Patriotism Lost: Xenophobic De-Evolution

I’m ashamed to say it but the events that have gripped South Africa during the last couple of weeks have made me re-evaluate whether I have a place in this "rainbow nation". The images of unity, togetherness and ubuntu which are associated with the concept of a “rainbow nation" have been bitterly betrayed. This betrayal and the barbaric nature in which its people have behaved have shaken the very foundations of my patriotism and I am sure it has affected the majority of the population which could only stand by and watch.

I was born towards the end of the apartheid era and I only observed the tensions in the mid 90's with a mindset of a 10 year old, so growing up as an adolescent and now adult in the New South Africa I never thought I would witness scenes which were reminiscent of a time in history which symbolized the perversion of law and morality. Scenes which we would assume to be from another war torn African country or on the silver screen. Looting, plundering, murder, necklacing, victimization, intimidation, unrest etc were all things which South Africans thought they had left behind the minute Mr Mandela voted in the 1994 election and a divided nation became a united nation. How wrong were we?

We complain about crime, inefficient government, rising price of fuel, and a myriad of social and economic issues but what we witnessed over the past two weeks or so should alert us to the extent of moral degeneration adn immorality that is present in this country and in the world. How low does a society and community have to go to condone and in some cases cheer and celebrate as a fellow human being is burnt alive. What kind of societal moral compass allows a group of people to drag a man out of his house beat him and then set him on fire just because he is not of the same nation and ethnicity? How does someone look upon a man suffering such a gruesome fate and still have a clear conscience and have the nerve to call each other "comrades"! This is disgusting and perversion of morality and everything that God (No matter which God you pray to) has ordained and ordered us to do.

Barbaric Acts such as these are a clear indication that as mush as we progress and evolve scientifically we are De-Evolving at and unprecedented rate. When the mob rules and fear can cause such a situation something is wrong. The Acts that we have witnessed in this madness will go predominantly unpunished............blame the legal system.........and we have no guarantee that it will no flare up again. The crisis has apparently subsided and some of the communities who expelled the foreigners are asking them back, in my opinion the only reason for this is that the looted goods are finished and there is no supply due to the shops which were owned by foreigners being burnt.

Then I think to myself, is this an environment which I can proudly call home? Is it a country which I can bring a child in to? Have I been fooling myself into thinking that this country is a light in the darkness of the world? Because we have certainly descended into darkness. People will say that no matter where you go violence will always find you, this is true but not to the extent that we are facing now. It hurts me to consider this but its only human.

We are already a one party state, with government competence at an all time low (The Health MEC is a glaring example) and whispers that we are going the way of Zimbabwe....will this ever happen? You would have been mistaken to believe that South Africans learnt a lesson about tolerance of other people after being subjugated under Apartheid.....maybe they missed that lesson.

My Patriotism has developed cracks and hopefully they can be smoothed over because there is positives in this country as people have come together to help the displaced and speak out against the atrocities. The Black Lawyers association has called for government to enact legislation which makes xenophobia a crime against humanity and all concepts associated with it considered hate speech, I applaud this but is it too little too late? Has the damage already been done?

God Save us from ourselves.....

Shadows and Dust

The Lone Writer

4 minutes to save the world......

Yes you know what im refering to, that song from Justin, Timberland and Madonna. Its really catchy and a smash hit ofcourse as is the norm with anything timberland touches. The man just has to "sigh" or make a wierd "burping" sound on a song and its an instant success. Im sure he makes money just even if you singing in the shower. But I am digressing from my intended topic.

These days we would be lucky if we had 4 minutes to do anything let alone save the world. As Chris rock said "The world's gone crazy" and its in need of saving. The only problem is that this is easier said then done and unfortunately we dont have Superman, the X-men or any honest men/women who are able and willing to do this.

From the price of life being less than a litre of petrol to internal unrest in South Africa (Xenophobic attacks) to global issues such as the middle east, food shortages and the tragedies that have occured in east asia the world is gone crazy. Its currently suffering what I call a "planetary cardiac arrest". It's happened before in history where the entire world was on the brink of failure (the two World Wars) but those were intense(in relation to time) sudden shocks followed by relatively good planetary health.

The current "planetary cardiac arrest" is one which is less intense but more prolonged and far reaching. It is causing much more damage not only to the planet but to our social, cultural and moral values. The planet and its people are being hit by constant and prolonged low intensity shocks (though possibly high intensity on a regional scale) and just like our heart is being slowly worn down. For me the area of our psyche that is worse effected is our belief and trust in our fellow man and basically our hope that tommorrow will be a better day.

Its sad that one day this planet will be brought to its knees by the beings that were placed on it to protect it. Mother Nature I think is trying to tell us with these natural disasters that we need to control ourselves and maybe treat each other better, Its a tragic message but atleast Mother Nature is trying. We on the other hand are merely holding more and more conferences and reaching no conclusion and result.

4 minutes save the world? l dont think the world can be saved...Not currently.

Shadows and Dust (What we will eventually become)

The Lone Writer

We are not the Champions

Congratulation to Manchester United on their Triumph in the English Premier League. Congratulations to Chelsea on finally beating Liverpool in the Champions league Semi Final (Don’t Worry Liverpool will Win it next year naturally) but this post is about my beloved Liverpool Football Club so pardon my bias which will become evident as you read on.

The Most successful English Club in history is Liverpool, whether it be in England or Europe not Manchester United, though they are doing a very good job of catching up. Now I will bite the bullet and admit that Liverpool fans cannot continue to bring up the past in order to rebut the constant jeering from the Man United and Chelsea fans out their. It’s a sad reality for any genuine Liverpool fan to see the team year after year faltering, stumbling and choking (like a coal miner with the black lung) to finish and maintain the 4th spot in the league that has somehow become the teams standard. The bottom line is that Liverpool needs to perform and challenge for the league.

Don’t get me wrong Liverpool’s European success and pedigree is unprecedented and never say die attitude is feared from AC Milan (especially them) to Barcelona. But in the League Liverpool has become a club which performs below itself and is frankly only a threat to the smaller clubs. They are just not taken seriously and those soccer commentators and philosophers of the game cannot be blamed for their belief that Liverpool is not up the scratch.

Liverpool is probably the most difficult club to support (I should know). They inspire so much belief yet they constantly let down their fans by complacency and frankly football that is more apt to be seen in the Vanuatu Football League (No Offence to their league but lets be serious even Bafana Bafana could probably beat them). This season it was their inability to kill off teams and press home an advantage which led them to endure 13 draws out of a 38 game league season and that is not acceptable.

Things seemed to get better with the take over of the club at the end of last season by the American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks. However this has gone pear shape as the owners have started a civil war (in typical American fashion) within the club causing the club to be in a state of uncertainty and this has affected the players on the field. Though I also believe that Liverpool’s players are just not up to the standard where they can compete with Manchester United and Chelsea.(Unfortunately)

Of course not is all doom and gloom as some players, Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel and Martin Skrtel, stood out and performed magnificently. Fernando Torres (EL NINO) broke Rudd Van Nistelrooy’s record for most goals by a foreigner in his debut season and the first Liverpool Striker since Michael Owen to score over 30 goals….which was long over due. He can only get better but the team needs a few new players with a similar pedigree to really make Liverpool a force again.

I will always be a Liverpool fan, whether they never win the league for another 20 years (lets hope not) or get relegated (again lets hope not), but I would like to at least in my lifetime see the club get back to the top of the pile in England. JUST ONCE !

All the best to Chelsea! Crush the Devils! (Sorry Liverpool fan mentality )

Shadows and Dust

The Lone Writer

Bollywood

From Amtabh to Aishwariya Bollywood is the largest producer of films in the world and is expanding its predominately Indian fan base to a more global market. Now I am not an avid fan of Bollywood cinema but I have been known to occasionally watch a movie here or there. I must admit that some of the movies are pretty decent and enjoyable. The music these days is very hip and catchy and some of the movies dont even have a musical number (case in point the movie "Black"). However as with Hollywood some of the movies are hit and miss and consist of numerous dance scenes interspersed with poor acting and yet more dance routines.

I watched the movie Race yesterday and I throughly enjoyed it, well probably more so because of the gorgeous Katrina Kaif (*Wolf Whistle*). I have a song from the movie stuck in my head (again probably because of Katrina Kaif) so thought I would share. Enjoy




Shadows and Dust
The Lone Writer