> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bontehmagazine.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The TikTokification of the Republic - URL: https://www.bontehmagazine.com/the-tiktokification-of-the-republic/ - Published: 2026-08-01T13:17:54.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-01T13:17:54.000Z - Description: Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil, but against stupidity, we are defenseless. - Author: B. Engelbert Jr - Tags: Opinion The insanity we’re exposed to all started when social media normalized people saying *‘I am who I say I am’.* Of course, you’re not. When a society is predicated on people defining what is good for them, not being held accountable for their actions — the result is a community of social media trolls, keyboard warriors, cyberbullies (who commit atrocities in their anonymity) and recently obscenity live on TikTok, hoping that isn’t too mild a word for pornography. How bad can this get? In 2016, it was awkward listening to a voice note on Whatsapp from your best friend in public. People were scared of having their private conversations, gists and banter, eavesdropped by a third pair of ears. That was sane. Ten years later, opening the Tiktok app is even greater embarrassment. The app is crammed with obscenity, slurs and constant “dragging”, as the term goes. Not to mention that there’s infinite incentive for those who can spend hours trolling and throwing shade at one another. That’s basically the reward mechanism for ‘Box Battles’ – you win, you toss the worst possible kinds of insult and degrading commands at your opponent. The notoriety of accounts like Grand Ndive, Slim and his cabal – gives us an idea of the direction towards which our community is headed – what we’ll spend our data on, our priorities and glorification of ‘who they say they are’, again, they're not. > There is growing concern to this phenomenon, “The Ministry of Public Health should classify TikTok battles as a communicable disease.” Cameroonian entrepreneur Chi Sohfor remarked on Facebook in his storm against the black app, pointing out that **“TikTok has done what colonialism failed to do”.** As inflammatory as this sounds, it suggests the mess the application has put us in. This is definitely the inflection point in our culture; a radical shift from community morality to self-aggrandized narcissistic trolls. Growing up, especially in our African rural communities, it was taboo to use profane language be it in private or public. The piercing gaze from your parents, elders and uncles was sufficient to call you to order, we’re clearly losing that. The old and the young are muddled in the Tiktok republic, the black app, with filters smoothing-out wrinkles that prevent you from distinguishing who’s old and who’s not. “I big pass you”, hints at seniority but not sufficient because everyone alleges that. How bad can it get? In all these, there’s no corrective mechanism from any government institution to prevent the spread of this “pandemic”. Some may say that’s tempering with freedom of expression (what they imply is freedom to express profanity during 24-hour viewership during live sessions) but there should be guide rails. ‘When should far be far enough?’ is a good question to contend with. > Yet, the greater evil of the Tiktokification of our republic goes beyond the trolls and outrage but how much our critical thinking is affected. That’s stupidity: not lack of intelligence, according to German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil”, he wrote from a Nazi prison – arguing that “against stupidity, we are defenseless”. We’ve deliberately outsourced our analytical reasoning to influencers and anyone who is able to garner the highest number of viewers on a live session. To be fair to the app, there are good actors. Let’s take the works of Prophet Orock Betang, who uses the same black app to spread love and support to the Cameroonian community, at home and abroad. You need not be a believer or follower of his ministry to appreciate the incredible works he’s doing. Multiples times he’s raised millions of francs for people stranded abroad, capital for businesses and best of all is the constant counsel he gives to his followers. All of it void of noise, outrage and belittling — just to serve the algorithm. As individuals and a collective, we can do better by being mindful of our outings, calling out on one another’s excesses and, tacitly, agreeing on what is shameful behavior — over the constant desire to humiliate. For the good of posterity, we can do better. Now, more than ever, societal responsibility needs to be embraced. It takes a village to keep a society sane which can be achieved only if we act as a collective, for the greater good. Social media doesn’t forget, neither should we.