Cry, the beloved country

Mr. Apartheid is armed and dangerous!

From South African Expats, a blogger and occasional commenter (no more, I fear) on my blog:

There is apparently a criminal on the loose in SA whom is causing huge devastation and tragedy in the community. Senior police officials have identified the man as Mr. Apartheid, whom is described as a bitter white male.

Government officials has blamed Mr. Apartheid as being responsible for the spate of hijackings, rapes, murders and thefts South Africa is experiencing over the past 14 years. He has been seen running around our streets, with a 9mm in his hand committing all these crimes all by himself. Just yesterday he was seen entering a house, raping a woman in front of her husband and children and then executing the whole family. Mr. Apartheid is considered armed and dangerous and shouldn’t be approached by the public.

Mr. Apartheid has reportedly also single handedly screwed up our judicial system from the cops to the courts. He somehow has the power to influence the appointment of total incompetent fools as senior police officers as well as crooked judges.

Further Mr. Apartheid is spreading his sickness called AIDS through the community because he seems to be unable to operate a condom.

Mr. Apartheid has also been blamed by senior black politicians for the lack of service delivery to the poor. It is apparently Mr. Apartheid who gives lucrative government contracts to his friends and family and then fails to deliver on them. It is also apparently Mr. Apartheids whom is stealing himself blind in the government.

Conspiracy theorist has brought up wildly controversial theory that Mr. Apartheid is in fact scapegoat for failure by the current government to do their job. Government officials have labeled these conspiracy theorists as Racist Paranoid Whites, who should shut up because anything they say is racist as holding a opinion that differs from the government is clearly racist.

My comment:

Ag no, man.

I understand your anger and hurt.

But.

For God's sake understand what decades and generations of oppression DO to the generations who grow up with it and under it. You want a decent, civil society? You need education. You need employment. You need a police force. You need a culture of responsibility.

You want this to emerge from the new post apartheid egg shazam! with all these qualities that came from where?

This is a terribly simplistic and naive post. Ek hou regtig van die blog maar ek verwag 'n bietjie meer. Die verantwoordelikheid staan met die individueel, ja, but you CANNOT discard the past as irrelevant to the current state of the country.

It is not irrelevant. It is the brutal cause...It was the effing inevitable outcome. This present was written decades ago.

You want change, you need exceptional individuals to lead it, and most people are not exceptional. To live exceptionally is to live uncomfortably. Most people just want to live with as little bother as possible. What were our parents - what were we - doing when apartheid was in full swing?

Most of them, most of us, nothing.