adminPost Correspondent
SOME say they are naïve, others say they are downright lewd. I think they are a bit of everything and nauseatingly childish.
It is important to hasten to mention it is not all of them who have fallen into the stinking habit of sex lingo. Quite a few of them are still sane enough to know Radio and Television are not platforms to abuse listeners. But the few savvyless and verbally unhygienic ones are nonetheless still too many to ignore.
Childish describes the behaviour of an adult who thinks and acts like a child. The word defines lack of maturity and connotes a sense of foolishness (kusakwana of sorts). It does not mean childlike. Childlike is positive and complimentary. It means an adult who has the lovely qualities of a child; softness, instant forgiveness, innocent pleasantness and foreboding beauty.
When people say there is too much childish talk on radio and television, they are not referring to children’s programmes. These they say are necessary and most of them educative.
In my recent Talk-To-MM Talk Shows in Mutare, participants largely agreed that there was too much childish naivety on radio and television today. They blamed it all on immaturity and sheer lack of verbal hygiene; lack of depth of character and a sense of ubunthu (cultural decency).
One elderly parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said even children’s programmes were not as childish. “These are necessary and most of them are educative. Mai Mlambo — Ambuya Chirambakusakara’s Nguva Yevana vaduku was not childish,” she said. “It was a fantastic school of moral rearmament governed by ubunthu. “Mai Mlambo” she added, “anchored this programme with skill, a maturity it deserved and wisdom.”
Said another participant, a lawyer by profession, “When radio or television puts up a talk-show programme, the assumption of listeners and viewers is that they are going to be guided by someone who knows his subject well and can influence them positively to think right and behave acceptably, not to take the radio or television as a sex tape. If the aim of the programme is to entertain listeners or viewers, the presenters are expected to exhibit sanity and good public conduct.”
The Talk-To-MM Talk Show at one stage turned very philosophical or subjective when it triggered questions and reactions like, “Sanity by whose standards? Good public conduct by what and whose measurement? What is ubunthu after all and who defines it for whom and by what authority?”
These difficult questions generated much intellectual heat and debate but all very intriguingly educative. People do argue and sometimes proffer highly dangerous views and opinions — that is natural; but deep inside always know when liberal thinking verges on the brinks of ridiculous. Over the edge!
“We all know when we talk, choose fashion trends and dress up, dance or sing, what conforms with ubunthu,” remarked one church elder . . . a pastor as a matter of fact. “We cannot sit here and pretend we don’t know the difference between being trendy and being trashy,” he said.
“In this talk-show we are not questioning sinners and Satanists who masquerade as civilised and sophisticated so-called socialites . . . and other actors and actresses who corrupt within the confines of their churches or marriages. We are talking radio and television. Those (presenters) who shock listeners with lewd language are childish presenters … no matter how old they may be — full stop!” he fumed in moderate anger. You could call it religious fury.
“Any radio or television presenter who reduces the public broadcaster to a verbal sex tape, teaching the public his or her own erotic absurdities, beliefs, philosophies or interests, some of them too weird to imagine, is mad, excuse me.”
Another speaker said some of the radio and television presenters had no regard for listeners and viewers who buy listeners’ and viewership licences to be educated, informed and entertained — even therefore paying to supplement their salaries.
“No one buys a licence to be sexually abused. The generation of radio and television speakers we have today is full of childish individuals of course. They do not care what they say during their shows or music programmes.”
Echoing the above speaker, his wife, who preferred to be known only as Maureen, concurred: “It can be quite stylish for a music DJ to comment about lyrics of a song playing or played, but alas the language we are subjected to!
Some of them and not very few, translate their understanding of the lyrics explicitly . . . graphically to the listeners without editing their language. They force their imagination on innocent listeners.” She added in vernacular, “Izvi zvaigoniwa navanaTilda Moyo, vana Tsitsi Mawarire, vana Eric Knight (The Knight Rider), vana Jabulani Mangena kuperekedza kambo nemashoko anovaka anehunhu. Nhasi hwave uvizhu-vizhu, ushwindi, ushezha, umberekete pa radio kana pachivhitivhiti! Today the oral output on radio and television is diabolical, childishly lewd and disgracefully twitterating. These faceless presenters help to make dirty music dirtier. Cry the beloved country!” she lamented.“Ndiyo Things Fall Apart chaiyo…hapana chimwe!”
“We see clowns presenting televised entertainment shows but at the same time modelling their moral disability . . . miserably cheap ubunthu, most of it not healthy for public viewing. The public broadcaster has literally become a bedrock of appalling sexy gyrations, sex lingo and sexy everything. And the worst is, children celebrate these clowns calling them their role models…celebrities who must be worshipped, imitated and idolised. You know children are not intellectually mature to discriminate showbiz nonsense from wise counsel.
“They believe, for some funny reason that radio and TV presenters are celebrities worth imitating and copying. They do not know who the wise counsellors and entertainers to listen to are and who are the fools not to listen to or follow. All of them, to them (youths) are perfect role models — radio and television celebrities, including the psychos. Please spare these young vulnerable Zimbabwean boys and girls a chance to grow into responsible adulthood,” said a female school teacher.
“Radio and television entertainment programmes have become sheer lunatic asylums. Western cultural imperialism has wreaked havoc on our children. And the culprits are some of our presenters. Too many musical programmes, especially late night listening programmes from some of the new stations, are disgraceful public ideological brothels where sick-minded presenters subject listeners to sex or sheer rape on radio. That is the best way of describing it, radio sex with a presenter literally refereeing love making.
(To be continued next week)
Online Reporter