Scrolling through Twitter today, I saw trending tweets from one of the popular Obidient Army generals “putting her haters in their place,” and I could only shake my head.

I think I’d blame this squarely on Donald Trump because it’s after he came onto the scene in 2016 that this trend became mainstream.

I’m referring to the inability to disagree, argue, and have opposing views on matters without insulting the other party. Related to this are issues like negativity, conspiracy theories, and the use of terms such as “fake news.”

This anomaly has been fully embraced, and it has become mainstream and fashionable to be rude. In Nigeria, our youths use terms like “woto woto” and “calling out” to describe such behavior.

Most notably in Nigeria, this habit has been adopted by influencers like David Hundeyin. Hundeyin makes a lot of sense and advocates for many good causes, but it’s so disheartening that you can hardly listen to him speak on issues without him resorting to personal attacks against his opponents.

I find it distasteful and a total turn-off when people can’t stay on the issues and instead find joy in attacking the player instead of focusing on the ball.

I’d give anything to see public figures handle disagreements with the grace that people like Barack Obama or Peter Obi display. We need to make politeness popular again.