Even though I’d want my kids to think it was the drugs that killed Amy Winehouse – and even though I’m sure they played a big part in her demise – I couldn’t in good conscience feel that I, and most of you out there, shouldn’t shoulder some of the blame as well.
It’s kind of like when Princess Diana died. Those that ‘loved’ her so much – and showed that ‘love’ by devouring all news and gossip about her life – were quick to blame the paparazzi, but conveniently let themselves off the hook.
Kind of like throwing a bucket of petrol on an open flame and then blaming the flame.
Sure, there were some who recognised the public’s responsibility in Diana’s death, and scowled at the readers of tabloid trash, but that realisation was quickly forgotten as we moved on to the next celeb to stalk.
Now take Amy Winehouse. The latest member of the morbid ’27 Club’ and a girl who, in the public’s eyes, could do little right. She was someone who shot to mega-stardom relatively quickly and frequently got shitfaced.
Because of her party lifestyle we were never short of photos and stories about her exploits. With seldom a good word to read about, and even though I’m sure a lot of celebs try to ignore all the shit being spread about them, it’s got to be hard to avoid it all of the time.
Now think of how horrible it feels to hear someone running you down – it doesn’t even have to be someone you know – and imagine yourself, after a bad day that’s left you feeling worthless, just wanting to get away from it all.
You might go to the movies to escape for an hour and a half. You might phone a friend and get together for a drink.
Or, if you have pretty much unlimited financial resources, you might decide, sod it, and go on a month-long drug and booze binge.
Or imagine fucking up – having an argument with your wife or being caught driving drunk (a common pastime in good ol’ SA) – and strangers thinking it was their ‘right’ to be told about it.
It would probably push you over the edge.
The tragedy that is the Amy Winehouse story is a case of an addictive personality placed under extreme stress and handed enough money to ruin themselves.
The personality is hereditary. The money earned. But the stress is our fault.
The most shameful thing that will happen in the coming week is how all the tabloids that wrote so much venomous vitriol about Ms Winehouse will be telling us how wonderful she was and how much we’ll all miss her.
And those of us who so ferociously gorged on the gossip will wipe our dripping chins and say, yes, we really loved her, what a tragedy.
I believe in free speech, but it is often shameful what we do with that freedom.
Showing posts with label free speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free speech. Show all posts
The Secrecy Bill Can Lick My Balls!
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not convinced that illegal tenders, ministerial overspending, and where Zuma sticks his salami should be considered top secret information.
Sensitive, yes – if by ‘sensitive’ you mean embarrassing and emotional.
One can only assume that the ANC, upon noticing the steady decline in support, has decided not to get their act together but instead to stop potential voters knowing about it.
The proposed Protection of Information Bill would allow ANY government institution to deem ANY information as ‘classified’ and impose a minimum 15 year prison sentence on reporters and whistleblowers.
So if you, as a concerned government employee, happened to notice another, more important employee taking baked beans from pensioners or sticking fingers in schoolboys’ bums – and you decided to tell a journalist about it – and said journalist took a picture and wrote a story – you and said journalist could face anything from 15 to 25 years in chookie.
There is no ‘public interest’ defence, meaning that no matter how much it might rightly concern you and me – taxpayers and citizens – won’t make a difference.
They want us to believe it’s all for our own good, and as far back as 2008 they’ve been trying to trick us into eating this steaming turd. But now they’re happy to aggressively force it through our clenched teeth and down our convulsing gullets.
If you’re unclear on the meaning of this all, check out ‘The Dummies Guide to the Secrecy Bill’ here. And if it’s still unclear, read this.
And if this upsets you, please sign the Right2Know petition here.
This bill will effectively murder investigative journalism. We will never again hear about our tax Rands being raped, our ministers’ wives as druglords, or even the next extramarital presidential impregnation.
Aside from not knowing what is happening in our country, the papers will be downright boring.
Sign the petition here.
Sensitive, yes – if by ‘sensitive’ you mean embarrassing and emotional.
One can only assume that the ANC, upon noticing the steady decline in support, has decided not to get their act together but instead to stop potential voters knowing about it.
The proposed Protection of Information Bill would allow ANY government institution to deem ANY information as ‘classified’ and impose a minimum 15 year prison sentence on reporters and whistleblowers.
So if you, as a concerned government employee, happened to notice another, more important employee taking baked beans from pensioners or sticking fingers in schoolboys’ bums – and you decided to tell a journalist about it – and said journalist took a picture and wrote a story – you and said journalist could face anything from 15 to 25 years in chookie.
There is no ‘public interest’ defence, meaning that no matter how much it might rightly concern you and me – taxpayers and citizens – won’t make a difference.
They want us to believe it’s all for our own good, and as far back as 2008 they’ve been trying to trick us into eating this steaming turd. But now they’re happy to aggressively force it through our clenched teeth and down our convulsing gullets.
If you’re unclear on the meaning of this all, check out ‘The Dummies Guide to the Secrecy Bill’ here. And if it’s still unclear, read this.
And if this upsets you, please sign the Right2Know petition here.
This bill will effectively murder investigative journalism. We will never again hear about our tax Rands being raped, our ministers’ wives as druglords, or even the next extramarital presidential impregnation.
Aside from not knowing what is happening in our country, the papers will be downright boring.
Sign the petition here.
Defending the Right to Offend
Why was it that when talking to a black Zimbabwean cab driver I felt uncomfortable when he said, “Blacks can’t run a country!”?
His opinion, he told me, was born from his observations of the goings on in his own country, and the state of the rest of the African continent.
While analysing my own internal feeling of discomfort I concluded that I, along with most whites in the Western world, have become a victim of oversaturation of political correctness.
Political correctness is defined as the avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalise, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.
By this definition, and by society’s example, it is politically incorrect for me to say that women are bad drivers, but within the p.c. boundaries for First for Women Insurance to discriminate against men in their service and ridicule them in their advertising.
Don’t get me wrong, I find the fact neither offensive nor amusing, but rather interesting in what it reveals about our social mindset.
Why is it socially acceptable for there to be a Black Editors’ Forum, but unthinkable for it to have a white obverse? Are blacks secretive and racist? Don’t they think that whites have anything intelligent or meaningful to contribute?
I don’t believe this is the case, so why the discrimination? And why the lack of public outcry?
Because to question a black forum for blacks only is deemed as being insensitive for the years of oppression that they underwent – the fact that it marginalises whites, coloureds and Indians is inconsequential.
It is true that white males have dominated the business and political worlds for centuries, and that this should and is changing, but this obsession with being politically correct is changing our discourses beyond repair.
We find ourselves constantly biting our tongues when discussing politics in the company of South African blacks; walking on eggshells around Christians in case our own beliefs offend them.
Am I racist or an Afro-pessimist? If so, then why do my Zimbabwean and Congolese friends have the same views about the direction our South African leadership is taking us? They’re black; have their minds all been colonised so they can’t think objectively?
Am I insensitive to others’ beliefs? When a Christian wants to convert my friend, Mark, but puts his fingers in his ears when Mark talks about evolution, who is narrow-minded?
This ridiculous idea that it is disrespectful to have a differing or controversial opinion on anything stems from fear – the fear that we will appear intolerant if we speak our mind or question another’s views; the fear that we will be ostracised by our community, or one day even incarcerated.
There seems to be a belief that one has a right to not be upset or offended, but our Constitution bestows no such right.
For there to be healthy, robust and meaningful debate on anything there is the guarantee that some people will be offended – to end racism, sexism, and all the other “isms” in our society thought leaders need to express their views without fear.
We must understand that we have the right to offend.
His opinion, he told me, was born from his observations of the goings on in his own country, and the state of the rest of the African continent.
While analysing my own internal feeling of discomfort I concluded that I, along with most whites in the Western world, have become a victim of oversaturation of political correctness.
Political correctness is defined as the avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalise, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.
By this definition, and by society’s example, it is politically incorrect for me to say that women are bad drivers, but within the p.c. boundaries for First for Women Insurance to discriminate against men in their service and ridicule them in their advertising.
Don’t get me wrong, I find the fact neither offensive nor amusing, but rather interesting in what it reveals about our social mindset.
Why is it socially acceptable for there to be a Black Editors’ Forum, but unthinkable for it to have a white obverse? Are blacks secretive and racist? Don’t they think that whites have anything intelligent or meaningful to contribute?
I don’t believe this is the case, so why the discrimination? And why the lack of public outcry?
Because to question a black forum for blacks only is deemed as being insensitive for the years of oppression that they underwent – the fact that it marginalises whites, coloureds and Indians is inconsequential.
It is true that white males have dominated the business and political worlds for centuries, and that this should and is changing, but this obsession with being politically correct is changing our discourses beyond repair.
We find ourselves constantly biting our tongues when discussing politics in the company of South African blacks; walking on eggshells around Christians in case our own beliefs offend them.
Am I racist or an Afro-pessimist? If so, then why do my Zimbabwean and Congolese friends have the same views about the direction our South African leadership is taking us? They’re black; have their minds all been colonised so they can’t think objectively?
Am I insensitive to others’ beliefs? When a Christian wants to convert my friend, Mark, but puts his fingers in his ears when Mark talks about evolution, who is narrow-minded?
This ridiculous idea that it is disrespectful to have a differing or controversial opinion on anything stems from fear – the fear that we will appear intolerant if we speak our mind or question another’s views; the fear that we will be ostracised by our community, or one day even incarcerated.
There seems to be a belief that one has a right to not be upset or offended, but our Constitution bestows no such right.
For there to be healthy, robust and meaningful debate on anything there is the guarantee that some people will be offended – to end racism, sexism, and all the other “isms” in our society thought leaders need to express their views without fear.
We must understand that we have the right to offend.
Set the Truth Free!
Their lies are the thread that will sew our eyes shut, and the world we see will be nothing but the stitches.
Maybe we deserve it, because only the few seem to care. No one I speak to in my normal, everyday existence seems to be concerned about the authorities, our elected protectors, desperately doing everything in their power to stop us knowing what is going on.
Are we so caught up in our selfish pursuits that we no longer take notice of the bigger picture? Is our vision of the future so narrowly self-absorbed that we cannot see how this will affect us? Have we been tricked into thinking that voting once in a while makes us politically active?
We are victims of a lifestyle obsession. And our only driving concern is improving our lot. Corruption, poverty, injustice – these things don’t concern us anymore. Discussing improper tenders and political self-enrichment has become as trite and boring as talking about the weather!
It is so prevalent and so sickening we have all turned away.
We thought the war was won, and were so enthralled in victorious euphoria we did not notice a new battle unfold. But now it is upon us and we have become so fat and lazy and gutless we have chosen to ignore it; leaving it to others to fight for us.
But the truth does not set us free; it only empowers us to free ourselves.
The ANC wants to take this power away. They are terrified that one day we will wake up and fight back.
That time is now!
Their illogical arguments to convince us that it is in our best interests are verbal defecation. Their rotten, paper thin lies turn any sane citizen’s stomach.
Our minds are not theirs to control. We will not be told what we are allowed to know.
This war must be fought by all. The time has come for us to set the truth free.
Maybe we deserve it, because only the few seem to care. No one I speak to in my normal, everyday existence seems to be concerned about the authorities, our elected protectors, desperately doing everything in their power to stop us knowing what is going on.
Are we so caught up in our selfish pursuits that we no longer take notice of the bigger picture? Is our vision of the future so narrowly self-absorbed that we cannot see how this will affect us? Have we been tricked into thinking that voting once in a while makes us politically active?
We are victims of a lifestyle obsession. And our only driving concern is improving our lot. Corruption, poverty, injustice – these things don’t concern us anymore. Discussing improper tenders and political self-enrichment has become as trite and boring as talking about the weather!
It is so prevalent and so sickening we have all turned away.
We thought the war was won, and were so enthralled in victorious euphoria we did not notice a new battle unfold. But now it is upon us and we have become so fat and lazy and gutless we have chosen to ignore it; leaving it to others to fight for us.
But the truth does not set us free; it only empowers us to free ourselves.
The ANC wants to take this power away. They are terrified that one day we will wake up and fight back.
That time is now!
Their illogical arguments to convince us that it is in our best interests are verbal defecation. Their rotten, paper thin lies turn any sane citizen’s stomach.
Our minds are not theirs to control. We will not be told what we are allowed to know.
This war must be fought by all. The time has come for us to set the truth free.
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