No army in this world will be able to stop the anarchy that will ensue on a regular basis if we are all privy to what is going on in our country.
On first look, it sounds like a given that every nitwit or dingbat out there deserves to know what's happening in their country. But when one considers how messed up some happenings may be we just get that realization that the transparency we so wish for may as well be the end of humanity.
I have lost count of how many movies I have watched where a potential disaster gets averted because terrible news was initially shielded from the populace. Humans are mostly irrational on purpose. Any smell of trouble and all hell breaks loose. Violent protests take over the streets.
To start with, when Covid started its rampaging runs in some countries of the world, if everyone was privy to the full extent of the news immediately it started, a lot more people would've died. Some people already carrying the virus but yet to notice symptoms would've bailed to some other parts of the world to save themselves.
In doing that, what would've happened is the unrestricted spread of the deadly virus in the new places they ran to. The virus would've spread so fast that the World Health Organization won't be able to control it. And with that comes uncontrollable numbers of death that may put the world in jeopardy.
In a democracy, access to verified news is important. It makes the citizens feel valued and respected. It gives them a sense of belonging. However, every human can't be trusted to keep their shit locked down. Some people are unhinged and only waiting for the right opportunity to raise hell. Access to a potentially hell-raising news will only drive people of such mould to their act of wickedness.
So if I were to make a choice, I will definitely put a lid on some news that may spark public outrage. Yes, transparency is vital. But in some cases we need someone to save us from ourselves. I've heard of civil wars getting started simply because of an information some tribe mistakenly got a wind of.
For decades there have been murmurs about the possibility of extraterrestrial beings visiting earth. Considering the amount of information we've digested from some sci-fi movies down the year, the world will be plunged into chaos if we get verified news from the government that we currently have extraterrestrial beings amidst us. People will no longer trust each other.
A typical example close to home was during the bomb blast in Lagos in the early 2000s. Though it was a sudden occurrence that scared everyone, I believe the situation could've been better handled and that would've reduced the casualties.
Though I wasn't in Lagos at that time, reports have it that people died more from running and getting drowned in a canal than from the bomb blast itself. News of the blast traveled fast and people were scampering for safety. A similar occurrence happened recently in my city where we had a scary blast in the middle of the night.
The situation was silenced right there. Even till today most people didn't really know what actually led to the loud, quaking noise. Some said it was a bomb; others said it was a gas tank that exploded. Despite it being in the news, we were given the safe version of what happened. That calmed frailed nerves and protected us all from the possibility of anarchy.
Finally, I'm in support of regulated information. Making up to the minute info accessible to all will lead to anarchy. The world will burn!
