The comments section of social media has quietly become one of the most toxic public spaces of our time. As the country prepares for a snap election in March, this toxicity has only intensified. Everyone seems to have found their own political saviour, someone who will miraculously fix everything overnight.
Genuine debates based on policies and agendas are rare. Instead, timelines are flooded with abuse, personal attacks, and language so venomous that ordinary citizens hesitate even to read it.
In this chaotic space, many self-appointed patriots claim exclusive ownership of nationalism. Anyone who supports a different party or holds a differing opinion is instantly labelled as jholey. The idea that multiple perspectives can coexist in a democracy seems to have been forgotten. Hidden behind fake profiles and anonymous accounts, people unleash hatred without fear of consequences, accountability, or reflection.
This anger, however, does not exist in a vacuum. We are a young country, yet there is little pride in our literacy rate, our employment figures, our infrastructure, or our overall human development indicators. Our economy remains small, social progress slow, and opportunities limited. An entire generation is frustrated not without reason. Promises were made repeatedly by leaders across ideologies and systems, but delivery has remained painfully inadequate.
At the most basic level, people are not asking for miracles. A normal citizen simply wants enough income to live with dignity and spend time with family. Yet even this modest aspiration has remained unfulfilled for far too long, despite the country being rich in natural and human resources. While neighbouring countries that once shared similar challenges have surged ahead, we find ourselves struggling to even take the first steps toward meaningful development.
There are countless areas demanding our collective attention: education, employment, healthcare, infrastructure, governance, and foreign policy, to name just a few. Instead of blindly worshipping political figures, we should be challenging leadership to present clear priorities and credible agendas. We should be asking hard questions and voting based on policies, not personalities.
Unfortunately, social media algorithms reward outrage over substance. We are repeatedly shown the same faces, those who know how to manipulate attention rather than those who offer solutions. In the process, we have stopped asking about economic plans, social reforms, health systems, or long-term national strategy. Politics has turned into hero-worship, and disagreement is met with profanity rather than reason.
Perhaps it is time to pause. To take a deep breath. And to think seriously about the future of this country, not through anger-filled comment threads, but through informed dialogue, accountability, and a renewed sense of shared responsibility.