hi
>with these kids only to find one or the other or both parents the
exact
>opposite of their children. Bigots and hate mongers! How the hell
did their
>shildren turn out different if it were not something they learned
for
>themselves in school or church or where ever. In the south that
kind of
>attitude is built into the fabric of some these families. At some
point
>someone has to educate the children that is wrong to hurt other
people.
living in the worst part of the south - south africa - i really have to
comment on the racial/hate thread.
i was brought up in a typical south african home. blacks were "kaffirs",
indians were "coolies" etc. absolutely no thought was given to their welfare
or interests. this attitude is still prevalent, and in some cases, worse,
amongst a lot of folk these days. there are people i know who, to this day,
will not even switch on to the government tv channels, as they are "kaffir
t.v."
funny enough - i never, ever had any kind of a problem with other races tho.
when i got older & started working, i actually found i had more friends
among the indian & coloured community, than whites. (i think the only reason
that i didnt have any black friends was just because i never had much
contact with them). it was a bit of a problem tho. we could only go to
hotels which had so-called "international" status. no movies, beaches,
nothing. that has changed now fortunately.
i was even proclaimed an "honorary coloured" by my predominantly coloured
staff ; )
how did i pick up my "enlightened attitude"?. i dont really know - i
probably shouldnt be. my family was racist, most of my school friends were
racist - some of them were people who regularly indulged in kaffir bashing,
and even one friend whose ambition was to shoot a kaffir. and all except the
mildest of anti racist writings/songs etc. were banned. (an interesting side
to this was the dumping of vinyl music by a local radio station when they
converted to cd. all the albums were sold to a local music shop were they
could be picked up for absolute bargains. the notes on the covers, saying
which songs could be played, & which couldnt was quite an education - i
spent many hours browsing through them)
somehow i was different. i had compassion for people.
doing my national service was an education. i saw what people did to the
blacks. things that made me puke (literally). i saw people turned instantly
into quivering, panicked wrecks, just by the mere threat of turning them
over to the police. i saw homes and shebeens (private pubs) raided, just
because the people i was with knew that the owners would give them beers to
go away.
i saw the supposedly civilised people i was with cheering like crazy when we
had a training film showing white cops beating a black man (the footage was
removed from a bbc camera crews luggage, while it was being loaded on a
flight. the crew was not even informed - they just got back to the uk &
found it was gone)
eventually i just refused to go on the patrols. i stayed behind, and guarded
the base, or the vehicles, and felt a whole lot safer. safer from the people
i was with, not the blacks.
i also came under investigation for my friendship with other races, and
because i played their music. my military file had big red writing across
the cover "geen bevordering" (no promotion)
now things have changed. legally. but not peoples attitudes. we now have a
constitution which guarantees freedom of speech. with an exception - hate
speech.
funny enough, even with my background & attitude, the fact that peoples
freedom of speech can be restricted, makes me very, very scared. no matter
how hard you try you cannot legislate peoples thoughts or attitudes.
smacks to me of "thought police"
so, my opinion? give people their freedom of speech. even hate speech. but
not criminal speech. people that saying that they hate other people, should
be allowed. people insulting other people should be allowed. people inciting
other people to criminal activity should however not be allowed. if the hate
speech crosses the boundary from e.g.
"i hate blacks" or
"all whites are racists"
to
"kill all blacks" or
"one settler, one bullet"
then, action should be taken.
i also think that children should be exposed to differing viewpoints, in a
controlled manner. just like everything else in life - they should be
informed and allowed to make their own opinions.
ron
