What is wrong with some people?

The past few weeks I have seen several incidents in the news and on Twitter that make me question the sanity of people. And if not their sanity at least their morality and mentality. The most worrying thing of all is that it seems widespread. These appear at least not isolated incidents but instead symptomatic of a breakdown in societies sets of morals, indicative of a mentality that focusses solely on the self. The wants of the individual are put above all else.

What are the things I talk about you may ask? Well they appear to be separate issues but I have the sneaky suspicion they are interlinked.

Firstly recently we had racism come to the surface in 2 related incidents. Some obviously racist white model deemed it neccessary to vent her anger about black people in her tweets on two seperate occasions. In one she referred to an African man as a african monkey and in the other she used the word kaffir. She was duly crucified on the social network, lost sponsors and some title and is now austricized by all who would be giving her modelling work. The mere fact that a 20 year old is using this kind of language is not just unacceptable, as it would be from anybody else, it also shows that parts of the white South African citizens still hold such views. She didn't come up with this herself, she learned this from her parents, siblings and social circles. To simply say: 'it is just a silly blond girl', is to deny the fact that racism is a learned behaviour that can only flourish in a condoning environment.

Then another model, this one black, decides to throw in an obvious racist tweet as well in which she laments the fact that not all whites were actually murdered as suggested in a struggle song. Her reasoning being: no whites, no racism. The irony that her own words confirm that racism is not race bound obviously totally eluded her.

Both models have lost income and now face the difficult task of rebuilding their careers in the aftermath of what can only be described as a perfect storm of racism. It will not be easy, but much harder is the task that now faces South African society.

We, as citizens of the beautiful nation, will now have to face the task of accepting that racism is still rife in South Africe. We will have to find a way to deal with it effectively and we need to do this together. It will be ugly. The band aid that was applied from 1994 onwards has proven to be woefully inadequate. People will need to be honest with themselves and admit to their own racism, the benefits they had and still have from it (in the case of white South Africans) and in the case of black South Africans they will have to vent their anger and yet direct it only at those that are responsible for their continued plight. That isn't just the obvious subject, the white South Africans, but also the government (and the ANC in particular) that has failed to address very real issues of inequality. Instead they have focussed on creating a political and economical elite of their own. No wonder the people get angry!

Another issue that becomes more disturbing by the day is the matter of rape in South Africa. Each and every day some rape case grabs the headlines. And the ones that make headlines are more disgusting by the day: a 12 year old boy who repeatedly raped his 3 year old sister, teachers that rape pupils (and claim it is part of the 'perks' of the job), don't get suspended but defended by principals, colleagues and even their union, cops that rape women who come to report a crime (even rape). The list is endless and grows everyday.

What the hell is wrong with the South African male? Why do they seem to think that they can have sex with whom they want, whenever and where ever they want? Which letter in the word NO don't they understand? The police move slow, hampered by corrupt officials, incompetence and lack of resources and training for the goodwilling and hardworking ones. The courts move even slower, swamped in cases where the alleged perpetrator has a comprehensive protection of his rights, but no such is provided for the victims. They are left to deal with the trauma, the feeling of shame and misplaced guilt. Yeah, the people are angry. They have lost faith in the judiciary and in justice.

The result is emerging vigilantism. Communities meeting out punishment as they see fit, rather then put their faith in an overworked, often undertrained, incompetent and sometimes corrupt policeforce. That would only be followed by a courtcase so far down the line that the victims cannot stand. In the mean time the people who are charged (if at all) walk freely among them. How can people not take action, when faced with endless poverty, no clear path out of the misery and devoid of hope.

What would I do? The exact same thing! I can't blame the people for being angry. Poverty, inequality feed the racism, feed the anger and feed the loss of morality that is rippping apart the fabric of society. If we, as citizens of this potentially great nation, want a better future for us all we WILL have to fight the poverty and inequality. We have to hold the governing party accountable for their actions and inactions. They have been chosen to deal with the issues on behalf of all the people, not to build their own mansions and sit in their ivory towers, shaking their heads at the justified anger of the masses.

On a personal level we have to hold those around us accountable, and ourselves, whenever we see racism, violence and abuse. We ARE society!

I'll end my rant here, but I'm sure I will revisit it more often. Hopefully in a more tranquil frame of mind.