This is very interesting. My husband grew up in Cape Town and went to one of the few integrated schools at the time, so you'd expect his parents to be pretty liberal but his mother's attitude to people of colour is really paternalistic (of the Covid vaccine "Oh well you can't expect THEM to have two injections! They don't have houses! You'll never find them again!") and quite unwilling to re-examine what she was taught as South African history and move forward differently.
This is rich coming from an Egyptian writer while Egypt was perhaps the greatest enslaver of people on the planet. And houses the greatest symbols of slavery in existence in the form of the pyramids, sphinxes and hieroglyphs. And you should read up on how Egyptian academics try to justify and play down the atrocities of slavery in ancient Egypt. I wonder if you've every read up on white slaves in Africa, that is a topic conveniently never talked about by writers like yourself. History is history and the present is now. Life is unfair and humans are inherently evil as well as good. The liberal agenda is just as bad as the conservative alternative. But there's nothing as pathetic as the weak-willed, fingerpointing, crying about the neighbour's kid stealing my toys attitude exhibited by this article and other's like it.
Piet, you need to learn some logic, and maybe try to avoid such gross butwhaddaboutisms and false equivalences. After that, maybe you can engage in a way that isn't like loadshedding.
I mean really, why is it so unreasonable to expect history to be told like it is?! Why must you defend it as if your identity depends on it? Or is that the real reason for your objections - that your identity depends on a sugar-coated, gilded, myth-infused version of reality? Huh?!
Many of these farms have changed hands multiple tImes and at present owned by German and Belgian nationals . Maybe bought in the last 10 years . How do you deal with them ?
Isn't that clear from the essay? We start by expecting history to be told in full, warts and all, not sugar-coated to preserve the status quo. How would you feel if Groot Constantia tried to sell you 300-year-old bottle of Pinotage telling you it's still perfectly drinkable? If it's going to be a collector's item let it be that but don't try to present it as still palatable.
This is very interesting. My husband grew up in Cape Town and went to one of the few integrated schools at the time, so you'd expect his parents to be pretty liberal but his mother's attitude to people of colour is really paternalistic (of the Covid vaccine "Oh well you can't expect THEM to have two injections! They don't have houses! You'll never find them again!") and quite unwilling to re-examine what she was taught as South African history and move forward differently.
Mary, that is so well put. It's like you open a bottle from 1685 and, as expected, its pure vinegar! Now why are we still trying to drink it?!
This is rich coming from an Egyptian writer while Egypt was perhaps the greatest enslaver of people on the planet. And houses the greatest symbols of slavery in existence in the form of the pyramids, sphinxes and hieroglyphs. And you should read up on how Egyptian academics try to justify and play down the atrocities of slavery in ancient Egypt. I wonder if you've every read up on white slaves in Africa, that is a topic conveniently never talked about by writers like yourself. History is history and the present is now. Life is unfair and humans are inherently evil as well as good. The liberal agenda is just as bad as the conservative alternative. But there's nothing as pathetic as the weak-willed, fingerpointing, crying about the neighbour's kid stealing my toys attitude exhibited by this article and other's like it.
Lol, cry more.
🤷♂️
Piet, you need to learn some logic, and maybe try to avoid such gross butwhaddaboutisms and false equivalences. After that, maybe you can engage in a way that isn't like loadshedding.
I mean really, why is it so unreasonable to expect history to be told like it is?! Why must you defend it as if your identity depends on it? Or is that the real reason for your objections - that your identity depends on a sugar-coated, gilded, myth-infused version of reality? Huh?!
Many of these farms have changed hands multiple tImes and at present owned by German and Belgian nationals . Maybe bought in the last 10 years . How do you deal with them ?
Isn't that clear from the essay? We start by expecting history to be told in full, warts and all, not sugar-coated to preserve the status quo. How would you feel if Groot Constantia tried to sell you 300-year-old bottle of Pinotage telling you it's still perfectly drinkable? If it's going to be a collector's item let it be that but don't try to present it as still palatable.