Spicing the Discourse on Culture of Insults

Introduction
Modern Ghana’s Political Parties and or the Communication media landscapes have rapidly polarized and shifted/shifting from the structured traditional media ecosystem of radio and TV Stations and newspapers column toward a decentralized Social media etc which gave rise to a highly polarized, aggressive format of partisan warfare.

Thus the Digital and Social Media spaces in recent years saw the weaponization of platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter (X) for political rhetoric since these platforms allow anonymous and direct vitriol attacks to overshadow issues based debate or governance. Due the silence of the Intelligentsia Community, traditional and Religious opinion leaders, the situation has normalized verbal and written or visual insults, character assassination, tit-for-tat derogatory labeling by Party foot soldiers across successive Political administrations.

The situation is deepening the partisan polarization with the intense competition between the NDC and NPP with the members of the CPP and UP plus behaving as onlookers and, once in a while they open their anger fire (with fiery of rhetoric) on the NPP, thus making some people to suggest that they are in bed with the NDC, since they see only see evils of the NPP and see no evil by the ruling regime of the NDC.

So, at the epicenter of this evolution is the spicy discourse of culture of insults phenomena where verbal hostility is packed as political critique and entertainment. The volatile dynamics over the years saw the verbal bombardment Actions of the outspoken broadcaster known as Mr Kevin Taylor against the NPP, some highly respected traditional and Religious Leaders. The Actions started when the NPP was in power and still persisted though the NPP was massively defeated by the NDC in the 2024 National Election so with the NDC in power.

As Newtown’s third law of motion in physics says that Action and Reaction is equal and opposite, this was put in a song by the legendary Reggae maestro Bob Marley, tilted as Reaction with elements of the lyric that ‘To every action there is a Reaction’. So the unsparing highly polarized verbal attacks against members of the NPP, some public officials and private persons, traditional leaders and religious figures saw the subsequent emergent of TikTok personality known as Ghana Jollof as the corresponding reaction. Thus creating the Action and Reaction Cycle

So, the rise of aggressive social media with the Mr Kevin Taylor phenomenon causes a shift of Ghanaian media from the measured traditional media to raw, unfiltered and often insulting digital broadcasting space with Mr Kevin Taylor Actions style gaining million viewers presumably a reflection of the public frustration with their leaderships. This saw the Reactions of Ghana Jollof to match Kevin’s insults with a push back. Thus resulted in a social media ecosystem in which when one insults the other, the other will not back down, rather retaliates with harsher insults or cyber bullying.

Consequently, Mr Kevin Taylor with his Media is battling with a controversial TikTok personality as Ghana Jollof in the Social media ecosystem. The state of affairs look similar to the spicy and flavorful West African rice meal termed as Jollof with Ghana and Nigeria in a Ghana Jollof vs Nigeria Jollof competition to ascertain which is the better Jollof meal, that is the better Jollof meal, Ghana Jollof vs Nigeria Jollof?. The state of affairs between Mr Kevin Taylor and Ghana Jollof has made the digital media to shift the Ghanaian Political discourse from respectful debates to highly decibel confrontations with insults.

It should be noted that the rice meal known as Jollof in Ghana, is spicy with ingredients especially pepper or shitto making it very flavorful one if. But you mistakenly put too much pepper the Jollof becomes uneatable. Consequently the excessive pepper (insults, character assassination, tit-for-tat, derogatory remarks, political labeling) put by party foot soldiers is ruining the national Jollof pot, hence a threat to Social fabric/Cohesion and National Cohesion.

The Action of Mr Kevin Taylor in the loop

A1.: Mr Kevin Taylor in USA built blueprint aggressive attacks against members of the NPP, some public officials and private persons, traditional leaders and religious figures for years with his Social media platform With All Due Respect TV. This operated as a highly disruptive force in Ghana’s digital media by bypassing the structured traditional media gatekeepers and unleashed ballistic missiles of critism left, center, right, frontal and rear, hence all round. He use a distinct English and Twi to build millions of audience by the launching of the unsparing highly polarized verbal attacks against the members of the NPP, some public officials and private persons, traditional leaders and religious figures.

A2. While the NPP and some critics condemned his method as very destructive to civil debate, his supporters and sympathizers who among them are members of the NDC often championed his contents as necessary anti -corruption oversight or bold dissent against the NPP when the Party was the ruling government.

The Reaction of Ghana Jollof
R1. To Every Action there is an equal and opposite Reaction. So every Political force online eventually generates an equal and opposite counterforce. So the prolonged verbal bombardment from Mr Kevin Taylor laid the ground for a very or highly peppered rice dish of Jollof, hence very forceful with fierce and harsh counter attacks or reactions by the rapid rise of the TikTok personality as Ghana Jollof. Named metaphorically after the beloved intensely spiced with pepper West African’s rice dish as Jollof, So Ghana Jollof emerged not to de-escalate the rhetoric of Mr Kevin Taylor but to fight fire with fire.

R2. Commentators note that Ghana Jollof represents a direct replication and acceleration and opposite of Mr Kevin Taylor’s tactics. So instead of offering structured policy debate, she relied on lethal weapons of mass destruction, so with raw and explosive monologues fighting the NDC membership especially the leadership and Mr Kevin Taylor and associates left center, right, frontal, real hence all round as weapon of mass destruction.

R3. The reaction has therefore exposed the fragility of the digital media monopoly; the very tool used by Mr Kevin Taylor and dominated the political and social discourses through viral short form videos, algorithms with absolute rhetorical rudeness were weaponized by Ghana Jollof against Mr Kevin Taylor and associates.

Vicious circle
Social media is making Ghanaian political discourse to become spicy heated and highly competitive game where the battles demands an equal response in line with Newton’s third law of motion explaining how aggressive media rhetoric directly triggers equal hostile public or political counter reaction creating a vicious cycle.

So, a Case Study revealed that Media personality called Mr Kevin Taylor often highlights allegations of corruptions or systemic failure (The Action) especially during the His Excellency former President Nana Addo’s Regime of the NPP, with his delivery wrapped in harsh unyielding insults. Consequently these triggered a corresponding Reaction by Ghana Jollof with equal and Opposite Forces. Thus creating a blowback in which for every aggressive broadcast or insults through the opposing members of the political factional of NPP and NDC in general, so they do not retreat/ surrender they rather strike back with equal or greater vitriol leading to a vicious circle.

This situation creates and endless loop of polarization where no one wins but threats both social cohesion and national cohesion. So the Spicy analogy is that Ghanaians are expected to love their discourse like their Jollof spicy with rich full of flavor but just like a pot of Jollof with too much heat or pepper ruins the entire meal so the current political discourse is becoming too toxic to continue,

Free speech and freedom of expression boundaries

Whether a toxic online push back is as natural consequence of unbridled politics of insult exposes the radicalization of political discourse on digital platform, double standards of the law enforcement agencies with matters on free speech and freedom of expression boundaries. Hence boundaries as provided by the Constitution and laws should be applied fairly and transparently.

Kevin Taylor’s style which combines factual document dropping with hard-hitting personal attacks on public and traditional figures, show how society and political factions initially tolerated or cheered these tactics of Kevin Taylor when directed at opponents these resulted before National Election 2024, the emergence of Ghana Jollof and other online figures for a pushback mechanism as response to prolong unprovoked vitriol as part of self-defense.

The situations have revealed the double standards of state accountability with Law Enforcement Agencies targeting and arresting local social media affiliates of Ghana Jollof especially Ms Salomey Awiti, while local and transitional commentators as opponents, operate without immediate legal consequence.

So one may ask does the morale equivalent debate identical or not or does one rely more on raw noise while the other attempts with substantive?, whichever is the situation, the cycle is both mutually destructive and degrades national cohesion, since to every action there is a reaction.

The Way Forward or breaking the vicious circle

The key steps or the best way to stop the culture of insult in Ghana is for political leaders, media houses, and citizens to collectively reject personal attacks and enforce fair accountability from the top down approach. Faith Base Institutions can also help by speaking against the state of affairs and educate their congregants to be very civil in their public discourses. Following points provided:

1. Digital Media literacy and Regulation: Holding digital broadcasters to higher ethical standards without stifling free speech Digital literacy educating the public to recognize rage belt and choose not to react. Silence is gold so is only thing that kills toxic online action. Demand institutional accountability without vitriol, need for enforcing fair and transparent legal standards and encourage fact-based civil dialogue over cheap sensationalism So, Issue based Politics by shifting the public appetite away from sensational insults toward demanding factual policy debates. Algorithmic Accountability Pushing for digital space that highlights on solution base content over conflict driven content Constructive Satire. Shifting the energy use in the culture of insults into constructive witty satire or policy driven debate rather than personal attacks
2. Political Leadership: Political leaders from major parties like the NPP and NDC must publicly disavow/reject abusive languages and call their communicators and surrogate commentators to order. The Political leaders must model issue-based campaigning instead of rewarding or shielding vitriolic proxy speakers. So Leadership accountability require political party leaders should actively discipline and call their communicators and supporters to order instead of rewarding aggressive conducts.
3. Media Responsibility: Media houses and station managers must prioritize professional journalism over sensationalism and stop giving airtime to abusive panelists. Regulatory bodies like the National Media Commission need to strictly enforce ethical guidelines for radio, television, and online broadcasts. So Media Responsibility requires that TV/Radio Stations networks, online platforms should enforce strict codes of behavior, prioritizing issue -based debates over sensationalism.
4. Citizen Action and Social Media: Need for emotional maturity by refusing to share, like, or amplify insulting content on social media etc. The wrong accusations, propaganda, insults, defamation and aspersions like thieves, unsubstantiated allegation which are pervasive in our body politics may discourage good persons to join political parties to compete for political offices or to be political actors. Thus cutting off the oxygen supply that fuel toxic conducts is very crucial. So, Citizens must stop applauding, sharing, or rewarding online insults and toxic commentary on social media platforms. Online users should embrace digital maturity by focusing arguments on policy, development, and national issues rather than character assassination. Citizens should therefore refuse to reward insults with anger or retaliation and instead respond with calm boundaries, strategic silence or neutral redirection. Financially rewarding online trolls and inflammatory commentators on social media should be stopped.
5. Social and Cultural Standards: Communities should reinforce traditional Ghanaian values of humility, respect for elders, and civility in public discourses. Stakeholders, like chiefs and leaders and members of religious bodies must hold public dialogue to confront rising inclivity and reject the normalization of vulgar language in public spaces.
6. Law Enforcement Agency/Court: Avoid criminalizing speech. Using arrest and imprisonment to punish offensive remarks, will risk undermining free expression and revive Culture of silence. The best way is through collective dialogue and active leadership accountability and not relying on criminal arrest, persons felt offended should use civil suit or appropriate legal and regulatory consequences for cyber bullying. The law Enforcing Agencies must ensure to be professional fair loyal to the Constitution so defamation must be applied fairly without suppressing legitimate, constructive dissent.
7. Final Punch: A call for a political culture that is robust and unifying as a perfect plate of Rice dish as Ghanaian Jollof.