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I used to facilitate camps out past Brits. Very boer area: definately not my kind of place. (Even though i come out of the Afr culture) My best friend (I mean, my brother=) is black, and he facilitated camps full time out there. Loved working with him, but that area is very hostile.
Well, on the way back on the road, there was a "Tswane" sign. Someone spray-painted over it "Pretoria". That for me is a little retarded. I prefer Pretoria purely and simply for 2 reasons: you do not change someone's name if they have significantly changed(but that is a crap reason, and I don't even consider it a worthy reason). And secondly, the costs. I hurt when I see people suffer. And the cost to change Pretoria is simply too high. Our government can definately use the money more wisely than that. Teachers, nurses, police officers. I am for spending money when/where it should, with good reason, and as long the necessary problems have been addressed.
I love my country, I don't give a heck what our cities is called: as long as people get looked after. As long as they get fed. As long as real issues get addressed. If I was rich, I WOULD make a difference.
Sorry, this is a bit of a sensitive matter. I found that I numb myself towards the poor and the suffering just to cope. If I didn't, I swear I would permanently cry. And that is my heart, address the necessary issues first. Bottom line. If everyone in our country had food, a roof over their heads, access to education, and protection, including medical needs taken care of, by all means, change the names, but do not tell me that changing the name is of more importance than people who are suffering. People ALWAYS take priority over procedure in my books.
Okay, that was just me opening up. I do that with people I trust, so consider yourselves priveleged. It is not me attacking anyone in particular. Just my heart that comes out. And it is the third time I mention it, but that is how big this thing is: My heart hurts for the poor and suffering.
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Posted: 2006-06-29 18:24:07
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Amen to that, boet, well said.
The area where i live used to be very right-wing, and fiercely opposed to change. My paler brethren have largely been assimilated, and we happily get our groove on most of the time, although there's still the occasional lapse of tolerance. Last weekend i was chatting to a an acquaintance when he mistook a rather large pale gentleman for a colleague. The pale gentleman grew visibly upset, even though my acquaintance apologized for his error. When the dreaded K-word surfaced i felt duty-bound to buy into the discussion, whereupon the pale gentleman opted to take things to a physical level, once an equally large friend had joined him as backup.
The upshot was that had a few of my friends not happened by and helped to calm things down, matters could have turned ugly very quickly. Even though not a single word of insult left our lips the worst language imaginable was thrown at my acquaintance, to the quite visible embarrassment of several bystanders of various shades.
The temptation to use the handy-dandy telescopic ASP baton which i've kept from a stint as a club bouncer was great, but the mere knowledge that bloodshed would achieve nada was a sobering deterrent. Now imagine that this very same scene had played itself out on a Friday evening, possibly after some of those involved had partaken of a few drops of the fiery liquid... Methinks Mr.Watson will find that quite a few of the subjects to be portrayed on his site have met their ends under similar circumstances. Not very pleasant, to say the very least....
Long live tolerance, gentlemen...
_________________
...and on the 8th day God said, "Murphy, you're in charge!"...
[ This Message was edited by: Kryptik on 2006-06-29 18:33 ]
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Posted: 2006-06-29 19:28:00
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Eish, we live in a hectic place... Good points made by both da krypsta and francois.
I'm resizing those pics right now.
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Posted: 2006-06-29 19:38:00
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@ francois,
Hmm... I remember upsetting some 'bitter-einders' at the Warmbad resort back in'93, while a SABC tv crew were filming some Saturday night Afrikaans music show, I think 'Debut' or something, by the scenic fountains on the site. And all because I arrived on a motorcycle with some mates (without making a big noise) and we were pre-judged, purely on the grounds of appearance and pre-conceived generalisations about anyone with a big bike.
Not always easy to reason with people brought up on a strict diet of dogma and staunch oppostion to anything out of the pre-defined 'ordinary'.
I battle to be diplomatic under such conditions; the urge to truly upset the applecart really does overwhelm me with irrational types...
Can't say it brings out the best in me...
Tolerance- yes, but to a point.
_________________
He who laughs last... thinks slowest.
Currently own: SE P900, SE T610, Nokia 3230, Nokia 7600 and SPV C550 Windows Mobile.
[ This Message was edited by: amawanqa on 2006-06-29 21:24 ]
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Posted: 2006-06-29 22:21:52
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I think it is time that we get past merely tolerance and start accepting each other as humans. I call myself Christian, and the sad thing is so do alot of afrikaners, yet they live by some weird decree. Like in Monty Pythons Life of Brian, take Christianity, and adjust it for your comfort. make it what you want to make it. The afrikaners think they are God's chosen people.
[ This Message was edited by: francoislr on 2006-06-29 23:20 ]
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Posted: 2006-06-30 00:03:40
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The point i am making, the Israelites got punished over and over. i believe the afrikaner people are being punished for their sins. they are just as much chosen as any person on the planet. it is time for them to get over their nonsense. starting with us young people. lets not wallow in the 'sins' of our forefathers. let us build a nation that works together despite our dìfferences.
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Posted: 2006-06-30 00:31:56
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Hope im not stepping on any toes here!i have thought about this long and hard. my best friend is black, and an amazing guy.i hate to see all the intolerance he has to put up with.it hurts people.
Quick question:posting from a mobile,is it always so limited?For some reason my text editor only allows for a certain amount of characters,and as you guys might have realised, i am a man of many words.
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Posted: 2006-06-30 00:48:12
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Huh, my night shift is almost finished :). @Brix I think the whole issue is about life and death and not race.(at least what I am concerned) You have already assumed/decided that non white people are the perpetuators/criminals and white are the victims ! I am not so sure I agree with you there :( Also the fact that one is poor and uneducated does not give him a 'licence to kill' no matter what race. (actually I don't quite understand why you bring race into the issue so spontan - I am aware that some whites bring up race into this but did not expect you to join them) Yes, unfortunately we do have lots of poor people all over the world (in some parts much poorer then SA) and yet we don't have the blood bath we have here. Actually the killers aren't always that 'poor' (especially in the killings of the 4 police man downtown Jhb.) Certainly unemployment is one reason as is drug and alcohol abuse,social status etc. but don't assume that poor or non white etc. are criminals.
This message was posted from a Nokia
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Posted: 2006-06-30 02:54:06
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I've spent many an evening in the company of two friends who work for the Justice Dept, one being a senior prosecutor and the other a magistrate. Gauging from the cases they deal with, i can agree with Mario that there are many factors which drive people to crime. Where the less-affluent are concerned there's a large degree of ignorance at play, whereas the more-affluent often suffer from a measure of greed. One thing which all seem to have in common, however, is wilful disregard for the rule of law. It's my opinion that a more motivated Police Service and improved levels of service in govt depts would go a long way towards alleviating the situation. As has been previously stated, pay a policeman what he's worth and you'll see a big difference indeed. I seem to recall that the ratio in salaries between the lowest paid employee and the highest paid ought not to be greater that 1:8 yet it's my understanding that in the case of the Police Service the ratio is far greater. Coupled to this is the fact that the gap between rich and poor seems to be stretching daily, and one has the makings for a society which is not only disgruntled by the lack of speed wrt poverty alleviation, but also shows little regard for the laws of the country, even more so when it's so blatantly obvious that there are two sets of laws which apply, depending on how hefty the wallet of the accused is...
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Posted: 2006-06-30 08:37:00
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@mario: Unfortunately in this country the debate around crime always leads to issues of race and deprivation. I'm not talking about white collar criminals like Brett Kebble but the guy on the corner who smashes window, grabs a handbag thinking that he'd have food to eat for the evening.
Last year I was chased in Khayelitsha by a gang of teens who were intent on robbing me but I never blamed the government for that incident instead I blamed my community for the acceptance of this criminal element.
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Posted: 2006-06-30 08:51:50
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