society
When Comfort Becomes Complicity: The Hidden Violence of Neutrality. (How moral grandstanding silences empathy and what to do about it)
When Comfort Becomes Complicity: The Hidden Violence of Neutrality. (How moral grandstanding silences empathy and what to do about it)
By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Published on SaharaWeeklyNG.com
“Sometimes when you are not the victim you turn to be a priest.” The line is brutal in its honesty. It names a human reflex we would rather deny: WHEN PAIN IS NOT OURS, WE OFTEN SERMONIZE INSTEAD OF SYMPATHIZE. We reach for tidy morality plays, not messy solidarity. We become judges in robes we stitched for ourselves; confident, distant and wrong.
This essay argues that the priestly posture (moralizing from a safe distance) does real harm. Philosophy, history and behavioral science converge on one simple fact: NEUTRALITY and MORAL GRANDSTANDING in the face of suffering enable injustice. To resist that drift, we must choose courage over commentary, action over applause and responsibility over rhetorical righteousness.
The Priestly Reflex and Its Consequences.
It is tempting to stand safely on the pavement describing the flames rather than grabbing water. Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned against this pose: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” That’s not rhetoric; it is diagnosis. Neutrality is not a vacuum, but a shelter for the powerful.
Sociology and psychology explain how we slide into the PRIESTS PULPIT. After the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New YORK (long mythologized as “38 witnesses doing nothing”) scholars Bibb Latané and John Darley designed experiments (1968–1970) that established the bystander effect: As the number of onlookers grows, the likelihood of help falls. We diffuse responsibility, assume someone else will act and talk ourselves into spiritual aloofness: “This is not my place.” The original Genovese reporting was later shown to be exaggerated in parts, but the experiments remain robust: diffusion of responsibility is real and deadly. When we are not the victim, the mind reaches for distance and the distance breeds sermons.
Philosopher Hannah Arendt offered a chilling lens: the “BANALITY of EVIL.” Much evil, she argued, is not spawned by theatrical villains but by ordinary people who outsource moral judgment to convention and bureaucracy. “The sad truth,” Arendt wrote, “is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” The priestly reflex is precisely this quiet abdication an appearance of moral clarity that hides moral laziness.
In political life, the cost is stark. Martin Luther King Jr. warned, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The phrase is not a slogan; it is a systems insight. When we treat others’ suffering as a stage on which to display our virtue, we do not disrupt the system; we stabilize it. We offer commentary instead of consequences.
Moral Grandstanding: The Sermon as Performance.
Modern ethics has a name for the priestly reflex: moral grandstanding. Philosophers Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke define it as using moral talk to impress others and elevate one’s status. It is the public square’s glittering homily, designed not to help the victim but to burnish the speaker. The result is predictable: OUTRAGE INFLATION, PERFORMATIVE PURITY TESTS and a CROWD that talks over those who are actually harmed.
Psychology adds more traps. Moral licensing whispers, “You’ve posted, protested or donated once, now you’ve done enough.” Empathy gap research shows our concern shrinks with distance, difference and politics. Paul Bloom, in AGAINST EMPATHY, cautions that unexamined empathy can be biased; he recommends compassion guided by reason. The point is not to feel less but to act more intelligently: to pair warm HEARTS with cool HEADS.
Economists Ernst Fehr and Simon Gächter showed that communities flourish when members are willing to bear a cost to punish WRONGDOING, even as uninvolved third parties. This “ALTRUISTIC PUNISHMENT” knits social order by signaling that injustice will meet resistance. In other words: the antidote to the priestly pose is accountable action, not decorative outrage.
Philosophy’s Demands: From Spectatorship to Stewardship.
Long before social media, Adam Smith described the “impartial spectator,” an inner witness that checks our ego and urges justice. Properly formed, this spectator does not excuse indifference; it rebukes it. Peter Singer sharpened the edge: “If it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought to do it.” The drowning child in Singer’s famous thought experiment is not a metaphor to admire, but a command to act.
Edmund Burke is often misquoted, but his verified counsel is tougher and truer: “WHEN BAD MEN COMBINE, the GOOD must ASSOCIATE; else they will FALL one by one.” The instruction is collective. Association (organized, disciplined, sustained) is the opposite of priestly posturing. It is solidarity operationalized.
How the Priest Shows Up Today.
Victim-blaming in public discourse: We search for the victim’s mistake to absolve ourselves. Did they dress wrongly, protest poorly, speak too loudly? The “PRIEST” asks how the hurting invited their hurt.
Policy debates as morality theater: We score points; THE POOR PAY COSTS. When food, housing or migration becomes a backdrop for brand-building, real families become scenery.
Neutrality masquerading as professionalism: Institutions hide behind “PROCESS” while harm compounds. Procedure without courage is ritual; priestly incense masking the stench of neglect.
What To Do Instead: A Brief Ethics of ANTI-PRIESTHOOD.
Move first, MORALIZE LATER. When harm is clear, action precedes analysis. Call the ambulance, secure the scene, offer the seat, share the meal, transfer the funds, sign the affidavit. Discuss theory after the danger has passed.
Center those harmed. “Nothing about us without us” is more than a slogan; it is a safeguard. Design responses with, NOT FOR, the people affected.
Invest where it hurts (aA LITTLE). If help costs nothing, it usually changes nothing. TIME, MONEY, RISK and REPUTATION are CURRENCIES of real SOLIDARITY.
Build associational power. Burke was right: ORGANIZE. JOIN UNIONS, CIVIC GROUPS, NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHES, LEGAL DEFENSE FUNDS, FAITH COMMUNITIES. Lone priests deliver sermons; communities deliver outcomes.
Measure outcomes, not applause. Swap “DID I SOUND RIGHTEOUS?” for “Did we reduce suffering? Did we increase safety, freedom and dignity?”
Choose principled dissent over fashionable outrage. King again: courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. When your coalition is wrong, say so. When the headline is misleading, correct it; especially if it flatters your side.
Practice disciplined compassion. Bloom’s caution matters: PAIR FEELING with FACT. Target aid where it works; test programs; correct course. COMPASSION without COMPETENCE exhausts.
The Civic Stakes.
History is merciless to spectators. Societies do not collapse in a single dramatic act; they erode by a thousand small abdications: someone else will speak; someone else will vote; someone else will resist. The priestly reflex institutionalizes those abdications. It trains a generation to curate moral identities rather than carry moral burdens.
We can do better. The first step is to retire the pulpit we drag everywhere. The second is to recover the oldest civic technology human beings possess: showing up. Aristotle wrote that we become just by doing just acts. Not by liking just posts or issuing just statements; but by DOING.
A Final Word to the “Priest” in All of Us.
You and I are not exempt. We are all, at times, the safe commentator, the tasteful neutral, the careful non-participant. Let us give that figure a new liturgy”: When a NEIGHBOR SUFFERS, show up.
When a stranger is targeted, STAND NEAR.
When a rule shields cruelty, BREAK the SILENCE and sometimes the RULE.
When your comfort depends on someone else’s risk, TRADE your COMFORT.
The work is not glamorous. It will not feel like a sermon. It will look like grocery runs, witness statements, donated hours, early votes, shared platforms and hard conversations with your own allies. It will feel small; until it doesn’t.
The line we began with remains our warning and our way out: SOMETIMES WHEN YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM YOU TURN to be a PRIEST. The task is to turn, instead, into a neighbor. Let the record show that in our time the bystanders learned to MOVE, the neutral learned to CHOOSE and the preachers without practice learned to put their hands to the FIRE.
~ George Omagbemi Sylvester
Banwo Questions Omokri’s Conduct After Appointment As Ambassador
Political commentator and founder of the Naija Lives Matter Organisation (NLM), Dr. Ope Banwo, has raised concerns about the conduct expected of diplomats following the appointment of Reno Omokri as Nigeria’s ambassador to Mexico.
In an article published on his website, www.mayoroffadeyi.com, Banwo argued that individuals appointed to represent Nigeria abroad are expected to maintain a level of neutrality and decorum that reflects the country’s diplomatic traditions.
The article titled “The Strange Case of Reno Omokri,” questions whether the tone of public political engagement associated with Omokri’s social media presence aligns with the expectations of diplomatic service.
Omokri, a former presidential aide who has built a strong online following through commentary on Nigerian politics and governance, was recently appointed as Nigeria’s envoy to Mexico.
According to Banwo’s article, the role of an ambassador requires a transition from partisan political commentary to broader national representation.
“An ambassador represents the entire nation and not a political party,” Banwo wrote, noting that diplomats are traditionally expected to avoid public political confrontations that could affect international perceptions of their countries.
He contrasted the roles of political campaigners and diplomats, arguing that the two require different communication styles and responsibilities.
“Politics is combative while diplomacy is measured,” Banwo stated in the article, emphasizing that ambassadors typically engage in dialogue, negotiation and relationship-building rather than domestic political disputes.
Banwo also pointed to the historical composition of Nigeria’s diplomatic corps, which has largely included career diplomats trained in international relations and protocol.
According to him, such professionals are accustomed to maintaining restraint in public communication because their statements can carry official implications.
The article also referenced the biblical book of Ecclesiastes to illustrate the author’s broader reflections on leadership and public office.
Banwo noted that the appointment of political figures to diplomatic positions is not unusual globally but stressed that such appointments usually come with expectations of behavioural adjustments.
He urged Nigerian public officials who hold diplomatic positions to prioritise the country’s international image and approach public commentary with caution.
“Nigeria deserves ambassadors who elevate the country’s image,” he wrote.
How OPay Is Turning Product Architecture Into a Customer Service Advantage
In high-volume fintech markets like Nigeria, customer service can no longer sit at the end of the business process. When a platform serves tens of millions of users and processes millions of transactions every day, the old model of customer service, call centres, long queues, and manual complaint handling quickly becomes too slow, too costly, and challenging to scale.
The future of customer service in fintech is not just about answering calls faster. It is about preventing problems before they happen. This is where product design, technology, and risk systems begin to play a bigger role. Instead of reacting to customer complaints, modern fintech platforms are now building customer protection and support directly into the app experience itself.
OPay is one of the platforms showing how this shift works in practice.
Over the past few years, OPay’s product development has followed a clear pattern. New features are not only designed to make payments easier, but also to reduce errors, prevent fraud, and lower the number of issues that customers need to complain about. In simple terms, many customer service problems are stopped before users even notice them.
One of the strongest examples of this approach is OPay’s real-time fraud and scam alerts. Traditionally, customers only contact support after money has already left their account. At that point, the damage is done, emotions are high, and recovery becomes more complex. OPay’s system works differently. When a transaction looks unusual, based on amount, timing, behaviour, or pattern, the system raises a warning before the transfer is completed. This gives users a chance to pause, review, and confirm. In many cases, this stops fraud before it happens.
For users, this feels like protection built into the app, not an emergency response after a loss. For the business, it means fewer fraud cases, fewer complaints, and less pressure on customer support teams. This proactive model aligns with global fintech best practices, which prioritise prevention over recovery.
Another important layer is step-up security for high-risk or high-value transactions. As users move more money and rely more heavily on digital wallets, security cannot be one-size-fits-all. Adding too many checks to every transaction creates frustration. Adding too few creates risk. OPay balances this by applying stronger security only when it is needed. For example, biometric verification and additional authentication steps are triggered in sensitive situations. This keeps everyday transactions smooth, while adding extra protection when the risk is higher. This approach builds trust quietly. Users may not always notice the security working in the background, but they feel the result: fewer unauthorised transfers and fewer urgent problems that require support intervention.
Beyond visible features, OPay also runs behaviour-based risk systems in the background. These systems monitor patterns such as sudden device changes, unusual login behaviour, or transaction activity that does not match a user’s normal habits. When something looks off, the system responds automatically. Most users never see these checks. But their impact shows up in fewer failed transactions, fewer reversals, and fewer cases where customers need to chase resolutions. As a result, customer service interactions shift away from crisis handling toward simple guidance and assistance.
Together, these layers form what can be called an invisible customer service system. Many issues are intercepted early, long before they become formal complaints. User sentiment on social media provides real-world signals of how this system is being experienced. On X (formerly Twitter), some users have publicly shared their experiences with OPay’s responsiveness and reliability.
One user, @ifedayo_johnson, wrote, “Opay has refunded it almost immediately. Before I even made this tweet but I didn’t notice. logged it as transfer made in error on the Opay app and they acted almost immediately. Commendable. Thank you @OPay_NG. I’m very impressed with this!”
Another user, @EgbonAduugbo, shared “The reason I love opay so much is that you hardly ever have to worry, wait or call their customer service for anything cuz everything just works!”
While social media comments are not formal performance metrics, they matter. They reflect how real users feel when systems work smoothly and issues are resolved quickly, often without friction. This product-led customer service model becomes even more important when viewed in the context of OPay’s scale. At this scale, even minor improvements in fraud prevention or transaction success rates can prevent thousands of potential complaints every day. In this context, customer service is no longer driven mainly by headcount. It is driven by engineering choices, risk models, and system design.
OPay’s journey suggests what the future of fintech in Africa may look like. The next generation of leaders will not only be those with the most users, but those whose systems are designed to protect users, resolve issues quickly, and reduce friction at scale.
society
Phillips Esther Omolara : Answering The Call To Worship And Transforming Lives Through Gospel Music
Phillips Esther Omolara : Answering The Call To Worship And Transforming Lives Through Gospel Music
Introduction : Phillips Esther Omolara (Apple Of God’s Eye) is an Inspirational and passionate Nigerian gospel music minister, singer, and songwriter dedicated to spreading the message of Christ through her songs.
Background : I was born and brought up in Lagos State. I am a devoted gospel minister and a worship leader who began her musical journey in the children choir later graduated to adult church choir at a young age, leading praises and also a vocalist in the choir.
Early Life : I was born on April 8th 1990 in Lagos, Phillips Esther Omolara is a native of Oyo state in Ogbomosho.
Family : Got married to Phillips Oluwatomisin Omobolaji from Ogun State and our union was blessed with children.
Education : I went to Duro-oyedoyin nursery and primary school Ijeshatedo, Lagos, where I laid the foundation for my academic pursuits. For my secondary education, I attended Sanya Grammer school in Ijeshatedo, Lagos.
During my high school years, I was already deeply involved in church activities. After completing my secondary education, Phillips Esther pursed higher education at Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).
Musical Style : Known for [e.g., Inspirational songs, Contemporary Worship, Highlife, Reggae, Traditional Yoruba], and my music blends spiritual depth with creative musicality.
INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCES : I have no specific role model in the gospel music industry. However, I have expressed my love for songs from several Veteran gospel artists who have influenced my musical journey.
Some of the gospel artists whose music i admires include:
* Mama Bola Are
* Tope Alabi
* Omije Ojumi
* Baba Ara
* Bulky Beks
Mission : My ministry focuses on leading people to the presence of God and creating an atmosphere for miracles.
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