OLODO: AN UPRISING OR A WELL-THOUGHT-OUT PLAN?

OLODO: AN UPRISING OR A WELL-THOUGHT-OUT PLAN?When we hear the word olodo, the first thing that comes to mind is someone that has nothing upstairs.Being academically poor ≠ being unintelligent. Olodo has been defined as:“a dull, unintelligent, or academically poor person. Literally translated from Yoruba (oní-do), it historically refers to "one who possesses zero," often implying a score of zero or a total lack of knowledge. “It's very easy to attach the title to a person we deem to be lacking in the intelligence department. Heck, we have even nominated a so-called cause of this uprising.But what if this isn't an uprising, but rather a well thought plan we were never told of?Let's start from the beginning, shall we?It all began in late June, when Ycee tagged Peller as the centre of the olodo uprising. He used the phrase during an appearance on a podcast. He used it to describe a perceived shift in societal values where intellectualism and formal education are sidelined, and online virality, sensationalism, and ignorance are actively rewarded. But is that really where things started?It all really started during covid. People were stuck at home, many had lost their jobs, schools shut down and the whole world went on pause. But something never did…Social MediaSpecifically, tiktok.Everyone felt that since there was nothing to do, why not go online and post stuff. What could possibly go wrong…?People started seeing silly dances, tutorials, how to ensure your relationship survives no contact and communication, your month, your house and so many others. These were the things that became the foundation for this soon-to-be uprising/plan.COVID didn't necessarily create the problem.It simply gave it the perfect environment to grow.People were spending more time online, looking for things to distract themselves, make them laugh and, most importantly, keep them engaged. And once we started giving our attention away, the platforms quickly learnt what kept us there.Then suddenly, people stopped liking such content and the next thing, skits came up and things seemed to have gone back to normal. People found something new to take their minds and attention away from the things going on and just let themselves laugh and breathe.If only we could go back and reverse all this…The skits were working but as we all know, not everyone is funny. So some decided to become gossip blogs and pages, creating one fake rumor or the other to keep people engaged and wanting more.Oh how blind we were.Those weren't enough, but who cared cause the world started moving and we all thought that at least, there will be some form of order again, right?Right?WRONG!It became worse. Streaming came into the mix and it changed the narrative completely.People started rewarding silly phrases, incorporating them into our daily conversations, making them our new identity. Heck, they even earned a spot in the dictionary and google even knows about them.Guy, no come here dey gbezome…Let me hear you say telepepe…Omo, una dey muzz meSo you want to be one of the members?We took them as funny phrases, it made us laugh, it got our point across to a certain group of people, it kept us on trend, it kept us present.Until it didn't. People started questioning these words, trying to decentre them from their vocabulary, but once something has laid the first brick in the foundation, it's hard to not finish the house.Then a new genre of videos started popping up. Here are a few words that rub me off the wrong way, if you say these words, you're classless, and many others.While few were advocating for these phrases to stop, we started creating meme quote videos. It became a contest of whose use of the quote has more views and reactions?While the memes were taking over, the streamers never gave up and started doing more crazy, unhinged things, saying the most random gibberish and we were eating it up as fast as they were streaming. And we still want to pin this uprising on one person?We encouraged these people by engaging with their content, following their handles and I'm sure privately texting them to sing their praises.And when Ycee talked about the uprising starting from Peller, we were all quick to agree that yes, he is the cause of it. Like we weren't part of those building the foundation, rewarding them with our presence on their streams, sharing to friends who aren't even remotely interested in any of this shenanigans.Commenting. Quoting. Repeating.Giving them more views.And then acting surprised when the culture grew.Nobody sat down and drafted this plan.At least, I hope not. We collectively built it one view, one follow, one share and one comment at a time.But here's where I think we need to be careful.Not everyone who is unconventional is unintelligent.Not everyone who doesn't speak like a professor, dress like a corporate employee or have a degree is an olodo. Someone can be academically poor and still be incredibly creative.Someone can be unserious online and incredibly intelligent offline.Someone can be completely unhinged on a livestream and still have something meaningful to contribute to society.And honestly, sometimes people are simply being themselves. That's authenticity. And I don't think authenticity is the problem. The problem begins when ignorance itself becomes the selling point.When being uninformed becomes part of your brand.When saying the most ridiculous thing possible becomes a strategy because you know people will share it.When stupidity gets rewarded not because it is authentic, but because it is entertaining. That is where I think the conversation around the olodo uprising gets interesting.Because maybe we're not actually rewarding ignorance. Maybe we're rewarding attention. And we've stopped caring about what earns it. If someone is intelligent and authentic, we'll watch them.If someone is creative and authentic, we'll watch them.If someone is funny and authentic, we'll watch them.And if someone says something completely ridiculous that makes us laugh?We'll watch that too. The algorithm doesn't care whether you're intelligent.It cares whether we stayed.Whether we liked.Whether we commented.Whether we shared.Whether we came back tomorrow. And we've become so accustomed to consuming whatever appears in front of us that we've started outsourcing our curiosity to our For You pages.We search TikTok for things we would have Googled before.We learn phrases because everyone else is saying them.We repeat things because they're trending.We watch someone do something completely ridiculous and, instead of asking why, we simply laugh, share and move on. Worst of all, we totally ignored those that were trying to educate us with their content.People with insightful and impactful things to say.People creating content that challenges us to think.People making educational videos that might actually teach us something.We've even stopped giving enough attention to academic competitions and things that challenge a person's brain to think. And then we point the finger at one guy? This was never an uprising.It was a plan we all drafted without realising it until it was too late.We were able to decenter intelligence, creativity and authenticity and publicly celebrate mass ignorance, mediocrity and borderline stupidity. And maybe that's the part that bothers me the most. Not that people are laughing.Not that people are watching streamers.Not that people have their silly phrases.Not that someone somewhere is being completely unserious on the internet. People have always enjoyed nonsense. Every generation has had its version of it. The problem is when nonsense becomes the dominant currency of our attention.When the person with the most views is automatically considered the most relevant.When virality becomes more valuable than substance.When we stop asking whether something is actually good and start asking only whether everyone else is watching it. We may be thinking, this is so true, but we may have realised a bit too late.We were meant to be the future, but there doesn't seem to be a clear picture of that anymore. And maybe the answer isn't to stop watching silly content.Maybe it's simply to stop letting silly content become all we watch.Laugh at the streamer.Enjoy the skit.Use the ridiculous phrase.Be authentic.Be unserious sometimes. But also read.Think.Question.Learn.Create.Because there is nothing wrong with being authentic. There is something wrong when ignorance becomes aspirational.And perhaps that's the real question behind the olodo uprising: Are we rewarding ignorance or authenticity?Maybe we're rewarding both.The difference is that one of them deserves to survive beyond the algorithm.The other doesn't.And we are the ones deciding which one gets the next view.

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