The Debate (no.39); The pen is mightier than the sword.

Anyone who thinks the “pen is mightier than the sword, should bring his hands, let us conduct a small experiment and see something”. Just kidding… The “pen is mightier than the sword”, is a lovely topic I’ll be touching on today but let me use the opportunity to invite @basil20,@uduak3287 and @whizzbro4eva to join us.

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A lecturer back in school was trying to victimize a brilliant student because of a lady. since the student refused to back off, he started failing that particular lecturer course all the time. The guy requested for his script to be remarked. The lecturer, feeling like a mini god, chased the guy from his office. He took the matter to the HOD and DEAN of faculty but none of them took it seriously.

The boy decided to use another alternative by going big. He wrote to different newspapers publishing companies and since it was a controversial topic, it was in front page newspapers. In his report, he added the lecturer, the HOD, the DEAN of faculty including the VC. The news was going viral, phone wasn’t too popular then. The governor had to summon the VC to investigate the matter. The VC did his investigation and when they did the remarking of the script by another lecturer, the student got an “A”. The lecturer was dismissed. The pen was mightier than the sword!!

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With this short story, you can see here that “pen” signifies ideas, ability to shape people’s thoughts through communication, to persuade and to educate.

While “sword” signifies force, oppression, victimization, violence.

So, from this perspective, what I understand from this word is that intellectual power or communicating effectively to people is far more impactful than the act of violence or intimidation. This simply means intellect will win brute force any day. It’s really important as a leader, a parent or guardian, we should always strive to use peaceful means to sort out issues and see violence as last resort.

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There is this popular adage we speak all the time “actions speak louder than words” but words shouldn’t be underestimated as well because words does the underground work that propels people to take action.

Let’s take bible as an example. Bible is one of the written texts that has transformed not only the live of an individual but a nation. Bible teachings have inspired acts of charity and justice.

Another popular figure we know about is Martin Luther king with his famous word “I have a dream”. The words from this iconic orator during the march for freedom in 1963 is what inspired millions of people and provided a moral framework for civil rights reforms in the country.

We can’t complete this session without mentioning the great Nelson Mandela for his powerful speech and write up that brought about the freedom of South Africa.

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During the Niger delta crisis in Nigeria, people within that region were always scared for their lives because it was like a small war between the federal government and the militants. The militants were complaining of been marginalized, environmental degradation and oil spillage killing all the aquatic habitats, under development, poor conditions and roads.

But the former President , didn’t see the demands of this people as a big deal even when we were the major producers of oil but they chose to use military force to suppress the citizens around the area. The militants decided to bomb every oil pipeline and it made matters worse.

Then a new government took over and decided to change approach to a more diplomatic way because he saw the entire country is loosing good money because they need the oil to sustain the economy. He created room for dialogue between the militants and the government. Although few of the demands were met but this brought peace back to the region and also the country.

This is the power diplomacy have over brute force. Diplomacy brings everyone to the negotiation table for dialogue and that way building trust among the two aggrieved parties. When we use force all the time, people end up paying with their life’s, properties are destroyed. Diplomacy, is a far more softer approach to bring lasting peace and collaboration between people.

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When there is an imbalance in words over actions you start sounding like all those politicians that come out during campaign with their empty promises without taking any action. If the reverse is the case, whereby the leader only takes action without communication, the followers will start seeing him/her like a dictator and they will be face with strong resistance.

It’s very necessary that there is a balance between the both of them because actions translate words into tangible results. Objectives or vision should be communicated clearly and understandable or else it won’t motivate anyone to take action.

In Nigeria today, the theme of the protest is “ending bad governance” and we can all see people all over the street of the nation protesting with a common goal. Assuming, we were all sitting down at home like social media warriors, writing all over the internet hashtag: “end bad government”, without taking any decisive action, the government won’t take us seriously.

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With the aid of technology using social media, content creation, blogs, YouTube, individuals can now interact with live audiences to make sure their words are amplified. One popular example was during the Black Lives Matter. It gained momentum and a wider coverage through technology.

Technology has introduced cyber attacks In stealing critical information and one major tool that has been used to push propaganda and fake news that can influence public opinion about something.