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This type of prejudice determines the values and attitudes of people according to their ethnic group or culture. At its crudest, it perpetuates stereotypes such as virile and patriarchal Zulus with a penchant for war, money-grabbing Jews, cheating Indians, lazy Shangaans, racist Afrikaner bullies, etcetera.
Many South Africans are guilty of this bigotry. But it has long been regarded as socially unacceptable in public – unless, it seems, the target group are Afrikaners or whites.
Then it’s open season.
They were the apartheid brutes; rules don’t apply to them. This attitude undermines the national project to combat racism and sexism.
It is wrong and counter-productive.
A good example was the opinion piece “White masculinity since 1994" in the Sunday Independent by a top official in the Presidency, Busani Ngcaweni.
In other societies it would have been met with outrage.
In fact, if that kind of analysis were applied to any other population group, Ngcaweni would have been branded a dangerous bigot and a fool.
Let me give you a taste. The Oscar Pistorius trial “lifted a veil on the socio-cultural existential preoccupations of middle class Afrikaner men which includes love of guns, fast cars, blondes and other excesses”, writes Ngcaweni.
Afrikaner men had evolved from a love of khaki shorts, bakkies, boerewors and beer during the apartheid era to cognac and upmarket restaurants, but “rage and the pistol remain”.
Afrikaner women live a “marginal” existence as “minors” under the “bubble of deceit and conceit” and do not question authority. “Abuse was as prevalent under apartheid as it is under democracy.” And here’s a gem: Afrikaner women “could not inherit property”! (What planet is this guy from?)
There you have it: Afrikaner men are all gun-crazy, racist wife beaters and the women are obedient housewives. So the next time you meet one of them, remember this and handle them accordingly.
What utter, utter stupid and bigoted rubbish.
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