Dubai Journal 3 - There is something wrong with Africa
What is striking me so forcefully here is that there is really something truly screwed up about the African psyche. Our moral degeneration and lack of respect for life and other human beings and, quite frankly, our outright stupidity, is not caused by poverty or apartheid - because other cultures live in dire poverty too, and have been brutalised as much as people in South Africa have been.
There is just as much poverty in rural Middle East as in Mpumulanga. The Arab people have been persecuted just as much as black South Africans - and for FAR longer. The Phillipines was systematically raped by first the Japanese and then the Americans for decades.
So why is it that illiterate Arabs and Phillipinos still have a basic dignity and respect for life and morals, while Africans will steal the copper out of the very pipes that provide them with electricity, will murder for a cellphone, and will rape babies as a "cure" for AIDS.
Yet, as the accompanying picture shows, here in Dubai they have see-through glass charity collection containers all around, and they don't get broken into. In South Africa they would be smashed up, the money taken and the wood used as firewood.
And on a totally different level - how come an illiterate Filipino shop assistant can work quickly and efficiently, being friendly, personally hygienic, polite and quick-witted, while you simply don't get that at the PicknPay in Melville?
Apartheid and poverty seem to be no excuse - what the hell is it that makes Africa such a basket case?? Is there really (gasp, shock horror) a "cultural" difference? Are some cultures just more enlightened and less primitive and brutish than others?
There is just as much poverty in rural Middle East as in Mpumulanga. The Arab people have been persecuted just as much as black South Africans - and for FAR longer. The Phillipines was systematically raped by first the Japanese and then the Americans for decades.
So why is it that illiterate Arabs and Phillipinos still have a basic dignity and respect for life and morals, while Africans will steal the copper out of the very pipes that provide them with electricity, will murder for a cellphone, and will rape babies as a "cure" for AIDS.
Yet, as the accompanying picture shows, here in Dubai they have see-through glass charity collection containers all around, and they don't get broken into. In South Africa they would be smashed up, the money taken and the wood used as firewood.
And on a totally different level - how come an illiterate Filipino shop assistant can work quickly and efficiently, being friendly, personally hygienic, polite and quick-witted, while you simply don't get that at the PicknPay in Melville?
Apartheid and poverty seem to be no excuse - what the hell is it that makes Africa such a basket case?? Is there really (gasp, shock horror) a "cultural" difference? Are some cultures just more enlightened and less primitive and brutish than others?
posted by Zapruder | 10:30
8 Comments:
Well... That doesn't make me feel happier about visiting SA again. Actually... glad I decided not to pack my suitcase and come back.
Bearing in mind of course that this is just my "I've had enough of this shit" opinion, and not one that is especially popular - ref the entry about positive South Africans, lol ;)
In my Criminology textbook, under the 'Murder' chapter, they tried to explain why crime is so much more violent in SA than other places. The theory is that a lot of criminals have little or no value for human life because they have had such bad quality of life themselves growing up - blame it on Apartheid or bad social conditions etc. But then what about your argument - atrocities have happened all over the world, why is South Africa different in the way people react to their environment?
I don't think there is an excuse - and corruption at the highest levels doesn't help the situation. If you strip it down to BASIC morals or values, these are learned from those around you. If the people in power don't have good values and a high regard for others, why should anyone who is young and impressionable act any differently?
I think that's what makes the difference - other countries have more positivity coming from up high and around... and I think SA would be much better if people tried to act more positive about life here. Proudly South African needs to start to mean something.
I remember you telling me about that book.
Yes, I think that your idea makes more sense than the book'sone - it's self respect that translates into respect for others. As to why we have so little self-respect, who knows?
Someone else commented (privately, so I won't say his name here) that all other cultures were at one point just as atrocious - European cultures etc, but that they have now developed by and large to a more advanced state of civilization (except for that wobbly period the Germans went through a little while ago). And our ancestors were all savages in one way or another, else we wouldn't have survived.
And that African cultures just haven't got to that point of further development yet.
Which of course is a RACIST thing to say, but specious political considerations aside, it makes sense I feel...?
one thing you don't mention here is that Dubai is COVERED in undercover, plains clothes secret Police......
I know this is very responsible for the perceived lack of crime!
Remember as well that the level of crime and also the behaviours in different countries comes from the manner in which the tribes within the countries have lived for tousands of years. Africa has been filled with many different pilging, warring, nomadic tribes (as well as others) as a result no matter what rules are set out by ruling governments this will continue.
Take the UK (past the watford gap not london) for example nobody is allowed to go hungry there (socialism) but they still have soccer hooliganism and street wars every weekend after the pubs close. Why: because of the thousands of years of warring tribes kicking each others asses.
Look at Holland the dutch live on the same social level as the brits but there are no issues, street fighting etc why? The Netherlands for thousands of years was inhabitted by 1 farming tribe. I think these behaviours have been entrenched long before Colonialism or aparthied. However I'm not negating the effects of either colonialism or aparthied. That's a monologue for a different day.
probably a bit late as i've just returned from a 3 week holiday on the north coast of natal for a week, a small village on the wild coast for a week, and then a small town in the free state for a week. i travelled on my own for almost 3000km's - most of it on quiet gravel roads or through desolated areas (being a single mother) with my 4 year old son. we camped at the wild coast and not once had problems with crime. we were however able to buy fresh crayfish from the locals (huge size) for ZAR5 each and buy bags of freshly scrubbed mussels for ZAR25! all taken out within the laws pertaining to the coastal conservation zone we were in. we were also able to walk to and from the beach, go on long walks along the coast without anyone hassling us. in the free state we had nothing but friendliness and hospitality. i know we have many issues in this country and i'm not trying to negate them, but i still say, if you want to move somewhere else, do that - it's good to experience the rest of the world. just don't run SA down in the process. each and every country has it's bad/crime/corrupt side. yes, Dubai's undercover cops are notorious. and yes, they have to make life really attractive there to pull people/workers there - how else will they get people to come work in the effing desert?! if you've had enough of 'this shit' then just pack up and do it. remember though that even though you may think that you'll not pay tax here - you will - as an SA citizen you'll pay your R50K there and SARS here will want their slice too.
you do not have to find a reason to go and travel and experience the world. it's good though to highlight what is wrong in the country and i think we should all work actively towards making it better. what really pisses me off is when people leave and bad mouth their country......
Dave: yes indeed, the CID is all over the place. Seems to me we need some of that over here. In fact just some normal policing wouldn't go amiss here for a change!
Ivyann: yep, I think that's exactly what it is - entrenched cultural differences. Of course it's not something we're allowed to say out loud too often, lol.
Karin: indeed, there are many idyllic places and features here, and the vast majority of people are pretty decent and friendly. Unfortunately those conditions don't prevail in Soweto, Alex or downtown Jhb.
I don't buy the "bad mouthing" argument at all - if the truth hurts, the answer is not to get angry with those who are speaking it.
The idea of "my country" is rooted in the idea of nationalism, which is a totally artificial way of looking at humanity, and one I have rejected my whole life. Culturally I have far more in common with an American Cure fan who reads Brett Easton Ellis and watches baseball, than I do with a conservative Afrikaans farmer from the Free State - just because we were both born in SA does not make us "family". South Africa is most definitely NOT "my country" - it just happens to be where I was born. There is no such thing as loyalty to an abstract entity like a nation - to borrow a quote, nationalism is "an irrational imagined sense of community with people you will never meet"!
As I said in a previous blog entry ("The Problem With Positive South Africans"), we have developed a habit here of pretending to ourselves that things aren't so bad, to make it psychologically easier to deal with how we live. As my friend Trevor says, it's only once you live outside SA that you realise the daily levels of stress that we live with, without consciously noticing it.
As for tax - South Africa has a taxation policy based on residence, not source. South Africans living abroad pay tax in the countries where they live and work. If I live in SA and all my clients are overseas, I pay tax here. Hence, vice versa applies. If not, that's just stupid, and I'll happily relinquish my SA clients - may as well make it a complete break - cleaner that way :)
But yes, at the root of it, you're absolutely right - the answer for me isn't to continue moaning - the only thing to do is just to go :)
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