sand_man
Honorary Master
Realistically we would be happy with a draw here. But SA 2 - France 1 so we going through lads!!!! CONGRATS!!!SA 2 - Mexico 1
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Question of the Day: What's the most interesting small town you've visited in South Africa?
World cup
- Thread starter killadoob
- Start date
wrathex
Expert Member
I agree with you JohnGalt.
This local negativity phenomena is interesting, it almost seems as if people become addicted to a certain state of mind, being negative becomes an attitude and is eventually incorporated into the overall personality of the individual.
I find that the people who are the most negative are often also the people who are not as well informed as those who are positive, what I mean by this is, individuals who read only the local negative/death/vandalism news and are unaware of the atrocities/racism/sexism/suffering of so many other nations or groups globally, in other words, they have become narrow minded and can no longer see life or the world in context.
Understanding that the backlog caused by apartheid over centuries, cannot possibly be neutralised within one or two or even three decades, it is going to take long for people who were subjected to discrimination and shame to heal and move forward.
If my grandparents could not read and my mom and dad cannot read, imagine how difficult it becomes to catch up, those of us who came from cultures or families that could read and write, have a huge advantage, we are able to inform ourselves and express ourselves, those who didn't have these skills, had no such recourse, they were easy to influence and indoctrinate and be misinformed and to be used for political purposes they don't understand the consequences of.
Also, we live in Africa, the majority of the population are African, so obviously crime will reflect this reality, logically most criminals in Africa are Africans, and most criminals in Germany are Germans.
(this kinder-garden fact seems to elude many)
The media is also contributing to this negativity addiction. It is so easy to report on death/destruction and crime, it pulls the readers every time.
That the transformation to a post apartheid South Africa happened without a horrifying civil war is astounding, another fact that elude many.
I read news from across the world, daily, for many years already, and I can assure you that crime and rape is a major problem in many countries today, the difference is that in South Africa, many people refuse to see crime in context, and these individuals have become the ones with the new victim mentality.
I am very critical of governments inability to govern, corruption and crime, the difference is, I know it is not race related, it is not because of curly hair, it is because they have almost no experience, they flounder, make every mistake possible, but as the years go by, they gain experience, the excuses of the past fall by the wayside and slowly progress is being made to avoid the mistakes made in the past, to try harder, to start rooting out corruption and finding ways to improve the standard of living for all of us. This is a slow process, but it is definitely happening in South Africa.
I would like to point your attention to the following website, read what these young people are saying and what their dreams and hopes are, for the sake of all of us, who are and want to be South Africans, it is time to stop wallowing in self-pity at privileges lost and standards lowered.
My heart goes out to a people who are still being demonized and looked down upon, and I am ashamed that seemingly educated people get a kick out of constantly deriding others.
I am South African, this is my country, this is my people, and the problems we face, we must face together and united, not as hateful little splinter groups, we are capable of so much more, so much better, my hope is that our humanity will win this negativity war, and that those of us who live comfortable lives do more to share, inform, educate, and above all, to be patient and to realise that change takes time.
This local negativity phenomena is interesting, it almost seems as if people become addicted to a certain state of mind, being negative becomes an attitude and is eventually incorporated into the overall personality of the individual.
I find that the people who are the most negative are often also the people who are not as well informed as those who are positive, what I mean by this is, individuals who read only the local negative/death/vandalism news and are unaware of the atrocities/racism/sexism/suffering of so many other nations or groups globally, in other words, they have become narrow minded and can no longer see life or the world in context.
Understanding that the backlog caused by apartheid over centuries, cannot possibly be neutralised within one or two or even three decades, it is going to take long for people who were subjected to discrimination and shame to heal and move forward.
If my grandparents could not read and my mom and dad cannot read, imagine how difficult it becomes to catch up, those of us who came from cultures or families that could read and write, have a huge advantage, we are able to inform ourselves and express ourselves, those who didn't have these skills, had no such recourse, they were easy to influence and indoctrinate and be misinformed and to be used for political purposes they don't understand the consequences of.
Also, we live in Africa, the majority of the population are African, so obviously crime will reflect this reality, logically most criminals in Africa are Africans, and most criminals in Germany are Germans.
(this kinder-garden fact seems to elude many)
The media is also contributing to this negativity addiction. It is so easy to report on death/destruction and crime, it pulls the readers every time.
That the transformation to a post apartheid South Africa happened without a horrifying civil war is astounding, another fact that elude many.
I read news from across the world, daily, for many years already, and I can assure you that crime and rape is a major problem in many countries today, the difference is that in South Africa, many people refuse to see crime in context, and these individuals have become the ones with the new victim mentality.
I am very critical of governments inability to govern, corruption and crime, the difference is, I know it is not race related, it is not because of curly hair, it is because they have almost no experience, they flounder, make every mistake possible, but as the years go by, they gain experience, the excuses of the past fall by the wayside and slowly progress is being made to avoid the mistakes made in the past, to try harder, to start rooting out corruption and finding ways to improve the standard of living for all of us. This is a slow process, but it is definitely happening in South Africa.
I would like to point your attention to the following website, read what these young people are saying and what their dreams and hopes are, for the sake of all of us, who are and want to be South Africans, it is time to stop wallowing in self-pity at privileges lost and standards lowered.
My heart goes out to a people who are still being demonized and looked down upon, and I am ashamed that seemingly educated people get a kick out of constantly deriding others.
I am South African, this is my country, this is my people, and the problems we face, we must face together and united, not as hateful little splinter groups, we are capable of so much more, so much better, my hope is that our humanity will win this negativity war, and that those of us who live comfortable lives do more to share, inform, educate, and above all, to be patient and to realise that change takes time.
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sand_man
Honorary Master
My grandfather is the most negative person in the world. We were talking one night and I asked him "Do you know how many people are murdered a year now compared to 1994?"
"Around 300 000 a year now " he told me with a straight face. So true what you say. The super negative people are very seldom in possession of the facts. The problem is when given the facts they often reject them instead of altering their stance to be more reflective of reality.
I think there is a correlation in this country between violent criminals and blacks. But that's misleading because there's a far stronger near perfect correlation between violent criminals and people who grew up in poor social circumstances, whether they were poverty or abuse that stemmed from the desperation of poverty. The criminals are black correlation fails when you look at all the data and countries in the world. The grew up in poor social circumstances remains universal.
Yes our media is terrible. They pull quotes out of context all the time to cause controversy. The whole "Dr beetroot" is a perfect example. Can you believe until today some people still think she claimed beetroot could cure aids ?
I know ! Our memories are sometimes terrible. We take so much for granted. A tour to the apartheid museum cured by apathy. Things were looking really bad in the early 90's. Hoards of whites pelleting hoards of blacks with rubber bullets and sjamboks. And some people want everyone to shrug it off and start to see white people as the victims when we still the richest most privileged ggroups ? What the **** are they smoking ?
Yes , I hate to admit it as I liked Mbeki and always hated Zuma but there's a lot more stamping out of corruption going on now than before and more accountability. Also what people don't realize is that government on a municipal level is thriving. In the townships etc they know their counselors and If people don't see results **** hits the fan. There's a lot of new sentiment coming in that you work for the people not the other way around.
Great words and a great post.
Lightscribe
Banned
People are allowed to have an opinion. Mine and others' may not be the same as yours, but that does not mean anything. I am always aware of the communist agenda of the anc/sacp/cosatu and mention things that are related. The events we have discussed in this forum over the last year are still there, still evolving. People may feel better because of the WC, but that does not change the socio political feelings about each other's agenda's.
Ask some foreign Africans, whether their fears of xenophobia are suddenly gone.
Well to a degree i am just as bad as marine and dreamking, nobody is as bad as lightscribe though. Ya i think being positive is actually better. No point being bitter and twisted. Not when i saw how glorious the highways looked last night. I never used them because the traffic is so heavy, first time i have been on the n1 from randburg to pretoria in about a year and wow is all i can say.
Dammit lance you are rubbing off on me
On an even better note france's poor form continues with a massive loss to china
You seem to have had a change of heart/mind.
You mention thinking that being positive is better. That being bitter and twisted has no point. These must be feelings you have had. I'm glad you feel better about life in general and hope that it's not just temporary.
You mention that nobody is "as bad as" I.
I have made it clear many times, that I am not negative. I am deep down happy and content. I have been since I retired at 36. Every day is like a holiday for me. Every day is like that "Not when i saw how glorious the highways looked last night. I never used them because the traffic is so heavy, first time i have been on the n1 from randburg to pretoria in about a year and wow is all i can say", that you experienced. 
I do have an issue with the anc/sacp/cosatu, the singing of genocide songs and the violent socialist second phase of the National Democratic Revolution. I comment on related topics and I always try to add insight.
killadoob
Honorary Master
No light there is nothing wrong with the way you think at all dude . We all have our opinions. It may just be world cup fever or something .
. We all have our opinions. It may just be world cup fever or something .
genetic
Honorary Master
Watch National Geographic's World Cup Megastructures tomorrow night - Sunday 9pm.
They've got the stadia and infrastructure upgrades like the Gautrain, bridges etc..... should be interesting
http://natgeotv.com/uk/world-cup-megastructures/about
They've got the stadia and infrastructure upgrades like the Gautrain, bridges etc..... should be interesting
http://natgeotv.com/uk/world-cup-megastructures/about
Lightscribe
Banned
No light there is nothing wrong with the way you think at all dude
There's nothing wrong with the way you think either. Being sceptical is healthy, if it goes with a sense of humor/sarcasm. It's different from depression and a persistent negativity or neurosis.
It's great that the spirit of the moment is being felt everywhere. World cup fever may be just what SA needs right now. Party on!
killadoob
Honorary Master
Yea but the honeymoon is over in a couple months, i hope it lingers and does not pop.
Right now the world cup is over shadowing a lot of unhappiness i reckon. Once the bubble bursts i wonder. Anyways party on for now.
Right now the world cup is over shadowing a lot of unhappiness i reckon. Once the bubble bursts i wonder. Anyways party on for now
.
Oh my God!
You see people, it is these sort of intangible benefits of the world cup that just can't be quantified and have a monetary value attached to it!
That comes afterwards when Tshwane realises it hasn't paid it's contractors, apparently. With half the amount of expected tourists coming for the World Cup many smaller enterprises will never recuperate the money they have spent - trust me then it becomes very quantifiable.
Sting
Ghost in the Machine
*recoup*
I agree that we will have to see what happens once the SWC party is over. I have always supported the SWC being hosted here and one of the main reasons was that it would force our government into infrastructure upgrades. (also 'cos I'm a footie freak!)
I don't think anyone was suggesting we make money from the world cup just because tourists come during the tournament. The money will be made in the long run through the marketing success of the country. And if it doesn't ...we have new stadiums, thousands of people had work for 4 years, we fixed up some roads and airports and did some beautification and in the grand scheme of things life carries on as before. Shrug.
Unlike the Beijing games or the German world cup etc. No one knows about us other than than bad sensationalistic urban myth stuff our expats run around telling everyone in London. That we have flamethrowers from our cars and other rubbish. Other than that they don't know we have modern , clean cities etc. I can only think helping show people how advanced we are compared to what they think of Africa can only lead to positive things for the country. Peoples estimate of you next time you introduce yourself as a South African will never again be "But you're white ? What are you doing living in Africa ? why would you live there with the huts and the lions ?". instead it will be "South Africa, yeah...not really all that different to where I come from. You guys really have it going on down there. "
Which all translates to we might get taken a bit more seriously in our future business proposal. And when someone says to his wife "let's go to Africa" she remembers the world cup and thinks "hmm...I suppose I could tolerate South Africa. At least they have malls."
Silly examples but use your imagination and the benefits are going to be huge.
*recoup (v). Synonyms: get back, earn, make back, recover, regain, make good, recuperate, retrieve, recapture.*
Oh it's gonna be a fun world cup, I'm just glad my money isn't riding on it (well apart from my gambling addiction).
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Lie I said John, smaller enterprises, not this "we". For example, B&Bs who have already had to close thanks to half-hearted world cup enthusiasm. Be it the fault of Africa or the current economic climate matters not, the result is still the same. Next time read the post a bit more thoroughly, okay?
AntjieSomers
Active Member
- Joined
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World Cup fever is rising by the day...and I am feeling it more and more...it is going to be great!
But...
I am struggling to get into the whole vuvuzela thing...
Any suggestions? Earplugs?
But...
I am struggling to get into the whole vuvuzela thing...
Any suggestions? Earplugs?
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