HIBAPRESS – Rabat
In this country, it is enough for an event to happen for everyone to turn into experts overnight, no certificates are required, no scientific data, and no waiting for official clarification.
Thus, and in a matter of only two weeks, Moroccans transitioned from forty million coaches and football analysts, explaining tactics and dismissing coaches, to forty million experts in dam engineering and water basin management, as if knowledge is a button that is pressed with every new "trend." This rapid transformation coincided with the floods of Ksar El Kebir, where a large number of social media activists came out to speak with strange confidence about the collapse of the Wad El Makhazin dam, and about opening the dams, and about imminent disasters. The talk was not based on any scientific data or reliable sources, but rather relied on speculation and exaggeration, which contributed to spreading fear and confusion among citizens at a time when there was an urgent need for calm and prudence. The most dangerous thing in the matter is that the rumor is no longer just a passing word, but has become a circulating news, passed on by thousands in a matter of minutes, some deal with disasters as an opportunity to increase the number of followers, and others are looking for the role of "the know-it-all," not realizing that spreading fear can be more harmful than the event itself, as collective panic, when it spreads, turns into a psychological and social crisis parallel to the natural crisis. The real problem is not in asking questions or expressing concern, as that is a legitimate right, but in excluding the voice of specialization and despising scientific knowledge. Issues such as dams and floods are subject to precise calculations and complex technical standards that cannot be reduced to a post or a short video, because when the non-specialist speaks with excessive confidence, he misleads more than he explains, and complicates the situation instead of contributing to its understanding. We are not required to understand everything, and there is no shame in admitting ignorance in some areas, the real shame is turning ignorance into public opinion, and opinion into an absolute truth. What we need today is not forty million virtual experts, but forty million responsible citizens, who investigate information, respect specialization, and realize that confronting disasters begins first by containing the rumor before containing the water.
