speakeasy said:
What the problem is, is the lack of something called "
cultural capital". Look, I'm a black man, so I hate saying this, but it was whites that moved into S. Africa and set up an advanced society where there was none prior. Not that the Zulus and other tribes didn't have their own society, culture, hierarchy and rules, but they were radically different from the westerners and the things that they respected and upheld were entirely different from what the colonists did. Tribal identity still runs strong with these people and have not fully adopted western norms of behavior. So it's not surprising that S. Africa is reverting back to a state more like many other African countries. It's just like the U.S. trying to build democracy in a place like Iraq where there is no history of democracy and people respect strong-arm authority. The cultural capital to have that kind of society just doens't exist in Arab countries and all most all of them are governed with an iron-fist dicator because that's all they know. And when that iron-fist is removed, they start car-bombing each other over religious sectarian differences. So just the way democracy in the middle east is an experiment, it sounds like black rule of a western democracy of S. Africa is also an experiment.
I don't think there's any race on earth that's inherantly primitive or any crap like that. I think you have differences in cultural capital that might make western values and standard of living incompatible for certain people.
I agree 100%.
The problem is that black South Africans in general tend to be more socialist in their political ideology. Its to be expected when people have been treated like slaves for 200 years straight that it will happen. So you have a strong sense of tribal loyalty but you also have an ingrained sense of socialism and reparation.
The sad thing about South Africas history is that when gold was discovered the British invaded. The white Dutch fought two wars, and lost the second war after the British put their women and children into concentration camps. The death toll was staggering and it changed things. There was very little conflict between whites and Africans up until then. War with some tribes and fighting over land, but what people dont know is that the Boer war had many black Africans fighting with whites against the British. Before the British rocked up, it was not an all out bloodbath. It was regional fighting. There were no real borders.
Right up until South Africa became independent, both whites and blacks who were not British were marginalized. Afrikaaners were very poor and black Africans had it even worse. When independence came, it came at a time when the world was being split between capitalism and communism. Black Africans were generally socialist. They were also the majority.
Democracy for a few years and a slip into communism like we saw in Cuba was the only outcome. African political parties had already claimed redistribution of wealth and land was what they wanted. Apartheid denied voting rights to Africans to ensure it never happened. Then restricted their movement to reduce any chance of an uprising. You basically had 15% of the population dominate and oppress the other 85% through sheer force. Toi make matter worse, they even instituted different levels of education to ensure black South Africans were under educated. The cherry on top was legislation that made integration illegal. If a white married an African it was jail time. To be associated with a banned political party was jail time or exile and that was regardless of your skin colour.
Right up until the world moved away from the gold standard, we had the support of the USA and UK. South Africa was one of the largest gold producers in the world and the country falling into the hands of the "communists" could have had massive implications for the world economy. Once the gold standard went, so too did the support for Apartheid.
Once the Berlin Wall came down, South Africa had a referendum where the majority voted for a change to democracy.
The problem is that most of the politicians running the show were educated in Russia or other communist states. Their militias were funded by the Russians. So the majority of the policies passed into legislation are socialist in nature.
Throw into the mix a deep sense of tribalism and you have a recipe for disaster. Democracy is rejected because its a cultural clash. Its the reason why Africans will continue to vote for the same leaders regardless of how bad they are for the country. Its blind loyalty to their leaders in much the same way it was blind loyalty to their chieftains.
With regards to rape, unfortunately, its a cultural thing. The sense of right and wrong is different. The perception of rape is different. It has to be. I dont believe that 1 in 4 men would admit to rape if they perceived rape in the same way the majority of the people on this forum would.
Its a sad reality of South Africa, but based on what we find acceptable, black South African culture is violent.
