A few months ago, a friend posted a collection of famous poems on his Facebook page. These poems are well-known and do not need an introduction to their creator. I believe that the publisher of these verses considered introducing the poet as diminishing his value and fame, following the well-known rule that says "the known needs no introduction." This is from his perspective, as there are indeed things that are self-explanatory.

However, the surprise was that he received a flood of comments such as "Why did you deprive us of your poetry?", "Where have these talents been?", and so on. This forced him to reveal the identity of the famous poet and clarify that he did not write these verses. Sadly, some of these comments were from people working in the media, with all due respect to them.

This incident reminded me of another friend on Facebook who posted a picture of the late poet Amal Dunqul on his memorial and wrote, "You departed, but you remain." The comments came in saying, "May God have mercy on her" and "Who is in this picture?". Another replied, "Probably her husband," and another asked, "When did she pass away?". The series of comments ended with someone asking, "Did she have children?". I couldn't help but comment, "We didn't dare to lift our eyes towards our deadly shame!" from the poem "The Shame We Avoid" by the late Dunqul.

What we read and discuss on social media pages cannot be more accurately and beautifully described than by the late Italian philosopher and writer Umberto Eco in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa. He said that tools like Twitter and Facebook "give the right to speak to legions of idiots who were only talking in bars after a glass of wine, without causing any harm to society and being immediately silenced. Now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the fools." He then asked, "Can we silence the fools?!"

The answer: Unfortunately, we cannot silence the fools. A quick tour of social media pages, which have become quite similar to walking in a popular neighborhood where you hear someone cursing another, see a man sitting in front of his house in his underwear, another hitting his wife, or a woman talking with another about what happens behind closed doors, or a young man standing on the corner consuming prohibited substances, or witnessing something you shouldn't see, or ending up falling into an open sewer pit, leading to your demise.

Sadly, there are still those among us who do not know the difference between what should be shared on social media and what shouldn't be. Even feelings of grief, which are sacred, have become an opportunity for some to search for a death in their family to announce on Facebook. You find people writing about the death of a distant relative they may have never met or had no real human connection with.

Of course, I don't mean those who announce the death of close relatives; these are genuine feelings that should be respected. Personally, if Facebook existed when my father passed away twenty years ago or when my grandparents or uncles passed away, I would have announced it on all social media pages to share my grief with friends. I appreciate these feelings.

In addition to that, there is another type of social media users who classify themselves as experts and specialists in fields far from their actual expertise. They give themselves titles like political analysts, fans of someone who no one knows, kings of cassettes, mobile phone gurus, and various other nicknames that if Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, knew they would be on his platform, he might not have created it in the first place!

However, the most dangerous aspect lies in the spread of false information and news, which unfortunately circulates quickly on social media pages without verifying its accuracy. This has led to the sharing of Quranic verses full of spelling errors, hadiths ending with "God Almighty is truthful," or Quranic verses ending with "Narrated by Al-Bukhari," not to mention sarcastic words attributed to scholars or celebrities, which some people believe are genuine, and other disasters.

Sadly, new generations will grow up, learn, and derive their culture from social media pages run and dominated by, as Umberto Eco said, legions of idiots who used to speak in bars only after a glass of wine. Can we imagine or picture what this generation, which grew up and acquired its education and culture from social media pages, will be like?!

It is truly unfortunate what is happening in the world of media today, where it has become focused on superficial and sensational content rather than intellectual and cultural programs, as was the case in the past. This decline has not only affected television channels but also newspapers and magazines, known as print media.

Although there have been great writers and media professionals with integrity, Egypt is in dire need of a media that focuses on building, not destroying, progress, not regression. A media that nurtures the best in us, not the worst, and recognizes the value of this country and the people living in it. As Paul Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, once said, "Give me a media without a conscience, and I'll give you a people without awareness."

In every country around the world, there are clear visions, objectives, and plans for the media. However, in Egypt, the situation transcends philosophy and logic, as the Egyptian media believes in the theory of "laugh so the picture looks nice." Unfortunately, we often do not have the principles, standards, or a sincere conscience towards this country. We lack a clear vision to serve this country and operate under a "follow the herd" mentality without questioning where this herd is going.

In conclusion, a quote from the Italian philosopher Umberto Eco: "Can we silence the fools?!"

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