SOUTH AFRICA UPDATE: A South African reader who prefers to remain unnamed sends this:
I am South African, as are many of my friends. I was surprised to see your comment about the guy that made sarcastic comments. I guess I forget that we have our idiots too.
My friends and I have similar opinions that can be broadly summarised like this:
1) We dont mind the american or european people much. We sometimes think you are a bit wussy though. :-)
2) We think your media sucks. We generally agree that ours is just as bad.
3) We would classify world media as “lefty” which implies a special kind of myopia:
3a) It doesn’t matter who you are, just what you are. You are only as good as your stereotype.
3b) There is no difference between being uncritical and being unbiased. Hence objective reporting means to simply spew whatever people tell you.
3c) Foreign events can always be expressed in terms of local prejudices and stereotypes.
3d) Whenever facts contradict preconceptions, reinforce the preconceptions.
4) We think Thabo is a retard. Worse than that, he is a racially motivated retard. He is a card carrying member of the “Black Presidents of Africa” Union. We want someone to fix things, not swap one set of stupidities for another.
5) We generally think old Mandela is a bonzer chap. He said things like he thought they should be, according to his personal system of morals, which we generally respect. None of the mealy mouthed politics crap. He told old Bob up in Zim where to put it, and we wish Thabo had his moral fortitude. Sometimes he was wrong, but at least he wasn’t a hypocrite.
6) We hate fact that Thabo has gone out with the begging bowl to the rest of the world. We reckon it’s because it’s much easier to appropriate foreign funds and donations for, er, extra-governmental use. SA is RICH. I mean REALLY RICH. Generally, the economies of Rhodesia and South Africa were strongest under sanctions. Generating another economic crack addict that leeches off the 1st world and gets poorer every year is not our idea of progress.
7) Thabo has a serious problem with white farmers being killed by the hundreds in _South Africa_. (Yes, I know some people being attacked – this isn’t rumour. They were still alive last time I spoke to them, but they may have emigrated by now). He doesn’t really care I think. If he doesn’t care about anything locally, then why care about the people next door?
As for your comment about Noam Chomsky and people starving people. We have our own theory, that seems to apply pretty broadly: He hasn’t said anything because Mugabe is black. Black people are victims of oppression. That is their assigned role. There is no place for monomaniacal genocides.
My brother has personally bumped into the handiwork of Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade whilst working in the National Parks. This last bout of food distribution is relatively minor compared to his usual rape, pillage, torture. burn, mass-grave methods.
What amazes us is that you even know about it. Perhaps the internet is making a difference.
Oh, and this would be the latest of many such episodes of selective starvation over the last 15 years. Amazing that nobody seems to pick that up. :-/ One mild difference is that he is starving more of his own tribe this time. That’s unusual.
(Oh, and please don’t use my name publicly if you publish any of this. I am in enough trouble with the SA government as it is, by daring to get a foreign temporary work visa. I’ve had deposits into my accounts frozen for “money laundering” once already. Plenty of SA politicians would have no problem calling me a “traitor”, and have done so in general terms when talking about “the brain drain” (which they are creating) )