree and label them as biased, unprofessional , lacking objectivity .

FOX , Epoch Times, the Daily Caller, Daily Wire , the Washington Times, Washington Examiner , Wall Street Journal etc . promote conservative ideologies and pro- Republican views so the Republicans regard them as objective and iconic. Liberal politicians characterize them as biased and having no objective fiber inside them . So, in this case, whose characterization would you give credence to ? It depends on where you stand, your cherished values and the political ideas you tout. So let us be realistic . Do people who do not share your ideologies and beliefs have a right to determine for you what is objective or not ?

In Sierra Leone, the SLPP want to characterize as evil , anti- Southeast, anti- Mende and pro- APC anything that does not go along with their politics and beliefs . The APC too nourish scepticisms and disdain for media that condemn their politics.

This is the big problem in Sierra Leone. Until we stop being clannish, and accept the fact that media can never be wholly “objective “, given the slippery nature of the term and our misunderstanding of the concept of objectivity , we will always find ourselves stigmatizing , persecuting and giving undeserved labels to media personnel honestly doing their jobs.

We need different kinds of media , given the extremism of today’s politics and the humble- and- tumble of life. Media articulating different perspectives and agendas have a right to exist.

I subscribe to different kinds of media in the U. S and Sierra Leone . I am not content with accessing only pro- APC media. I want to know what the SLPP media are also saying . I want to be a well- rounded human being and a total man. What kind of man would I be if I consumed only pro-APC media ? What would my education mean to me if I do not listen to divergent views ?

WE are not growing up in Sierra Leone. Our politics is infantile. We have gone and become stagnant. WE HAVE TO GROW UP IN SIERRA LEONE. Those baby diapers are no longer for us. Baby milk and custard should no longer be our desired diet. We should outgrow them. We should be chewing hard bones now. The world has become tougher and more complex. Let democratic media prevail. Let us embrace democracy because we need to buy different ideas in the market place of divergence.