Daniel 5:14
USUALLY Daniels are known to be brave as was depicted in
most of the literatures of this world including that of Shakespeare, who told
those who care to know that a Daniel has come to judgment.
This phrase, ‘A Daniel has come to judgment’ is associated
to “Someone who makes a wise judgment about something that has previously
proven difficult to resolve.” Originally, this phrase alludes to the Biblical
character Daniel, who was attributed with having fine powers of judgment.
In
Daniel 5:14 of King James Version, which read in part: “I have even heard of
thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding
and excellent wisdom is found in thee.”
But populating this verse for the first time was
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, written in 1596: Shylock says: A Daniel
come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!
Daniel and Arik judgment:
The story of the 15-year old student who concealed himself
in an aircraft tyre compartment and flew from Benin to Lagos, may not have come
to some Nigerians as a surprise, given the effects of technologies in our lives
and one of such is the Television technology, which could have led Daniel to
think he embarked on a good judgment by undertaking his adventure, which he
thought was heading to United States, as reported.
Daniel Oikhena is known in his neighbourhood in Benin city,
capital of Edo State, as a Television addict, unknown to many, according to his
mother, Mrs. Evelyn Oikhena. Daniel’s adventure was a very rare one as it
turned out to be that the Junior Secondary School (JSS) One student in Benin,
penultimate Saturday, August 24, 2013, unlawfully travelled to Lagos, hidden in
the wheel compartment of an Arik Air flight W3 544, in what aviation experts
described as stowaway.
She expressed surprised that her 15-year-old Daniel could
embark on such a risky adventure and promptly dismissed claims of maltreating
Daniel in any form at home.
“I did not maltreat him. I don’t even joke with my
children’s education. I give them the best education. Everybody knows me. Ask
of me at Oba Market - in Benin. The only thing that bothers me now is how my
daughter will go to school, a Federal Government college,” she declared, adding
“Daniel does not have friends. He hardly leaves home. I don’t know where he was
going in Lagos; we don’t have any relative in Lagos. I have never been to the
airport. But I cannot deny the fact that he might have been to the airport when
he was attending a private school, but I’m not aware of when this happened.
Addicted to TV, but I am innocent:
Narrating what she knew about the adventure by Daniel, the
mother noted that when she heard the news initially, she was devastated and
that her joy now is that he is alive. “I want the government to help me. I did
not send him. I’m innocent.”
Mrs. Oikhena went on to say that on Saturday, morning on
return from elder sister’s house, who put to bed, she couldn’t find Daniel and
her daughter informed that they quarreled the previous night because he woke up
in the midnight to watch movies and she told him to go to bed and stop watching
movies. She said he eventually slept in the parlour while she went back to
sleep in the room.
“… What I know is that he is always watching films in the
house but he doesn’t have friends,” Mrs. Oikhena maintained.
A Television is defined as a system for transmitting visual
images and sound that are reproduced on screens, largely used to broadcast
programmes for entertainment and was taken synonymsly pronounced as: telly -
video - television set.
Television is no mere metaphor:
However, Online Wikipedia says Television addiction has been
subject of controversy, which has proved itself over time, describing it as a
disorder studied in television studies where the subject has a compulsion to
watch television programming. As such, the compulsion could be extremely
difficult to control in many cases. It has many parallels to other forms of
behavioral addiction, such as addiction to drugs or gambling, which create an
altered mental state in the subject. It can occur at any age.
The Nielsen data of December 2009 showed that watching TV is
the world’s most popular pastime, mostly for Americans who reportedly devote 35
hours a week to watch TV. Relatively, in spite of the economic downturn,
globally accepted and more visible in development counties like Nigeria, most
people see buying of television sets as a sign of economic relief from bondage.
Messrs Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in their
“Television is no mere metaphor” study defined the power of Television in three
formats, including reaffirmation that television is the world’s most popular
pastime. Noting that on average, individuals in the industrialized world devote
three hours a day to the pursuit—half their leisure time and more than any
single activity except for work and sleep.
Secondly, they posited that people who watch a lot of
television could exhibit symptoms similar to substance dependence, including
making repeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use and even experiencing
withdrawal when use stops. And thirdly, that part of TV’s attraction springs
from biological “orienting response” an instinctive visual or auditory reaction
to any sudden or novel stimulus.
The mouse by cheese:
They alluded that perhaps the most ironic aspect of the
struggle for survival is how easily organisms can be harmed by that which they
desire, adding that the trout is caught by the fisherman’s lure, the mouse by
cheese. Stressing that at least, those creatures have the excuse that bait and
cheese look like sustenance. Humans, therefore, seldom have that consolation.
Just as the temptations that could disrupt their lives are often pure
indulgences. “No one has to drink alcohol, for example. Realizing when a
diversion has gotten out of control is one of the great challenges of life.”
As said by them, excessive cravings do not necessarily
involve physical substances. Even as gambling could become compulsive; and sex
could become obsessive.
Love-hate relationship:
One activity, however, they said, stands out for its
prominence and ubiquity; the world’s most popular leisure pastime, television,
despite most people admitting having a love-hate relationship with it. They
also complain about the “boob tube” and “couch potatoes,” then they settle into
their sofas and grab the remote control.
Parents, the report said, commonly fret about their
children’s viewing, if not their own. Even researchers who study TV for a
living marvel at the medium’s hold on them personally. Percy Tannenbaum of the
University of California at Berkeley described it thus: “Among life’s more
embarrassing moments have been countless occasions when I am engaged in
conversation in a room while a TV set is on, and I cannot for the life of me
stop from periodically glancing over to the screen. This occurs not only during
dull conversations but during reasonably interesting ones just as well.”
DigitalSENSE Business News gathers that scientists have been
studying the effects of television for decades, generally focusing on whether
watching violence on TV correlates with being violent in real life. Although,
less attention has been paid to the basic allure of the small screen—the
medium, as opposed to the message.
The term “TV addiction” the duo said, is imprecise and laden
with value judgments, but it captures the essence of a very real phenomenon.
Psychologists and psychiatrists formally defined substance dependence as a
disorder characterized by criteria that include spending a great deal of time
using the substance and using it more often than one intends; thinking about
reducing use or making repeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use; giving up
important social, family or occupational activities to use it; and reporting
withdrawal symptoms when one stops using it.
Watching TV is not problematic:
All these criteria, DigitalSENSE Business News, gathered could apply
to people who watch a lot of television. That does not mean that watching
television, per se, is problematic. Television could teach and amuse; it could
reach aesthetic heights; it could provide much needed distraction and escape.
Messrs Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi added that
the difficulty arises when people strongly sense that they ought not to watch
as much as they do and yet and themselves strangely unable to reduce their
viewing. Some knowledge of how the medium exerts its pull may help heavy
viewers gain better control over their lives.
In order to kick the habit of Television addict out of your
life, the authors had advised that individuals or families who want to achieve
better control of their TV viewing could try to raise awareness, promote
alternative activities, exercise will power, enforcing limits, blocking
channels, viewing selectively, using the Video Cassette Recorder (VCR), going
cold turkey, supporting media education.
Daniel gets scholarship:
But the good news is that the Stowaway boy, Daniel Oikhena,
may have after all achieved something with his Arik flight adventure as the a
group known as De Raufs, a volunteer group extolling the virtues of Ogbeni Rauf
Aregbesola, Governor of Osun State, volunteered to sponsor Daniel Oikhena up to
university level and help him realise his dream of travelling by air logically.
Director General, De Raufs, Comrade Amitolu Shittu, gave
this hint in a press statement saying the group is ready to give scholarship to
Daniel up to university level and help him realise his dream.
“Genius and ambitious citizen of our country must not be
suffocated on the altar of political and bureaucratic enforcement. The little
boy’s ambition should be nurtured through qualitative education, and the group
is ready to give the boy all the necessary support to make his dream a
reality,” he said
Shittu also said that sincerely his group is willing to offer
him the scholarship to encourage thousands of teenagers who are cerebral and
ambitious. Stressing, “The leaders in
Nigeria fail on their part to see the potential of the little boy. Therefore,
De Raufs takes up the responsibility to safe the future of this great boy and
not turning him to criminal.”
Last line:
It will be interesting to have a study conducted on the life
style of Daniel Oikhena and in the actual sense, how this affects or transforms
his life in the nearest future. May be the Ministry of Youth Development both
at the Edo State and Federal, should as matter of concern have focus interest
on Daniel Oikhena, until then, he has made it as a Nigerian to fly for almost
an hour from Benin to Lagos.
For some, disappointed Daniel Oikhena is a psycho-case,
while the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) continues to trade
blames with Arik Air, it goes to show that our airports lack requisite
securities to not only safeguard the passengers and planes, hence, FAAN need to
step up the security at the existing airports. Thank God it’s not a case of
suicide bomber.
*Remmy Nweke with agency reports
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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