The Standard of Influence

America is indeed a great country. They are the largest export of culture in the world via the media of movies, music and democracy. Even though their financial capability have whittled down considerably since the 2008 financial meltdown, they still remain a force to be reckoned with.

America's greatness lies in the image it has been able to successfully sell to the world. Its massive advertising prowess is evident in musical and movie preferences, fashion trends, exotic lifestyle, government systems, consumer models and the likes. Never underestimate phrases like 'The American Dream', 'the greatest nation on earth' etc, that make peoples of the world migrate in droves and aspire to be American.

While this ability is impeccable because they actually do have a system that works and are indeed a great nation, do we really have to kowtow to everything they do?

Every individual nation is unique in its own way. Take Nigeria, for instance. Nigeria is possibly the closest to American in the African continent because of its diversity but the incidents that gave birth to both countries are miles apart. While America is a creation of consensus, Nigeria is a creation of colonialism and is united by shared experiences. So what makes America the standard of influence?

Today, the world is inundated with images of what is right. The West has toppled nations that did not embrace democracy and every day, we are persuasively encouraged by the media on culture switch and sadly, most of us are victims, myself included.

The influence of Western pop culture is evident in everyday life world over through the medium of entertainment and rightly so as entertainment has taken the forefront in today's world. The irresistible glitz and glamour rightly coincides with the fact that the industry has become one of the highest industry earners in the world today.

Hollywood and TV contributes a whopping $175 billion annually to the US economy with over $15 billion going to taxes. This is more than the annual budget of most African countries! In Nigeria, the story is pretty much the same. Nollywood has become the third largest movie industry in the world, grossing about $286 million annually and the music industry in Nigeria is the largest in Africa.

While we applaud the successes of the industry, what are its implications in terms of subliminal messaging? In Nigeria, there is a gradual extinction of our indigenous cultures as our generation have become increasingly "westernized". Just like how our indigenous religion caved in to western superiority, the same is now the case with regard to our culture.

One cannot help but notice that West's moral bankruptcy is now the new gospel. In almost all aspects of our social life that has to do with the media, our subconcious is battered endlessly with fads that has gradually eroded our cultural identity.

Granted, the new way of life as advertised is quite attractive, some of it anyway but the danger it portends is not to be ignored. I was in a gathering of young people recently and could hardly believe the amount of hogwash I heard. Our young people are more fixated on morally bankrupt programs like Keeping Up With The Kardashians and the likes than understanding the history of Nigeria. I was mortified when one of these persons had not an inkling of what a parliamentary system of government was but she could tell me in detail of the Kardashians if I had asked.

Little wonder why some of these undergrads are unpeturbed about the current ASUU strike.

I fear for the new generation. With the prominence of Google which has made information easy to retrieve, I find it hard to understand why youths of today are not walking encyclopedias.

Inasmuch as we may choose to ignore it, we are gradually building an army of educated illiterates who know little or nothing about the world we live in. While a big chunk of blame would naturally go the high level of decay in the educational sector, the truth is that the thirst for knowledge has been relegated to the background for other valueless pursuits.

The world has become too fast-paced. Proper parenting is becoming a myth and this is probably the major blame-taker. Kids of today have become too worldly-wise because of improper supervision. The family is no longer the first agent of socialisation as unrestricted access to adult-stuff now lies at their finger tips and being impressionable creatures, you'd be surprised about how much they have learned; knowledge that they can't handle.

It is in this that opinions are formed and habits, learned. Without doubt, the perceived drudgery of reading a book is cast aside for the more promising excitement that the glimmer of entertainment has to offer.

It is important for today's parents to strive to instill a little analogue into this generation of digital kids. While I'm always impressed when I see kids that can operate iPads comfortably, how well can they read a book or write? What is their thought process like? Have they been configured to just be users and not makers?

The standard of influence has to change.

I am @saymalcolm on twitter.

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