A VIEW FROM THE TOP It’s time to find the grace card
consideration, understanding and general goodwill. So it stands to reason that if, indeed, our Creator possessed this attribute, S/He would have imbued it in us, the magnum opus (supposedly) of His/ Her handiwork.
Yet, here we are, barely a heartbeat into a new year, and the hate-fuelled vitriol that has in many ways come to characterise our country (never mind our species) is already spilling forth with full force.
It’s a toxic venom that sees people (often unwittingly) being pitted against each other purely because of their respective pigmentation; those who attempt to start a dialogue around it being persecuted because of it and one which witnesses lynch-mob mentality take hold – across all sides of the proverbial battle field.
I am, of course, referring to the dreaded “R” word.
#RacismMustFall is just one of the many social media trends that has emerged in the wake of #SparrowGate. And indeed it must. But in order for this seemingly fantastical dream to be realised, first there needs to be – at the very least – some sort of acknowledgement that racism is rife on all fronts.
Branding the likes of Gareth Cliff a bigot and calling for his head (which the television channel he worked for has since handed to his detractors on a platter) because he dares to question the distinction (and hypocrisy) surrounding Free Speech versus Hate Speech, does absolutely nothing to help the cause for equality.
Particularly when his colleagues on the same show, who have also previously been embroiled in racial spats, were effectively given little more than a slap on the wrist for committing the same transgression.
A private citizen writes an asinine comment comparing black people to monkeys and now faces legal and criminal action (not to mention social assassination). Meanwhile, a government employee who called for black South Africans to “act as Hitler did to the Jews…” by eradicating all white people is suspended on full pay.
Such behaviour from those on both sides of the colour spectrum is contemptible to the ideology of a non-racial society, one in which either white or black domination is an anomaly, as envisioned by a wise man we called Tata Madiba.
When we look to Mother Nature, we celebrate her diversity and her artist’s palette of hues. Why can we not do the same when it comes to how we see each other and ourselves?
As local muso, @Blaklez tweeted: “Poverty and financial inequality is a bigger concern… Ignorance should not be getting such attention.”