Facebook ... The Hypocritical Arrogance of Big Business

I made a comment on Facebook that - "The Saudis are murderous swines".
For that Facebook rightly imposed a sanction, correctly stating that the comment constituted "hate speech" and banned me for a period of 48 hours.

After serving the ban I posted an unreserved apology to the "good people of Saudi"  and stated that I accepted that the comment, in its blanket format, constituted hate speech.

However I added that it was the Saudi regime that I had in mind when I posted the comment as this regime was, inter alia, responsible for -
persecution of women;
bombing children; and
the diabolical murder of a journalist ...
 who was butchered with his body being bagged and disposed off  to an unknown locality which was horrendous for his family given, in particular, their religious imperatives as regards burial.

I also added that my comment had been unfair to pigs as this breed had never indulged in such conduct.

For this apology Facebook banned me for Seven (7) days without stipulating in what way my apology had violated its Community Standards.
I submitted a detailed query pointing out the facts and merits herein. The ban was maintained without any explanatory response.

Not ONE Community Standard had been violated by my apology. !!!!

The inescapable assumption is that Zuckerberg & Co took exception to my accusatorial statement about the Saudi regime as augmented by the accompanying image, shown above herein.

This reaction by Zuckerberg & Co. is mind boggling in view of the fact  that no reasonable person would take exception to my apology or the accompanying image.
There is nothing graphically disturbing about the image.
The statements made about the Saudi regime are matters of fact, widely reported on and supported by innumerable international agencies of repute.

I should mention that on occasion I have reported content to Facebook that posited current "Whites" in the Southern African region, as greedy racist bigots, on account of the conduct of their ancestors.
Facebook has always responded by thanking me but opining that these blanket condemnations and labeling  of White humans, who are not responsible for the conduct of their ancestors, was NOT a violation of Community Standards !!!???

The inescapable inference must be that Zuckerberg & Co have an inhouse policy sensitivity about anything being posted that posits the Saudi regime in a bad light, even if 100% true ...
while it publicly takes an opposite stance.
There can be no other inference as the only persons who could be offended by my apology are members of that regime.
Hypocrisy is all too apparent.

Whichever way one assesses this saga it is clear that there is an arrogance underpinning Facebook's reaction, particularly the complete absence of any explanation for the seven (7) day ban.
It is the arrogance of Big Business.
Since Facebook has billions of subscribers it does not care about treating one subscriber with arbitrary summary contempt.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe … and Whites … especially American Whites

Mugabe was educated by Whites … very, very good Whites … Roman Catholic Priests of the Jesuit Order. In the result he was exceptionally well educated and later amassed more Degrees than a thermometer.

In his early adult life, Mugabe was a great voice of truth, reason and justice. This carried through to the first 3 years as President of Zimbabwe, a country taking its first steps as a country coming out of systemic oppression and a bloody war.  His was a voice of peace and reconciliation as a new united nation.
Symptomatic of his operational mode and culture was that he appointed General Peter Walls, who had served the Rhodesian Government as Commander of the anti-liberation forces, as the country’s first Army Commander.

All this was to change once he was complicit in the Ndebele Genocide, known as Gukurahundi.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/mugabe-zimbabwe-gukurahundi-massacre-matabeleland From that point Zimbabwe became a de facto military State, with Mugabe its tyrannical leader, until his demise on account of the very monster he had husbanded.

He would routinely seek to justify his tyranny with strident rhetoric.
This included him scolding Whites that they should not pontificate and lecture Africans (Blacks) as regards codes of behavior and how to rule.
He charged Whites with being hypocritical. In his indictment they had no right to tell Blacks how to behave as they were worse.
Was he right … was he right wholly or in part?  That is the question?

By Whites we mean, and he meant, the general group of Caucasians that comprise what is referred to as the “Western or Free World”.
They are the group that achieved advancement, as members of the human race, to a level where they more-or-less overran the whole planet, including colonizing and subjugating Africans.
Upon abandoning the oppression and subjugation of Africans, these members of the “Free world”, the “Western World”, have routinely insisted, pleaded, begged, advised, lectured … African leaders to emulate their operational mode, culture and conduct in order to embed “sacred” principles of democracy.

These pleas, lectures and advice from White Western leaders have largely fallen on deaf African ears, as Africa continues to present as a litany of failure … with coups … famine … human rights abuse … and even genocide being something of routine occurrence in Africa.

So was Mugabe right? Was he right in contending that Whites are just as bad … or even worse??
We will know the answer to this in 2020 when Americans vote in their Presidential elections.

a)       You see America has Whites as its dominant group. Those Whites are made up of a huge representation of the various Caucasian groups that comprise “Whites” since it is indeed a
nation of Immigrants” … White immigrants.  

b)      It is the country that has emerged as the most advanced, most powerful and most influential and dominant.

c)       Given the above, it has also presented as the “Leader of The Free World”.

d)      Now it is challenged in a very, very fundamental way, that can be usefully dubbed “Trumpism” ... of which such conduct is pretty typical

e)      Trumpism is where –

i)                    The President presents as a criminal sexual deviant or pervert and this does not matter.

ii)                   Where the President is the biggest recorded liar in history and it does not matter.

iii)                 Where the President rebukes, condemns and repudiates all of America’s intelligence agencies and this does not matter with this type of support now fairly routine. 

iv)                 Where the President demands, expects and wallows in personal aggrandizement and this is accepted as a norm.

v)                   Where the President considers himself as above the law and unaccountable and this is the norm.

vi)                 Where the President is in a love fest with the principle megalomaniacs on the planet like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jon Un, Rodrigo Duterte, Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi, Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-treacherous-ties-to-a-murderous-prince… and skunks like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage … and members of the bigoted Alt-Right groups … and this is accepted.

vii)               Where the President openly equates the actions of bigoted Neo-Nazis with those in opposition and this is accepted.

viii)              Where the President openly indulges in a pernicious bigoted racist attack on four (4) Congresswomen, demanding that they leave the country, and this is tolerated ... with Republican support for him rising as a result of his racism.

ix)               Where a President tears up nearly all international agreements and embarks on bully-boy “America-First” operational mode and culture.

x)         Where the President now threatens a whistle-blower, whose actions are actually protected by law, and posits that citizen as guilty of treason, punishable by execution … and this is accepted.
xi)       And as regards the way the Dotard (Trump) speaks.  

xii)      Where the President routinely scapegoats "migrants: as being a terrible threat to America while doing absolutely nothing about the reality that over 100,000 Americans are killed, maimed, robbed and raped at gunpoint every year by other Americans.

xiii)     Trump/s operational mode and culture has so many attributes of fascism and/or that of a tinpot dictator.
         

f)       And what we see is ---

      Millions of Whites, referenced as “Trump’s Base”, enthusiastically supporting this President in all the above listed abrogation, repudiation and trampling on America’s professed values and behavioral codes.

g)      And what we see is ---

       Most members of the Republican Party, especially its leaders, acquiescing, conniving, colluding and actually supporting this dangerous buffoon of a President in his actions and shenanigans.
Good example.

Conclusion
The Great US of A is in its most disgraceful period since the era of slavery … and … millions of Whites don’t care … and actually support this heinous state of national affairs.
Republican leaders and followers don’t care that that the Party of Lincoln and Reagan has been hijacked by Trumpism.

So, on the hard evidence to-date, it has to be conceded, on an objective test, that Robert Gabriel Mugabe may well have been right about Whites.

His stance will be DISPROVED OR CONFIRMED in 2020 when America’s Whites vote in the Presidential election.
Then we will know.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:-
The pic includes Jim Jordan ...
and Kellyanne Conway on "alternative facts" ...
Sarah Huckabee Sanders ...
with Lindsey Graham presenting as the leading now typical Republican leader, spineless and hypocritical to the core.

Dominance ... the Proof of Ignorance

 

We can define ignorance as not understanding that ADVANTAGE does not equate to ADVANCEMENT.
You see mankind has been on a journey of Advancement from the time he arrived on this planet. He was able to do this because he is blessed with the gift of Reason as the species known as homo sapiens.
Note that he started off in a cave ... huddled together ... apprehensive about everything out there. From the moment someone introduced the use of fire he gained an Advantage. From the moment he invented the spear and the knobkerrie, he gained an Advantage.
Eventually he invented the gun ... and secured a huge advantage.

Thabo Mbeki and Robert Mugabe

It was galling to hear Thabo Mbeki, on Radio Power FM today, eulogising Robert Mugabe.
His eulogy was riddled with lies that would make arch-propagandist Paul Joseph Goebbels giggle with delight in his grave.

This included a claim that "Mugabe is to be revered for having redeemed Zimbabwe when the British were trying to remove him from power in 2008".

It was NOT the British that tried to remove Mugabe & Co in 2008.
It was the people of Zimbabwe, who very bravely it must be said, voted this lot of skunks out.

What then happened was that then President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa got the AU and SADC to force a "GNU Agreement" that ensured that the bloody Mugabe regime retained power, using something called "quiet diplomacy".
Our brethren in Zimbabwe have paid dearly ever since, and Zimbabwe is now a Hell-Hole of note.

But, of course, Mbeki was deeply indebted to Mugabe. He got the job of President of SA because of Mugabe.
You see, at that time, Cyril Ramaphosa was the natural successor to Mandela. However the great man made a BIG mistake and consulted African leaders, starting with Mugabe.
These leaders were still in a state of catatonic shock as a result of how elder Statesman Dr Kenneth Kaunda had been removed by a pipsqueak nobody, Frederick Chiluba, who came from nowhere.
You see ... understand this PLEASE ..... Frederick Chiluba was a Labour man .. . and so was Cyril ... and so was Morgan Tsvangirai who won the 2008 elections.

In addition, why would Mbeki simply not overlook the voluminous blood that was on the hands of Mugabe?
They are two-of-a-kind ... both with blood on their hands ... both caring nothing for the plight of our people.
As regards Mugabe, there is the obvious matter of the Ndebele Genocide, called Gukurahundi, just for a start.
As regards Mbeki, there were the tens of thousands of HIV/AIDS patients would died as a result of his ignorant, arrogant Aids Denialism policy.

For those who still want to obfuscate the issue of Mbeki's AIDS Denialism, as having been a "genuine" stance against a rapacious pharmaceutical industry, let us pose this VERY SIMPLE question?
What do we think, imagine or supposed would happen to a Provincial Hospital Administrator if patients died in consequence of EXACTLY the same "reasons" that Mbeki had???????
That Administrator would be arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to many periods of life imprisonment. The conviction(s) would certainly be for Reckless Culpable Homicide if not Murder on the basis of dolus eventualis.

At that very time Mbeki was trying to foist the quack medicine of Virodene, at humongous expense, on the people of South Africa.

I was in the Public Sector when Mbeki took over from Mandela. It became a nightmare for a "public interest" functionary like myself, as his regime embedded a wall-to-wall system of political patronage.
The RAF entity. that I headed and was forced out of, is now over a Rand billion in the red.
The shenanigans of this regime nearly cost me my life when two (2) armed goons were sent to take me out in our home.

We blame Zuma & Co for the current wall-to-wall inefficiency,ineptitude, failure and corruption.
Understand that the rotten bed from which this all grew was actually laid by Mbeki.

The man is actually responsible for the mess that Zimbabwe and South Africa are in right now.
----------------------------------------
PS: I did love his "I am an African speech" ... especially as there is no reference to the "Black" mantle of dehumanization in that speech.
But, of course, at that time he did not have power.
----------------------------------------
PPS: It must be said that his brother, Moeletsi Mbeki, is a "man among men". 😊👍

Did Mugabe have a point about White hypocrisy?

Taking the ongoing saga of Anthony Scaramucchi, as a litmus test, we find that Mugabe Is somewhat vindicated.

Hillary Clinton said that SOME were "deplorable".
Mugabe was saying that the whole lot were.

You see it was Whites that colonised us Africans ... and have always insisted that their way is "civilized" ... the best way for humans to be civilians.

Before colonization Africa mostly had systems of authoritarianism without notions of human rights and equality.
Not surprisingly our leaders have often, if not mostly, slipped back into this traditional authoritarian self serving mode ...
and Africa is a litany of failure.

Led by America, the White free world has always condemned,lectured and lambasted our African leaders for their dictatorial inclinations.
Mugabe openly railed against them, condemning them as hypocrites for being themselves corrupt hypocrites.
Was he right ?

Did Mugabe have a point??
Hillary Clinton said that SOME were "deplorable".
Mugabe was saying that the whole lot were.

You see it was Whites that colonised us Africans ... and have always insisted that their way is "civilized" ... the best way for humans to be civilians.

Before colonization Africa mostly had systems of authoritarianism without notions of human rights and equality.
Not surprisingly our leaders have often, if not mostly, slipped back into this traditional authoritarian self serving mode ...
and Africa is a litany of failure.

Led by America, the White free world has always condemned,lectured and lambasted our African leaders for their dictatorial inclinations.
Mugabe openly railed against them, condemning them as hypocrites for being themselves corrupt hypocrites.
Was he right ?

Taking the ongoing saga of Anthony Scaramucchi, as a litmus test, we find that Mugabe Is somewhat vindicated.

Today Anthony Scaramucchi is a veritable oracle of truth on what a corrupt, narcissistic,self-serving swine Donald trump is.
Yesterday he was standing next to Trump hailing and supporting him as an ideal leader.
Scaramucchi has not had an epiphany. He is just a hypocrite.

The point to be made here is that Scaramucchi is not alone.
He is representative of the White dominated Republican Party.
They ALL KNOW that what he is now saying so eloquently and forcefully is 100% true.
But they hypocritically connive, collude and acquiesce in the thoroughly rotten Trump presidency ...
to serve their own interests ...
individually and as a Party ...
just as our very own African leaders and their supporters behave.

As Trevor Noah pointed out, on day one, Donald Trump has all the attributes of a typical African dictator.
He exhibits this daily ... and yet these White leaders of the free world, and their supporters ...
the most powerful people on the planet ...
are actually doing nothing about it ...
except for Anthony Scaramucchi ...
only because Trump dumped him like he was dog's poo.

To my mind Trump is already a de facto dictator, as Robert Mugabe was. It is very difficult to separate their operational culture and mode.

There appears to be hope ... as the White leaders at the G7 conference isolated the would-be despot Donald Trump and his corrupt hypocritical agenda.

However , for my part, whether Mugabe was right or not, will be proved or disproved, next year when America has its Presidential elections.
To date White Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell have vindicated Robert Gabriel Mugabe 100%

A Tribute to A Then Young Lad

I was fitting a brand-new motor onto the back of our boat.

Just then I heard the ominous sound of the tick-tock hoist slip.
Gravity kicked in. The full weight of the motor came down … came down onto me as I was crouched under the motor. 
This caused my back to bend to a bow shape, seize and lock in that shape.
I was trapped … trapped under the motor, unable to move.

I knew that it would only be a matter of time before my back snapped like a twig … but I could do nothing … nothing whatsoever about my plight … except to once again start reeling off them Hail Marys, that had always worked in my long and troublesome life.
Would Mother Mary come through? Would She??

Just as my back was starting to give and I was giving up hope, I became aware of someone approaching.
It was our son, Christopher Mark Greenland, known affectionately as CG.

I heard him intone an exclamation of concern – “Dad”. The expression on his face mirrored my desperation and helplessness.
The relief I felt at seeing him played out in my mind as a cruel trick.
What could this 13-year-old do about this horrible situation?
Nothing!

Fate was adding to the horror by letting our son witness his father being crippled for life.

In a hoarse whisper of utter desperation I started to tell him to get a car jack to wedge under the motor, hoping against hope that there was enough time.

However, to my utter astonishment and disbelief, the lad grabbed the motor and lifted it up and off me as if were a feather …
all 268 KGs ... yes 268 KGS of a 75 HP Mercury boat motor.
I was free.!!!
I was not going to be crippled for life. !!!
It was unbelievable.!!!

As these words hit the screen my eyes well up in tears of that pride that a father has for a son …
a son who has always been so good …
so good at everything he has turned his hand to …
including now being South African Bass Fishing Champion …
due to represent our adopted country in the USA in November 2019.

Feel that pride with me .. and yes, don’t forget to thank Mother Mary.
------------------------------------------------------
PS: When we later transferred that motor to another boat, it took three grown men. 🤭

European Election Results for Dummies

In simple terms the EU elections reveal a marked swing towards the right …
towards nationalism …
towards nativism …
towards tribalism.

Why?
The main reason is that the current generation of humans is not as imbued with the lessons learnt as a result of the last World Wars and the Holocaust …
having not experienced that era of diabolical human conflict and suffering.

They do not have a deep seated affinity for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) that was a paradigm mindset/culture shift for humanity as a result of those wars and the Holocaust.
So they are not naturally or instinctively inclined to a culture of universal brotherhood.

To this we add the fact that the UDHR was central to the shift towards “globalization” that brought with it an influx of “foreigners” in ever increasing numbers …
culminating in the disturbing spectre of thousands of “migrants” marching into Europe.
Understand that we humans are naturally prejudiced as is clearly explained here --https://www.facebook.com/notes/chris-greenland/prejudice-guilty-as-charged-please-share-far-and-wide/10214408826088875/

It only needs a trigger to convert this natural prejudice to something more sinister such as overt racism or a drift to the nativist nationalism and tribalism that Trumpism and the EU election results prove.

Unhelpful has been the pathological failure of our African governments.
Despite the fact that Africa is the most resourced continent, Africans have failed dismally to realize their potential or to be humans naturally accruing respect, let alone adulation.

So, we are tolerated … NOT respected, except perhaps as athletes.
How on earth do we expect to be respected when we define ourselves as "Black", a label that was imposed on us to dehumanize us??

Africans were more than well represented in the caravans of migrants invading Europe, and the World was treated daily to video footage of Africans drowning in the Mediterranean trying to get to Europe.

Feel free to imagine that Europeans are spooked into not wanting our type in their midst.

These phenomena were/are god-send ammunition for the bigoted likes of Le Pen of France, Farage of the UK, Petry of Germany, Salvini of Italy, the Hungarian PM and others, now comprising the Alt-Right, to psychologically proposition Europeans that they are under threat from these “others”.

What certainly does not help is that we participate in what is known as a “Black Grievance Industry”, in

terms of which we routinely lay a guilt complex on current Whites for the ills of the past for which they have no responsibility. We take it further and actually blame current Europeans, frothing at the mouth about something called “neo-colonialism”.

We do this as matter of routine … as an excuse for the pathological failures of our leaders.

It is to be very naïve to imagine that Trump’s referencing Africa as “shit-hole” countries and having a preference for migrants from Norway did not strike a huge accord with many European voters.

Obviously there are also other reasons why Europe is experiencing this drift to the Right. However the above is a significant component.

In concluding we should recognize that this planet is now at a watershed moment in time.
It will either drift back to the pre-war, pre-UDHR era of “Might is Right” or continue on a journey of universal brotherhood.

There is hope. There is hope because, on a total analysis of the results, more Europeans voted for what is good than for what is bad.
So the meter has not yet swung over towards Trumpism and the Alt-Right ...
but it is trying to.😳😨😵

To our regional Governments ... There was a time

… a time when we were at peace and in harmony with the world we found ourselves in, as hard as it was.

We were one group of the species known as mammals that are social by nature, live in groups, communicate and take no more than is needed.  

Like all the other groups, we were in a struggle for survival, wanting no more, no less … than to be allowed to live in peace, raise our families and flourish.

On this score we were by no means dominant.
Physically we were no match for certain other mammals, such as the lion, the leopard, the crocodile, the buffalo and that magnificent giant, the elephant.

What is more we had the least resistance to the tiny mosquito that kept our numbers down to such an extent that only one of three of our babies ever survived.

Given these realities we were not infused with self-serving arrogance and disdain for other creatures or other humans.

Then something happened … something happened … something happened … that changed everything.

The White man arrived.
He arrived with a culture of dominance … dominance over all other creatures that our region was so blessed with … and dominance over us. 

Today we classify this attitude as arrogance … ignorant arrogance.
Ignorant, because it fails to accept that every living creature, including humans, are all part of a grand mosaic of nature, each with its own unique attributes and gifts, a full understanding of  which we have yet to attain.
Just as an example, we should know that, despite our big brain and ten fingers, we can never weave a nest that the tiny weaver bird weaves with its tiny brain and beak. We have no understanding how that same bird will forecast high rainfall and therefore build its nest higher.

The White man of that time was the oppressor and we were the oppressed.
And then the White man relinquished his dominance over us.
But, on doing so, he bestowed on us three incredible things –

a) Borders that gave us countries that we never had before.

b) Protection against the hitherto mighty mosquito.

c) A gun which reversed the physical disadvantage we previously suffered as against many other mammals.

d) Alas, what we also appear to have assimilated is the ignorant arrogance that the White man then had when he had us under subjugation and oppression.

So today many of us, not all, act out this ignorant arrogance.
Because of the advantages that we were given we are now claiming far more than we had … and grabbing more and more territory that used to be the habitat of the other mammals in our region.

We do this on a new-found attitude that other creatures have no rights; only us.

Ours is now a culture of self-serving dominance to the loss and prejudice of all others.

We don’t care that other mammals are social creatures, live in family groupings, communicate, have feelings and also experience being traumatized.

We don’t care that, like us, they are also in a struggle for survival.

Just as the proboscis of the tiny mosquito once made it “the boss”, the gun that we were given now makes us the boss … a selfish cruel boss.

We have become so ignorant that we are prepared to even allow other mammals to be killed “for fun” in terms of a deviant sport called “hunting”. 
We forget that our very own kith-and-kin the Khoisan were also once hunted and shot ...
just for fun".

We are so blinded by our arrogance that we cannot see that anybody who “enjoys” killing is a pervert.

But we do this for money … something else the White man introduced us to.

So we see how the oppressed become the oppressors.

Judge (Ret) Chris N Greenland.
[To know more about the writer go to https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisng53?reload=9]

Sudan … What now? … Freedom?

The news media is awash with footage of the ordinary people of Sudan demonstrating their demand to be free of oppression … of military rule … of Omar Al Bashir … to be free … at last.

The military is caught in a situation of organic ambivalence and embarrassment as it was/is very much part of the oppression but is also the Bashir removal agent.

The African Union is caught in a situation of organic hypocrisy as it has always supported African leaders, howsoever bad, but has to be seen to be doing “something” about these tumultuous events.

The future for Sudan is also caught in a situation of organic ambivalence as was Iraq and Libya (and Zimbabwe).

This is because human beings that have been oppressed and denied the opportunity to determine their own interests for many decades do not have the competence to govern, as has been proved in Iraq and Libya.

This incompetence also accrues to the oppressors themselves as appears to also apply to Zimbabwe.

It certainly will accrue to the military that have deposed Omar Al Bashir as they were 100% part of the oppression.

It has been politically correct to blame “the West” for the chaos and instability that exists in Iraq and Libya.
There are many who lament the removal of the despotic bloody tyrants, Saddam and Gaddafi.

Now who are they going to blame, as regards Sudan, for the chaos that is looming?

Their problem is that of naivety and low emotional intelligence.

They see the STABILITY of tyranny as preferable to the chaotic CHANCE at freedom. They have a low understanding of human rights.
President Thabo Mbeki was widely praised for keeping the tyrannical ZPF regime in power for the sake of "stability" using something called "quiet diplomacy".
History has proved what a diabolical betrayal of a whole people this was.

We should all understand that this era/period is but a moment in time … just a moment in the journey that humanity is making.

Yes … Yes … Yes … things can be chaotic after the removal of despots and tyranny.

However, in that chaos, reposes the CHANCE of FREEDOM that was absent before.
The chaotic moment in time will pass.

Despots and tyrants MUST be removed … and it matters not by whom they are removed.

This is the only way that human beings can be afforded the chance of freedom.

Cry Again The Beloved Country

Starting in 2011 I posted appeals to the whole of South Africa, pointing out that the racial reform model was inherently evil for being a “cut and paste” version of apartheid culture.

In the image below, we have "A" instead of "B".

I insisted that –
i) as much as it had been devised in “good faith”, given the horrors of apartheid, this was a case of “the road to hell indeed being paved with good intentions”;
ii) as putting a value on race … ethnicity and skin tone would inevitably induce the populace to associate advantage … disadvantage with these natural attributes;
iii) and, having made the association, would act this out almost as naturally as breathing;
iv) inducing a race/ethnic/colour-coded mentality;
v) that would divide the populace into silos of real and perceived groupings of power, influence and assets;
vi) in real and perceived competition on so many levels;
vii) resulting in a country at war with itself;
viii) instead of having a nation.

I distributed my stance across the social media board and to all the major media houses for a number of years thereafter.
It was treated with emphatic contempt and ignored on all fronts.

In fact, none other than Professor Pierre De Vos, a highly respected national public interest guru, dismissed it as “spam”.https://coginito.blogspot.com/…/dear-professor-pierre-de-vo…

In my appeal I predicted that “nothing good would come” of this racial reform model … only bad ... as, in part, the growing generation would be psychologically infused with the notion that “Black good, White bad, Coloured and others not too good/bad”.

It gives me no pleasure to point out that I was right … that my assessment was right … that I was right on the outcomes.

Today we do not have a nation. We have human beings in silos. Our people are in the same silos that they were under apartheid …
i) in the same silos that they were under apartheid ...
ii) that the whole world perceived and condemned as one of the most evil systems in history.

iii) All that has happened is that the dominant group is now “Black”, enjoys legitimacy under a very credible Constitution, espouses democratic policies … but has a populace in race … ethnic … colour coded camps psychologically and physically.

With elections looming the ANC and the EFF both brand the DA as a “White” Party, so as to leverage the stink that has been created about White people. The EFF lambasts the ANC as having “sold out” to Whites. Even our iconic Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela who still straddles the whole world posthumously is having his incredible name besmirched by vigorous campaigns that he “sold out to the Whites”.

The outcome of this “racial” model is that our people are still far from free.
There are many definitions of “freedom”. My definition is that – “freedom is achieved when a human being “feels free” … feels that he or she is able to realize his or her potential whether it be to be as a business tycoon or as a successful vegetable vendor”.

We do not have that in South Africa currently.
What we have is a “Black” majority “feeling aggrieved” … a White minority “feeling threatened”, with Coloured folk and others “feeling irrelevant”.
“Black” folk are “us”. White folk are “them”. Coloured and Asian folk are “others”.
The first two groups are in competition with each other and take each other seriously.
The third group is regarded and treated as irrelevant to that competition.
The three groups do not comprise a nation of a proud free people.

Proof of this is proved daily, beyond any doubt, on social media and interactive radio discourse.
Innumerable topics play out on race/ethnic/colour coded lines, be it about the “genocide” of White farmers to “land grabbing” and to who is racist and who is not.
Members of each grouping are routinely condemnatory of each other with increasing levels of intensity.

One of the most terrible statements I have ever heard was when a very senior "Black" lawyer responded to a presentation I had made to young "Black" lawyers by -"I cannot agree with Judge Greenland, as it would mean that a poor Black person would have to be treated the same as a poor White person".

The world was also treated to a "Black" Advocate, a Senior Counsel no less, breaking down in tears when, within a few minutes of the hearing, he had to accept that there was nothing "Racist" about the "Spear" painting depicting Jacob Zuma.
He should have actually bee referred for disciplinary action for being so emotionally invested in his client's case.

If we take the plight of Coloured folk as a litmus test it is blindingly clear that this racial model is the very definition of racist hypocrisy.https://coginito.blogspot.com/…/the-case-of-coloured-correc…

As morning breaks there is an interactive 702 Radio program about the ANC Youth League threatening to invade book stores and burn a book penned by a White journo about a “Black” ANC regime leader’s corrupt shenanigans.
Understand that burning books is a hallmark trait of regimes that become despotic.

The 1994 election, that supposedly delivered “freedom” to our people was decidedly non-racial in content. The buildup to the pending elections is being hit by racial trumpeting at any number of levels, with one political Party, in particular, indulging in racial point scoring at somewhat enthusiastic levels.

So that is the current situation … as I repeatedly predicted.

We don’t have a nation.
Our people are still in race/ethnic/colour codes silos … 25 years after Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s promise of “freedom for all” … a promise that he challenged an apartheid Court to hang him for rather than give it up.

The majority are still languishing in the legacy of apartheid-induced poverty … still disadvantaged … still disempowered …
while largely politically connected “Black“ members have traded on their claimed black skins to join the previously advantaged.

As predicted the “racial” reform model has induced the birth of its twin brothers “racist” and “xenophobia” as they are all the offspring of the same womb.

Because of the reality set out herein none other than President Cyril Ramaphosa made a speech about “foreigners” that inevitably was understood to be an incitement to subject our indigenous African brethren from Zimbabwe and Malawi, in particular, to depraved murderous attack. As said the driver of this barbaric treatment of our brethren is because the association of advantage/disadvantage with race is now embedded psychologically.

Sadly an online video link plays out in which the President of Ghana laments and condemns the repeated xenophobic pogroms as a betrayal of South Africa’s struggle objectives that the whole of African supported. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr5eO5PySYM

----------------------------------------------------------

Note that the label "Black", that was not in existence when the ANC was formed and like the label "Kaffir" was configured to dehumanize and oppress, is retained from the days of oppression as it serves to unite our indigenous tribal groupings under one banner in the quest for race/ethnic/tribal dominance.
------------------------------------------------------------

As if to portend the bad future that this country is heading towards power goes off, on account of even more “load shedding” as I am typing this post at 5:17am, this 10 April 2019 … and stays off until 10am.

We have "A: instead of "B" as our reform model

As if to portend the bad future that this country is heading towards power goes off, on account of even more “load shedding” as I am typing this post at 5:17am, this 10 April 2019 … and stays off until 10am.

An Appeal To The Government of Botswana

Understand that it pains me deeply to have to do this as Botswana has always been close to my heart and to date, I have been a fierce supporter of this country. It is a country that has been very good to us as a family.
However, the decision by the government to reverse the Ian Khama ban on trophy hunting of animals must be objected to in the strongest terms.
The Minister’s explanation of why this has occurred smacks of artful deception using half-truths and convenient reasoning. It is unprincipled from start to finish.

1. “Conservation?”
He has trotted out the now standard lie that this course of action “Serves Conservation”.
This is the same thing as saying that animals do not have a right to life and must be made to pay for that right.
a) Surely such thinking is diabolical and, at the very least, morally, logically and ethically reprehensible and demeans us as a species??
b) In, any event, it is a downright lie. I am attaching pictures, that I took at Kasane, showing jam-packed photo-safari boats. There were 4 of these boats. For the week that I was at Kasane every one of them was jam-packed every day, even though, it was by no means cheap to be on one of these.
It is obvious that photo-safaris and other bush and wild-game experiences can be successfully configured so as to commercially exploit human love, fascination of, and interest in animals that does not involve killing them.

2. Bloodlust
Let us be clear … very, very clear ... I mean VERY CLEAR.
The whole hunting industry is predicated on the notion/culture that gratuitously taking the life of another creature is “enjoyable”. That is the fundamental premise that is being served.
It is diabolical, if not satanic.
Yes we do kill. But we do this out of necessity. We do this in order to eat. That is how nature, or God, structured the rules of survival.
However no normal human being “enjoys” killing. Only a pervert can enjoy killing. It is that simple.

There is nothing good, justifiable or commendable about gratuitously shooting a 76-year-old bull elephant in its prime, so that you can take pictures, posing on its body, in order to validate yourself as a human being. Only a pervert can imagine that this is good.

There is nothing good about shooting an astoundingly beautiful creature like a leopard, unmindful and uncaring of the fact that it may have cubs waiting for their mother in a den, cubs that will now die slowly and painfully.

Only a pervert can imagine that this is good.
These are the FACTS.
They cannot be denied or wished away.

3. Analogy … satanic reasoning.
The Minister’s argument is, with respect artful, hypocritical and mendacious as it has equal diabolical merit if applied to pedophilia.
Botswana could become an enormously rich country in no time at all if it were to make its young girls and boys available for the perverts that abound on this planet.
It could then advance the same argument that this is necessary so as to raise money to fund the education and development of the rest of its young girls and boys.
The same logic applies to both matters.

4. Dragging in tribal folk.
Claiming that this has the approval of the indigenous humans is perniciously artful. These desperate people are not being given any other or better option.
It is that simple.

Conclusion
Botswana is truly blessed. I first realized this in September 1975 when sitting in our camp at Savuti surrounded in every direction by animals of very description like we were in the Garden of Eden.
The one night the baboons started to bark, followed by monkeys screeching, with buffalo bellowing, elephants trumpeting and lions roaring in a cacophony of sound that made the ground vibrate.
I felt how insignificant I was in this wondrous scheme of things.

Botswana now has five times less animals than it had in 1975.
Its natural resources should be viewed as a sacred trust and not abused.
I assume that the government is acting in good faith. However, it is all too often the case that "the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions".
Please join me in appealing to the government to review its decision and adopt a course of responsibility, love and caring for this wonderful country and its creatures.

Let us insist that Botswana needs to be an example to the rest of mankind not an accomplice in uncaring mindless cruelty in the service of perverts and at the altar of monetary gain.

Please share far and wide.

Note: I have read an extremely detailed paper on this issue by Joseph E. Mbaiwa of the University of Botswana and he concludes that hunting should be supported.
However, his paper simply omits the issues raised here that, to my mind, are fundamental.
I have emailed him and asked him to respond to my stance.
Two weeks later he has not done so.

Botswana … is man indeed a virus

In September 1975, I sat in a camp chair at Savuti, Botswana, and marveled at the world around me. There were animals of so many descriptions all around us, in great abundance; antelopes, buffalo, kudu, zebra, waterbuck, wart-hogs, elephants … and even the humble tortoise. Soon a pride of lion arrived. We were reassured by the game warden that they posed no threat as there was so much food available to them.
I was truly awestruck when I thought I saw an elephant trampling on a tortoise only to have the game warden show me that, with seeming compassion for another creature, it had turned the tortoise back right-side-up after the hyenas had turned it upside-down.
This was what the Garden of Eden must have been like.

That night I lay in my camp bed looking up at the stars. The sky was so clear that the stars were like lanterns within touching distance.
Then the baboons started to bark … followed by the screeching of monkeys … joined by the bellowing of buffalo and then the trumpeting of elephants with the roar of lions. The ground was vibrating with this crescendo of sound exhorting the power of nature.

Right there I changed as a human being. I felt my insignificance in the grand scheme of things. Man was just one piece, one tiny piece of a smörgåsbord … a truly grand mosaic … that is nature.
I had grown up in Rhodesia, with its culture of hunting. I had inculcated a disregard, disdain, contempt for animals.
Right here I changed. With every fiber in my body I became aware that I was no more important than any other creature on this planet.

Yesterday I posted an appeal on Facebook, imploring the Government of Botswana to reverse its decision to permit the gratuitous killing of animals as the fundamental premise that the whole hunting industry is predicated upon is that killing is something “enjoyable”.
There is no denying this fact … as much as it is obfuscated humongously.

For this I was set upon by some Tswana males … abused and insulted.
Common to their stance was that animals have no rights and are expendable at the wish, whim and convenience of man.
Nowhere in their comments of self-righteous aggression was there even a hint of empathy for the plight of animals. There was no recognition, that like us, these animals are social creatures that live in family groupings … communicate with each other and are traumatized just as we are when they are brutalized. Far be it that they even started to understand that , like us and all other creatures, their animals are in a fight for survival.

Their heartlessness astounded me.
But it does not surprise me.
Man is the most recent arrival on this planet, having arrived just 2 minutes ago calculated in terms of a 12-hour historical world existence clock.
However, since his arrival he has set about destroying the planet and the lives of all other creatures.
He does this with the self-righteous impunity as displayed by our Tswana male friends.

It astounds me especially as we are a grouping that experienced being treated as unworthy of having any meaningful rights. We too were considered as having some right to existence provided only that it did not impact, inconvenience or disturb the lives of our colonizers.
We were treated as sub-human. Some treated their animals with more regard than they treated us.
Our Khoisan brothers and sisters were actually subjected to extermination.

To be fair, our Tswana friends are not alone in this culture. It is now an international pandemic.
But, in reality, they have caught the virus.

What induces a heart-pang is that Botswana is truly blessed to have been accorded the privilege of custodianship of such an enthralling mix of animals.
Instead of providing leadership … imaginative, innovative leadership … as to how to make the planet better for all its inhabitants, it is succumbing to the avaricious, self-indulgent, mean-spirited mode and culture that now defines this virus that is man.

But I have hope.
The post has been shared over 75 times by those in support and the share-meter is still running.
God bless those that are doing this.