I suppose we all know the old saying “Sticks and stones can hurt my bones, but names will never hurt me…” Could not be further from the truth hey….
If anything the names will hurt you in a far more vivid manner and could cause you life long pain rather than being physically hurt. We spend way more time nursing our inner wounds than we do our outer ones.
Which brings me to our country’s current trending topics. RACISM. I can think of 3 separate occurrences that have happened in the last few months that sparked a nationwide comment frenzy and reaction.
First being the Grabouw incident where Black and Coloured (mixed race) fought over their differences.
I think of Jessica Leandra (the FHM model) that made her “racial” comment on twitter that caused her to lose her sponsorship (ridiculous don’t you think?) check it out here
Ken Sinclair’s comment on facebook has caused him to be suspended. Check it out
Reading about all this has made me quite happy……I know, I know you may think me to be some weird and sadistic, but if you give me a moment you might just agree…
IMO, South Africa changed far too quickly. If we want any form of lasting change in our lives, they normally come over long periods of time and with much trauma. Also any form of real change has to be from the inside out and a collective decision.
That was not the case here, too many things hinged off one thing, Mandela’s reaction. But since he came out with a non violent approach, no one dared approach it with any form of violence. Look I am not saying that what he did was not a great thing, but people had anger and anger unexpressed evolves into all sorts of strange outworkings. But nevertheless, South Africa did have change, and the world took note.
But mostly what the people here had was a knee jerk reaction. Now even simple words were taken out of context and everyone avoids the possibility of having the idea that they could be a racist. Even if one is one, no one will dare say it aloud. For obvious reasons don’t you think.
You stand to lose a lot by declaring your honest opinion. I am not saying we are all racist, I just mean that beliefs do not disappear simply because we want them to go. Some people are in fact prejudiced still and that will take time to change. But change never comes without fights and differences of opinion, it means a healthy approach. In some cases it may have just been better to fight it out rather than have the silence…..Silence is only good if the issues inside are dealt with. And to deal with the issues you have to be honest. I think as a nation we finally getting to the point of honesty. (at least the start)
Why I say I am happy about the people’s racial comments and actions, well, they are being honest. And it means that for once we are not sugar coating our real selves. I do think its ridiculous for the student to be suspended and for the model to lose her sponsorship, I think its an overreaction, but hey that’s just me. We all make mistakes and we all have our little beliefs that others would find offensive. But to imply that no one else thinks that way, well…… And the people in question did try and bring restitution after the events. To me that settles it. On the plus side, I have never seen so many comments on articles by South Africans….so I am quite happy that people are willing to give their opinions.
Ooh and another proud moment for me as a South African is when the Etoll story came to a grinding halt.
I have never seen such unified actions by our people.
I think we are at a good starting place for now…..
the Honest One