2008
My best friend in Korea is an interesting character and one of the most highly intelligent people I've ever met. Of course that makes him, like all such people, a social retrobate.
In 2008 the natural habitat of a contrarian and misanthrope like myself in South Africa was to be fervently pro Anc. This was the social position guaranteed to attract the most attention and arguments, and at this time there was a decent argument to make. The economy was growing at record rates, Thabo Mbeki was talking about the African rennaisance. Bric was becomming brics.
3 comments:
Hi Rooster
Like Boertjie I check back every few months to see how you are doing.
I don't think you owe anybody an apology. You fought your position based on your beliefs derived from your life experience at the time. Your perception is your reality. The perception however isn't necessarily real when the experience is limited or derived from purely ideological / theoretical teachings. There is no substitute for life experience gained over decades.
While I recognise many of your detractors were nothing more than racist hate filled whack jobs, fearful of change, there were many debaters whose points of view were dismissed by you as racist when in reality they were moderate opinions based on decades of life experience. I for one would count myself amongst them. For me it has always been about culturalism.
While multi-culturalism is to be celebrated and embraced as an opportunity to open your mind to other possibilities there will always be undeniable differences of principle between some cultures and their respective value systems. The fundamental problem is that while some of those differences can be reconciled or tolerated others cannot and never will be reconcilable or tolerable.
I did not run in the early 90's fearing change - I embraced it and wanted my society to adapt to a new order, a new way - the future seemed bright. Then I got some life experience.
10 years ago I was in my mid 40's - I had a young family and I finally had to admit to myself that I was living a lie. There was no rainbow nation. It wasn't a bed of roses - the grass only seemed greener because of all the fertiliser that had been spread around.
I recognised that the political, economic and social ideologies being implemented by the government of the day would ultimately compromise my children's future. They were earmarked to become the next disenfranchised generation. Their diminished future opportunities was going to be the price to pay for something that had nothing to do with them. Does this statement make me a racist - Hell no, it makes me a realist based on empirical evidence. This was a fundamental divergence from my socio political belief system rooted in my culture and this was irreconcilable with my values and principles of equality.
I hope in some small way my life experience helps you on your journey of self.
Life - you can't beat it, so join it.
Hi Rooster
Like Boertjie I check back every few months to see how you are doing.
I don't think you owe anybody an apology. You fought your position based on your beliefs derived from your life experience at the time. Your perception is your reality. The perception however isn't necessarily real when the experience is limited or derived from purely ideological / theoretical teachings. There is no substitute for life experience gained over decades.
While I recognise many of your detractors were nothing more than racist hate filled whack jobs, fearful of change, there were many debaters whose points of view were dismissed by you as racist when in reality they were moderate opinions based on decades of life experience. I for one would count myself amongst them. For me it has always been about culturalism.
While multi-culturalism is to be celebrated and embraced as an opportunity to open your mind to other possibilities there will always be undeniable differences of principle between some cultures and their respective value systems. The fundamental problem is that while some of those differences can be reconciled or tolerated others cannot and never will be reconcilable or tolerable.
I did not run in the early 90's fearing change - I embraced it and wanted my society to adapt to a new order, a new way - the future seemed bright. Then I got some life experience.
10 years ago I was in my mid 40's - I had a young family and I finally had to admit to myself that I was living a lie. There was no rainbow nation. It wasn't a bed of roses - the grass only seemed greener because of all the fertiliser that had been spread around.
I recognised that the political, economic and social ideologies being implemented by the government of the day would ultimately compromise my children's future. They were earmarked to become the next disenfranchised generation. Their diminished future opportunities was going to be the price to pay for something that had nothing to do with them. Does this statement make me a racist - Hell no, it makes me a realist based on empirical evidence. This was a fundamental divergence from my socio political belief system rooted in my culture and this was irreconcilable with my values and principles of equality.
I hope in some small way my life experience helps you on your journey of self.
Life - you can't beat it, so join it.
Like Boertjie I check back every few months to see how you are doing.
I don't think you owe anybody an apology. You fought your position based on your beliefs derived from your life experience at the time. Your perception is your reality. The perception however isn't necessarily real when the experience is limited or derived from purely ideological / theoretical teachings. There is no substitute for life experience gained over decades.
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Absolutely correct. I can attest that for the most part I was sheltered and had a very easy upbringing and life. Only when I faced some hardships in the years that passed did I harden my attitudes. It's extremely easy to be ideological and harbour pretty ideals about the world when you're part of a certain class who hasn't really had to struggle or work for their position in the world. Hence why you can be sure that your average liberal(marxist) is without exception either very young (and privileged enough that their parents didn't mind wasting their money on a liberal arts education- what a fucking waste)or very wealthy without having earned it through hard work and struggle.
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While I recognise many of your detractors were nothing more than racist hate filled whack jobs, fearful of change, there were many debaters whose points of view were dismissed by you as racist when in reality they were moderate opinions based on decades of life experience. I for one would count myself amongst them. For me it has always been about culturalism.
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No, mostly they were perfectly entitled to their "racism" in defence to how a cultural marxist like myself was dealing out the term. It's become a blanket term to describe things that it should describe such as white(huh-white) people's right to self association, self pride etc. Racism is a code word for anti white. It's almost exclusively used to shame white people from enjoying these rights as are encouraged for every other group.
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While multi-culturalism is to be celebrated and embraced as an opportunity to open your mind to other possibilities there will always be undeniable differences of principle between some cultures and their respective value systems. The fundamental problem is that while some of those differences can be reconciled or tolerated others cannot and never will be reconcilable or tolerable.
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Agree, except I think multiculturalism has proved a failed experiment.
_______________________________
I did not run in the early 90's fearing change - I embraced it and wanted my society to adapt to a new order, a new way - the future seemed bright. Then I got some life experience.
10 years ago I was in my mid 40's - I had a young family and I finally had to admit to myself that I was living a lie. There was no rainbow nation. It wasn't a bed of roses - the grass only seemed greener because of all the fertiliser that had been spread around.
I recognised that the political, economic and social ideologies being implemented by the government of the day would ultimately compromise my children's future. They were earmarked to become the next disenfranchised generation. Their diminished future opportunities was going to be the price to pay for something that had nothing to do with them. Does this statement make me a racist - Hell no, it makes me a realist based on empirical evidence. This was a fundamental divergence from my socio political belief system rooted in my culture and this was irreconcilable with my values and principles of equality.
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I can relate.
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I hope in some small way my life experience helps you on your journey of self.
Life - you can't beat it, so join it.
_______________________________________
Likewise. Thanks for the great comment.
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