When I went to GAST Cinema for my late-night movie, I was hoping to see an action comedy titled Caught Stealing. However, when I reached the cinema, I was about a quarter of an hour late, and the screening had been cancelled due to no-show. Starting the movie after a significant delay would have definitely undermined the subsequent schedule, as the next run was in about two hours. Subsequently, I considered another film playing at the same time: “Weapons,” a horror movie that has received a positive reception, as evidenced by its over 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Left with no plan and still with the urge to watch something, I reluctantly opted to see it, though horror is my least favorite genre.
The movie’s plot revolves around a witch named Gladys who casts a spell on society that drains their energy, turns them against each other, causes them to self-harm, and serves her evil and self-centered purposes. Gladys is immaculate, painstakingly crafty, and brutally efficient in her machinations, leaving no room for error or any would-be adversaries. Her ploys—mind control, black magic, sheer cruelty, and utter disregard for others’ well-being, lives, and aspirations—work without a hitch, like a Swiss watch. The victims of her incomprehensible, weird, and devilishly conceived plots become avatars of her nightmarish visions, turning the most noble of men, innocent children, and unassuming folk into agents who implement her wishes. They act as if her will is their command, whimsical objects at her beck and call, and dead set on the objectives she sets.
The movie I didn’t see much promise in suddenly became highly intriguing and piqued my imagination. Seeing innocent members of society turning against each other and harming themselves was truly appalling. She turned them into zombies who acted in a preprogrammed manner, pitiable for not using their own wisdom. In short, the masses had lost their minds and their way. Like a puppeteer controlling her subjects with strings behind a curtain, she successfully maneuvered her victims into doing any act she set her mind to—and they obliged.
Her treachery reached colossal proportions when she tricked an entire classroom of children into a basement of a home she had colonized by bewitching the adults in the house—a husband and wife. Their son had been spared the spell but lived in absolute horror as his mother and father sat motionless at the dining table, staring absentmindedly at each other and saying not a single word. Gladys threatened the son, Alex, not to utter a word about them to a living soul. She cast a minor spell to show him she meant business, causing his parents to self-inflict injury on their faces with a sharp object. His parents didn’t wince as they crisscrossed their faces with the knife, as if they were peeling potatoes. Alex felt powerless as his futile attempts to stop them failed. Within minutes, their faces were covered in grotesque scars and blood. The message was loud and clear—there would be repercussions if he dared speak out. So he obeyed and kept quiet. Alex was also coerced into luring his 17 classmates into Gladys’s trap, ushering them into the underground basement by collecting personal items that she used to tether them to their confinement.
I saw a striking parallel with the zeitgeist of our era, where we are mass-fed distortions of reality, engineered narratives, and induced to feel concocted threats and fears. A spirit of apathy seems to hang over the skies of our country, where people appear unwilling even to welcome positive developments. The nation’s optimistic and resilient spirit is being dampened by waves of negative news, fabricated perspectives, and a parallel universe of falsehoods.
It is deeply concerning that virtual media platforms—supposed to create healthy social interaction—are now the primary tools of sowing discord, mistrust, and animosity. What’s more alarming is that toxic fanfare and propaganda have found an audience: a public lured, entranced, and intoxicated by sensationalized versions of reality. We have reached a convoluted and fallacious version of reality, divorced from plain, crystal truth. People have become obsessed with a dose of illusion and twisted virtual narratives rather than what they see and experience firsthand. For some, seeing and believing what is at face value amounts to a denial of their established worldview. Even if they do not deny the truth, they reinterpret it through a fallacious lens to suit their prejudice.
I was reflecting with a friend about the public reception of the recent inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam—a colossal and historic achievement by any standard. The project was a labor of love, the sum total of aspirations from citizens of all walks of life. There isn’t a single religious, cultural, or political group from the broad and polarized spectrum of entities that didn’t lay a hand in building or breathing life into the project. With this in mind, one would expect thunderous applause and rejoicing when this thousand-year aspiration came to fruition. However, the prevailing lukewarm reception—and, in the worst cases, twisted interpretations and conspiracy theories blaring confusion and murky negativity—cast doubt on people’s perspectives. Indeed, the reluctance to fully appreciate the fulfillment of a grand, longstanding dream calls for serious soul-searching.
When Moses led his people through the Exodus to the Promised Land, wandering through the hostile desert for forty years, many lost hope, reset their priorities, and created a parallel universe that suited their imagination better. Sometimes the gravity of past experiences sows the seed of pessimism, doubt, and illusion, preventing us from recognizing when the real deal is in front of us. Nothing good ever happens for those who refrain from appreciation or gratitude when good things occur. There needs to be clarity of vision, firmness of objectivity, and a positive mindset to see things as they truly are. Optimism breeds more optimism and paves the way for navigating the future with hope.
I remember a veteran colleague who once made a witty remark during a contemporary’s funeral. He said, “The good days pass us by as we doggedly wish they happen in the future, but deep down, we are never ready nor willing to embrace them when they come.” From Mount Sinai to the Jordan River, the Israelites never relented in turning down blessing after blessing, obsessed with the epic addiction to complaint and brooding over trivial obsessions.
Just like Gladys’s toxic spell played tricks on the minds of her subjects, the relentless tide of social media disinformation and misinformation seems to have taken a heavy toll on the psyche of our society. Ironically, those who propagate negative mindsets, charter narratives of falsehood and irrational bigotry, and drain the life and energy out of the nation’s aspirations are, for the most part, epic idlers of the virtual realm—contributing little to nothing, if not a detrimental influence. In yet another striking resemblance to Gladys’s spell, their concoction of toxic narratives seems to hold sway and gain traction with unsuspecting masses. These narratives are not confined to the issue of GERD, which is just one example cited, but extend across a host of issues that touch the lives of our people. In a sour irony echoing the title of the movie “WEAPONS,” we should never underestimate the power of lies. As has now become vivid and widely acknowledged—even by its original proponents—the myth of “Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction” was simply false. One exasperated commentator quipped, with biting sarcasm, that “LIES were the true weapons of mass destruction.”
There’s a famous saying that has nearly become cliché, but I admire greatly and have adopted as my personal mantra: “Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” Every morning, I try to make a conscious effort to be “alive and kicking”—starting my day with a refreshing cold shower, listening to select jazz pieces as I drive to work, enjoying whatever life offers within my means, and, most importantly, staying away from energy vampires who fixate on a pessimistic worldview. I try to maintain my mental sanity, free spirit, and love for life by avoiding toxic conversations in all forms—online, printed, audiovisual, or in person. I prefer to focus on what is positive, promising, emotionally rewarding, and ultimately promotes the well-being of those I interact with, including myself. I do this not because the world is perfect—nor is our country—but because I understand fully and consciously that no useful result comes from hate-mongering, pessimism, or ruminating on perceived ill fate.
I am only a year away from living on God’s green earth for half a century, and there has never been a time since my childhood when people didn’t lament their times, their fate, or others.
Towards the end of the movie, Gladys gets a taste of her own medicine as Alex finally gathers the courage to beat her at her own game. He casts a spell in the same fashion she did and unleashes a chain of events with unprecedented results. The 17 children she abducted storm out of captivity and chase her halfway around the town, eventually brutalizing and obliterating Gladys, the evil puppeteer. Others still under her spell keep fighting it out but eventually come to their senses as her poison wears off with the master conductor gone. An eerie silence, the lifting of the stormy cloud of falsehood, and the dawn of truth, hope, and promise gradually usher in a new day.
I sincerely hope the same will happen for our nation—may our own “Gladyses” wither and disappear beyond the horizon, their pessimistic chatter drowned by voices of hope, faith, and encouragement. In this world, absolute evil and absolute bliss occur every moment in time. Optimism and a positive attitude do not mean everything is perfect. In fact, far from it. They must be cherished, embraced, and celebrated in spite of whatever goes wrong.
Bereket Balcha holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Social Anthropology from Addis Ababa University (AAU) and a Diploma in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management from Addis Ababa Commercial College/AAU. His extensive professional background encompasses decades of experience in the aviation industry in diverse roles, complemented by a two-year engagement at the Ethiopia Insurance Corporation. He can be reached at [email protected])
Contributed by Bereket Balcha