Authorities removed all Death Note books from the market following the suicide of young Narovana in January. Although the book did not encourage readers to commit suicide, the girl believed in reincarnation and wanted to become a boy. Six months after the tragedy, her parents gave testimony on the national television channel. Their courage in reopening this wound is commendable, aimed at preventing similar incidents among other children. Yet why wait so long, when other damage could have occurred in the meantime, and when time might have already begun its healing work? Notably, it was the national channel that broadcast the parents' testimony, a practice it rarely engages in. If the goal was to redirect public opinion to make people forget certain things, it succeeded.
At least everyone now realizes the damage that reading, viewing, and exposure to foreign cultures can cause children and adolescents. The solution extends beyond monitoring and controlling young people's activities and influences. Foreign phenomena adopted by youth through imitation have always existed, from the hippie movement to Woodstock, where alcohol and drugs flowed as American youth protested the Vietnam War. Though Madagascar had nothing to do with this festival, it had its effect, and artists and young people reproduced it.
Today, we witness an influx of all kinds of foreign cultures and literature among young people. These are typically intended for youth in the countries that invented them. But for a country like Madagascar, which has become a Society of Unlimited Responsibility (SARI), there are no safeguards against these frivolities. There was a time when K-pop wreaked havoc for years, with annual gatherings where young people dressed, spoke, and imitated famous Korean artists like BTS, Blackpink, Seventeen, and Stray Kids. And everything that could happen did happen. Even in food consumption, people eat Japanese (sushi, ramen, yakitori), Mexican (tacos), Italian (pizzas, paninis), and Spanish (churros, paella, tortilla, gazpacho).
French politician Édouard Herriot said, "Culture is what remains when you have forgotten everything else"—a quote mistakenly attributed to André Malraux. This detail changes nothing and faithfully reflects the situation the country faces. There is no cultural identity left. Attempts to replace screens with traditional games, manga and hentai with Ikotofetsy sy Imahaka, Trimobe sy Sohitika, Fara Malemy sy Ikotobekibo have proven futile.
When mediocrity is cultivated by placing people of questionable competence in positions of responsibility, when a harmful message is sent about the uselessness of education for enrichment, when corruption and trafficking are venerated, we produce a generation incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, of maintaining perspective against consumer society's temptations, of setting aside credulity. The tragedy is that children become increasingly vulnerable, especially when one in two fails to complete primary school and only 22 percent finish secondary school, as confirmed by UNICEF.
Young people have no reference points, no models, no idols to forge an identity or build a personality. There is much work to be done, and we must read Earth Notes.