Everybody wants fame and fortune, without having to put in the hard work.
That’s the message I got from what I hope was the final chapter in the “Dr” Matthew Lani saga. He is one of the many fake professionals I highlighted last week.
After being barred from the Helen Joseph Hospital in Gauteng, he was caught trying to sneak back in, presumably to make more misleading TikTok content.
After denials and attempts to prove his credentials, the not-so-good “doctor” was finally forced to admit that he is in fact not a medical professional and did it all just to become a social media star.
The drama shines a light on what I fear is becoming a silent epidemic among our young people; a kind of desperation to be famous, while also not being prepared to work honestly and consistently towards that goal.
And of course their addiction to social media is to blame, because all they see are fabulous results posted by influencers day in and day out, never the hard slog it takes to get there.
Nobody makes serious videos about their many failures, because that’s just not good content. They only show the glitz and gloss, carefully curated to give their followers the impression of not only moderate success, but extreme prosperity.
Laaities are being bombarded with these messages on the daily, distorting reality and eliciting feelings of both envy and inadequacy.
It therefore comes as no surprise that some will look for a shortcut to these supposed instant riches. Because on the surface, it looks like their TikTok idols got there smoothly and without much effort.
So why should they put in any prolonged effort to achieve their own dreams? It’s such a dangerous delusion that is still going to play out in the same way, many more times.
It doesn’t help that many of our political leaders and business people are openly living large from monies earned through corruption, theft and other nefarious activities.
It is driving our laaities insane and now they all believe that they too will become wildly successful influencers and YouTubers.
They are not prepared to work for it and they are not prepared to wait.
But like any good doctor will tell you, what all of them and Lani need to become famous is diligent work, a steady moral compass and lots of patience.