South Africa Watching Election Campaign in Primitive Racist Country
Things have really come full circle when South Africa views the United States as a bunch of dimwitted rednecks.
South Africans of all races are hoping Obama will be the next president. 70% of South Africans are in favor of Obama, according to an international Reader’s Digest poll.
South Africa, like most countries, has lost respect for the U.S. because of its ongoing occupation of Iraq. And like most of the world, they blame the global financial meltdown on America’s Wall Street casino.
Christian Barr is a white South African IT worker who served in the military during the last throes of Apartheid. He said “Obama will be better for us in Africa. I am concerned about the conservative Americans – the Midwest states, they might vote for McCain. Whatever happens, though, Africans must come up with their own inventive ways to benefit from the U.S.”
Lucky Mathye, a black police reservist, said “America looks like a worldwide boss. They want all the power in the world and they don’t want to share it. Maybe Obama will be a peacemaker.”
There's one sharp contrast between the two countries: In the United States, race is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. Instead, everyone uses coded words and phrases. These code words are clearly understood by the intended audience, but if the speaker is accused of racism, s/he can fall back on “what, I didn’t mean anything by that, all I said was _____________________”
In South Africa, with the clear divisions between races and the violent upheavals of the last few decades, race is openly talked about by everybody. As the author (Hamilton Wende) says: “The divisions between black and white have been such an undeniable truth… that people here prefer to acknowledge their existence rather than to pretend that they don’t exist.”
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: Christian Barr, Hamilton Wende, Lucky Mathye, South Africa U.S. election
posted by Tom Harper @ 5:02 PM
17 Comments:
This election has ripped the scab off the racism that has scarred our country for too long. But instead of bloodletting, what we have found is a bunch of slimy maggots that have wormed through the skin and into the very marrow of the framework which holds this country together.
These people are vile and disgusting and have misdirected their anger not towards themselves and their own lack of intelligence, but have been steered for too long by the vile voices of talk radio which has blamed the lack of success of these maggots on those who are the most powerless in our so-called democracy. these people are not patriots, for no patriot I know would act so cowardly towards a fellow American.
Lew: Excellent diagnosis. I can't think of anything to add to that.
Oh, talking about stuff is only what gay commie homersexual Muslim pinkos do. Real Men® bottle things up so they explode in a powderkeg of McVeigh-like proportions at some point in the future.
lew covered why I don't want to hold my hand out to these fucks. Their supporters are rubes, and those in power use that racism to further policies detrimental to the nation as a whole. Let 'em be pariahs for a few decades then I'll think about it. Maybe.
Randal: Those 9/11 hijackers, for example -- now those were some Real Men. Plus they have their 72 Virgins now, or was it Virginians?
Don't forget now, McCain has a history of "reaching across the aisle." Every time he used that phrase during the debates, he had this ridiculous posture where he'd lean forward and reach out with one arm. Somebody should have a picture of him in that pose and caption it "Come here little boy, want some candy?"
If Obama is up 5-6 points the day before the election and loses, we've got a big problem. My bet - that ain't gonna happen. But what do I know?
I've been saying it for years: the Republiklan Party is the successor to the Ku Klux Klan. Hell, the "values" groups that run the Republiklans got their mailing lists from the ACTUAL Ku Klux Klan.
How can anyone be surprised?
Paul: Yes, that would indicate a severe problem if Obama is way ahead in the polls and McCain "wins." I'm trying not to think about that nightmare, but then burying one's head in the sand doesn't help either. What to do.
JR: Basically, Big Business, the "Christian" Right and the KKK (and other similar groups) have been operating behind the scenes as a single unit since the 1930s. I know you've done posts about those connections too.
More people need to be aware of this, so that eventually nobody will actually think there's anything "Christian" about the Religious Right, or that these neckdrooling racist organizations are just some sort of fluke that "doesn't represent America."
Very, VERY interesting! And very telling, too. Great comments by Lew--you really said it.
Miss Kitty: Yup, that's pretty sad when South Africa is watching to see whether we're ready to join the 21st century.
fanatics of any sort are just plain scary, whether they're religious fanatics, political fanatics, or people (I don't what they're called) who believe a certain group of people are better than any other group because of color or some other stupid reason. After years of wearing rose colored glasses and believing everyone had some good in them, I've come to the sad conclusion that simply is not true. There is indeed just plain evil in this world and some people thrive on it. And it's found in every country in this world. For those of us who have always believed in live and let live and may the best person win, this is almost impossable to comprehend.
Kate: True, there's certainly no shortage of fanatics, in any country.
It's not just South Africa that thinks that America has become a bunch of dimwitted rednecks Ton, its the world.
With this type of hate going on here, does not this gives Iran, Russia and China the feeling that they had better get us before they get us.
To get all the power in this world, one must watch their own butt and hope a combine force does not come at you first.
We knew all along that talk radio was a vessel for hate and they govern it by destroying any thing and anyone that went against their norm of hate.
Well, that hate is now being showed for all the world to see...the crowds are ready and work up like they were in the 60's and they are ready to do any thing to keep this country the way they envision it.
Tom, 72 Virginians!! Baahaha!
Race is indeed the ugly scar in America that never seems to heal. A couple of months ago, I had a great conversation with a few black and Latino women about how they have dealt with racism--even their own--over the years, and it was an eye-opening discussion for me. My sister deals with it a lot in the Georgia college where she teaches. Meanwhile, the racism is a little more subtle here in Colorado. The less black you look, the better, I suppose--the Hispanics are very subtly sneered at, but not near as badly as people sneer at the 9% African-American population here.
Let's Talk: Oh, it's definitely the rest of the world that looks down on our primitive actions and attitudes. I just thought it was especially ironic in South Africa's case, since they used to be the most infamous racists in the world (along with the now-defunct Rhodesia).
I doubt if much of the world still looks at the U.S. as a shining beacon of freedom, or any sort of role model.
MHP: Glad you liked the 72 Virginians. That was a joke going around the Internet a few years ago.
I think racism is more blatant and out in the open in the South than the rest of the country. But it's still a very strong presence in the rest of the country; it's just more coded and subtle. Being white, I'm personally less aware of it, but it's still a very strong presence.
I had to look it this a couple of times and it started to make sense. They have been where we haven't. South Africa's election of Mandela would be the equivalent in our history of electing ..oh Frederick Douglass as President during reconstruction.
Their Whites first thought that with a Black president they might as well move whereas here many people still think that with Obama, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Rev Wright and numerous Muslims are getting cabinet positions. So much noise has been made about him changing "our way of order" that there is a panic out there.
Many of my Black Friends are more confident he will win but more talk of assassination is coming about.
This also reflects what Colin Powell said the other day about Obama bring together more of a diverse group of people then McCain - he's been saying it for a years but if you hear Limbaugh and the other right wingers, the endorsement is all about race, like Powell and Obama met together, gave each other a terrorist "fist bump" handshake and called each other "My Brutha"
This Ignores the Polarization that the GOP has used over the years and will depend on again to work.
Even Alan "dependable black" Keyes is running on a 3rd ticket.
Funny though - when Bush won in 2004 many Republican strategist suggested that in order for Democrats to win they should dump those special interest groups like the poor and minority.
Maybe if Obama wins some centrist and moderates will start to reform the Republican party and bring it back towards the center and bring in some Diversity.
Maybe JC Watts will make a comeback.
Erik
Real racists show their ugliness more and act out the worst when they''re cornered and scared. Same goes for right-wing lowlife-trash types — which tend to be the same people.
You can bet they've got sweaty palms and indigestion now. Not just because Obama appears to be headed for winning the presidency, either. What the yahoos and haters really fear is that Obama will be a successful, very popular president — in sharp contrast to the arrogant, incompetent, perverse twit he will have replaced.
Erik: Ah yes, J.C. Watts. I never knew that much about him, except that he was superconservative and he got tired of being the token for that gang of Gingrich conservatives.
I can't believe Limbaugh and the other wingtards actually think Powell endorsed Obama just because of race. The Republican Party needs to be brought back to the center if they don't want to go the way of the Whigs.
SW: I think that's exactly what the wingnuts are afraid of -- Obama will get elected and be competent and none of their zany predictions will come true.
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