South Africa is a broken nation: Lapsley

James

James

MyGaming Alumnus
attachment.php


South Africa is a broken nation due to the violent history that preceded democracy, Father Michael Lapsley said on Friday.

"Everyday we see incidents of our moral and spiritual injustices," he told hundreds of people gathered at Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto, Johannesburg.

"Can you finish reading a paper without seriously saying we are a traumatised nation?"

He was speaking at a national interfaith...read more here: South Africa is a broken nation: Lapsley
 
James said:
South Africa is a broken nation due to the violent history that preceded democracy...
Click to expand...

What about the violence before those horrible settlers ever landed?

What about the superstitious cultures that still pervade despite "the violent history that preceded democracy?"

I've come to conclude that South Africa is a beautiful country with a fantastic way of life in its sanitised pockets of suburbia. But as a whole, it's a fucked up place.

"There's crime everywhere" and yet somehow only South Africa has crimes that involve drowning a teenager in a bathtub of hot water while robbing the family blind. Only South Africa has crimes that involve dragging a toddler behind a car. Only South Africa has somehow become accustomed to the idea of living in alarm-guarded, barred windowed prisons.

South Africa is a beautiful country, but I don't want to live in a society like that or be governed by the political organisation that protects, defends and raises to the pedestal of President a monster like Zuma while constantly maligning racial "differences" while purportedly fighting for a non-racial society.

I just don't see South Africa ever changing. I don't believe it has the capacity for change; not in my lifetime.

And more and more it seems clear that the people who defend South Africa are right up there with the women in the Middle East who insist that their countries aren't shitholes because they can party, get drunk and live like "anywhere else in the world" right up until they get a hundred lashes for "indecency." You know, those rose-tinted blinkers.
 
Lycanthrope said:
What about the violence before those horrible settlers ever landed?

What about the superstitious cultures that still pervade despite "the violent history that preceded democracy?"

I've come to conclude that South Africa is a beautiful country with a fantastic way of life in its sanitised pockets of suburbia. But as a whole, it's a fucked up place.

"There's crime everywhere" and yet somehow only South Africa has crimes that involve drowning a teenager in a bathtub of hot water while robbing the family blind. Only South Africa has crimes that involve dragging a toddler behind a car. Only South Africa has somehow become accustomed to the idea of living in alarm-guarded, barred windowed prisons.

South Africa is a beautiful country, but I don't want to live in a society like that or be governed by the political organisation that protects, defends and raises to the pedestal of President a monster like Zuma while constantly maligning racial "differences" while purportedly fighting for a non-racial society.

I just don't see South Africa ever changing. I don't believe it has the capacity for change; not in my lifetime.

And more and more it seems clear that the people who defend South Africa are right up there with the women in the Middle East who insist that their countries aren't shitholes because they can party, get drunk and live like "anywhere else in the world" right up until they get a hundred lashes for "indecency." You know, those rose-tinted blinkers.
Click to expand...

Hmm, can't agree with what you say about certain types of crimes only happening here.

Look at what's going on in the world today. People are hanging toddlers on building fences in Palestine so that the buildings don't get bombed by the army. Terrorists are beheading and killing children in the Middle east, raping the mothers and sisters and killing the fathers.

In the USA, people are settings household pets on fire, dragging them behind vehicles and torturing them for fun.

Civvy airplanes are being shot out of the sky.

Anyone that thinks "It'll be fine" has a big-ass surprise coming. Meanwhile, in SA, we just cannot fucking get along. It's never going to change.

The whole world is out of control man. The ship is going down and we'll be here to see it sink.
 
to0kenZA said:
Hmm, can't agree with what you say about certain types of crimes only happening here.

Look at what's going on in the world today. People are hanging toddlers on building fences in Palestine so that the buildings don't get bombed by the army. Terrorists are beheading and killing children in the Middle east, raping the mothers and sisters and killing the fathers.
Click to expand...

You're comparing South Africa to the Middle East? I think you've just proven my point.

In the USA, people are settings household pets on fire, dragging them behind vehicles and torturing them for fun.
Click to expand...

320-million people, this happens how often? And even better, how often do they get away with it? Compared to the bare whisper of an outcry in South Africa.

Civvy airplanes are being shot out of the sky.
Click to expand...

Civilian airplanes which have flown over disputed (read: dangerous) territory.

Anyone that thinks "It'll be fine" has a big-ass surprise coming. Meanwhile, in SA, we just cannot fucking get along. It's never going to change.

The whole world is out of control man. The ship is going down and we'll be here to see it sink.
Click to expand...

The whole world? No, just the superstitious, conservative, racist or otherwise intolerant parts of it.

Solitude said:
People are a plague. We are the sickness of this world.

Ptooey!
Click to expand...

Hyperbole much? "Humans" do more harm to each other than we could ever do to the world. Even if we wipe ourselves out the world will continue.

Unless you just mean we're a sickness to the aesthetic, subjective and man-made concept of the "beauty" of the world, in which case again, worry not--that concept dies with us, should that ever happen.

Enough hyperbole, folks? :p
 
Like ly said you comparing here to warzones. Iraq is a war zone,Syria is a warzone,gaza is a warzone,Ukraine is a warzone

America is its own trip :p

I want to argue but whats the point. I am leaving to a muddy island ;)
 
Tsar said:
Like ly said you comparing here to warzones. Iraq is a war zone,Syria is a warzone,gaza is a warzone,Ukraine is a warzone
Click to expand...

Well, you touch on precisely the point I've noticed in these kinds of arguments: we, as South Africans, have kind of just gone, "fuck it, it's the same everywhere" but it's not.

Everywhere has problems, yes, but those problems come in significantly varying degrees.

I don't want to just settle into saying, "Oh well, we've got our problems but at least we're not as screwed up as the Middle East." That's not a comparison I want to make because it illustrates precisely how screwed we actually are.

You could also argue what the point of these kinds of discussions is... The people who are aware of the problem can't change it and can really only just feel sorry for themselves.

I was chatting to my brother-in-law about my feelings a few days ago and he mentioned something interesting about the difference in cultures (Scandinavian vs most of Africa). Africa is rolling in natural wealth, resources and potential but somehow the culture that seems to pervade Africa is one of self-destruction, infighting, civil war and all (in my opinion) the result of a kind of ingrained superstition (my tribe/race/cultural identity is worth more than yours so we're going to wipe you out). Whereas the Scandinavians have mostly existed in harsher climates, almost zero natural resources and have persisted into the current times despite also having warred with each other a couple of hundred years ago.

The question that was peripherally raised was whether or not it's the fact that survival was so much more difficult out here that made the difference or whether it was "the difference" the made survival possible.

All the same... I just realised I've been a fool and, perhaps, the helpless "I live here, I doubt there's anywhere else for me" feeling is what triggered some sort of psychological patriotism to kick in.

I can't wrap my head around the way that South Africa functions any more: the racism, the superstition (muthi, sangomas, etc), the religious conservatism (ZOMG NUDITY ON TV!), the government's ineptitude, corruption, greed and general social apathy.

I feel angry at the way South Africa is run and I feel angry that so many South Africans are content with their little sanitised pockets of civilisation despite the fucked upness of it all around them.

I love South Africa and I will always (I believe) identify as South African. But I don't know if I ever want to call it home again.

Disclaimer: I've been thinking :p
 
Last edited:
I'm just too tired to reply. It's been a very long week. A very hard day.

I'm also angry at how South Africa is run.

If there was a big red button I would press it. (Not enough strength to explain.)

Ptooey!
 
Solitude said:
I'm just too tired to reply. It's been a very long week. A very hard day.

I'm also angry at how South Africa is run.

If there was a big red button I would press it. (Not enough strength to explain.)

Ptooey!
Click to expand...

That's all right, thanks to your post I got to re-read my previous post, spot a horrible typo and fix it before anyone noticed (or commented on it) "whistling:

I would never "push the button" (though that's another thing I've been chatting about a lot recently regarding the whole Ukraine issue: "At which point do the West push the button? When they invade NATO soil? The Hague? London? Washington?").

Tralalalala... My head's full of thoughts today ;)
 
Lycanthrope said:
That's all right, thanks to your post I got to re-read my previous post, spot a horrible typo and fix it before anyone noticed (or commented on it) "whistling:

I would never "push the button" (though that's another thing I've been chatting about a lot recently regarding the whole Ukraine issue: "At which point do the West push the button? When they invade NATO soil? The Hague? London? Washington?").

Tralalalala... My head's full of thoughts today ;)
Click to expand...

I love these discussions. About 10 years ago I wrote a couple of pages on why I would press the button and then at a music festival I gave it to a random person and walked away.

Forgive me Ly but I'm exhausted. As much as I want to join you in conversation I feel like just shedding a tear and lying down a bit. Not from sadness but just because I'm tired.

I'll see if I can add my thoughts tomorrow. Now though it's time for some much needed sleep.
 
Solitude said:
I love these discussions. About 10 years ago I wrote a couple of pages on why I would press the button and then at a music festival I gave it to a random person and walked away.

Forgive me Ly but I'm exhausted. As much as I want to join you in conversation I feel like just shedding a tear and lying down a bit. Not from sadness but just because I'm tired.

I'll see if I can add my thoughts tomorrow. Now though it's time for some much needed sleep.
Click to expand...

Oh, that's quite all right, Soli. For what it's worth, I can relate to how you feel and I hope that you sleep well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top