apathy

Christina Engela's picture

Ignorance As A World-view

Submitted by Christina Engela on 24 August, 2010 - 07:59
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South Africa is a beautiful country with all sorts of worthwhile natural resources and stunning, sweeping vistas and other interesting stuff that usually makes it onto the back cover of some tourism magazine you might flip through while sitting on the bog - or, as introductions on websites or Facebook groups for conservative political parties which try to sound interesting and aspire to make other people's business, theirs.

Unlike those people, who seem overly concerned about whether other people's kids are taught facts about evolution in schools instead of fantasy and philosophy involving their invisible friends - I don't care to write about how pretty the landscape is, or whether or not the skyline looks like sunset after a bomb went off.

Unlike people who get their knickers in a knot over whether sex education includes "safer sex" instead of "abstinence only" practices (or non-practices, as the case may be) or educates the gay and trans kids as well, without making anyone out to be some kind of threat to religion, the state or "the family" - I really couldn't give a toss what they believe.

Unlike people who define love and marriage by their reproductive potential alone, and how many more children they can bring into the world (because we know the world needs more children, unless they happen to be different) - I certainly don't care about what kind of hardware people who love each other enough to tie the knot are packing down below - or what Jan and Janine Conservative do in the privacy of their own relationships.
Christina Engela's picture

Portent Pending

Submitted by Christina Engela on 20 April, 2010 - 07:42
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I am not qualified to say what God wants - or what God says - and I don't believe anybody else is either. In fact, all I know is what I feel and what I want and what I need - that is what it is to be human and mortal - and fallible. Some people would do well to realize this and put down their sharpened books, get off their pedestals and stop waving their fingers down at us, as though they are somehow special and have a hot line to God.

There is a disturbing trend developing in parts of the modern world, to connect good morals (called "morality") and Christianity, as if people who are not fundamentalist Christians are somehow automatically exempted from being people of good moral character. Feminists, even when Christian, are described as "backsliding" or "misled" simply because they believe, somewhat controversially - that women are equal to their male counterparts - and thus disagree with the Patriarchy, which has appointed itself, somewhat arrogantly and presumptuously, as a middle-man between humanity and the divine.

I still cannot quite understand what makes some people think that their faith or even their fanatical belief in a religion or deity makes some people "better" or more "worthy" than others, qualifies them to sit in judgment of others, and somehow elevates their own personal view of the world - or "morality" above that of the rest of us mere mortals. The fact that this unenlightened sectarian point of view seems to be steadily creeping into South Africa's young democratic government however, while undeniable - is frightening.
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Angus-iety Attack

Submitted by Christina Engela on 19 April, 2010 - 07:47
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Did you see the front page of Rapport yesterday? And pg 4,5 and 16, with pictures too - with his "real men" and patriarchy story? Is that news? Honestly! Is the "Rapport" a newspaper or a church newsletter? It might as well be.

According to this article, between 200,000 and 300,000 males attended Angus Buchan's "mighty men" conference. Granted, this is less than the expected 400,000... but I wonder, can there really be so many weak, spineless, directionless lemmings in South Africa? Apparently so. Look at the accompanying photographs, of grown men - the vaunted "real men" of Buchan's liturgy, crying because they have been such terrible men by "allowing" their women to pursue careers and lives of their own, fallen on their knees and bowing to their god in the leather hat, the prophetic potato-planter and holy hash-brown harvester.

According to him, men who are not "real men" ("real men" being bullies who "wear leather belts" and abuse women, preaching their return to domestic bliss and incarceration in the kitchen - and the restoration of the Patriarchy) are "wimps" and "sissies" - and that includes by implication gay men, bi men and mtf transsexuals. It is insulting and offensive - no matter which way you look at it. In fact, it is beneath enlightened and modern civilization to contemplate. But what is more offensive, is that a national newspaper pays such close positive attention to this demagogue and provides a full front-page spread every time this fruitloop changes his hair style.

According to the article, female journalists were also refused entry into the venue. Very inclusive indeed. If that isn't an indication of the state of fundamentalist institutions and churches these days (if not their mentality), it certainly is a sign of the times.
Christina Engela's picture

2010 Sucker World Cup

Submitted by Christina Engela on 17 March, 2010 - 09:37
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How about this World Cup Soccer, hey?  What a prestigious event for our country! Doesn't it make you feel proud?  All the jobs it creates, hiring all those extra under-qualified people to do the jobs of people who already have jobs and aren't doing them?

I mean, suddenly there are people all over the country fixing potholes and rebuilding our road network and being very industrious. Funny, I wonder what they have been doing the past ten years or so, while the roads were quietly allowed to deteriorate to this point. Isn't it great to have an excuse to either reallocate funds to spend on boring necessities such as decent road surfaces instead of political parties? I don't mean parliamentary functions either, but actual parties, like with booze. Or fancy cars for MP's which cost in excess of a million Rand?

All those thousands of tourists will soon be flocking to South Africa to see their favorite teams, to sample South African cultures, and who will probably experience hijackings and crime - and the paragon of SA sport - the vuvuzela, first hand. The recent reports of the company selling "stab-proof vests" to tourists and foot ball teams had me in stitches - sorry, bad pun. But yeah, it was quite funny. And what was even funnier was the SA Governments outrage at the idea, as if South Africa has a crime problem! It reminded me of Mbeki's denial a few years ago, when he asked "what crime problem?" - and a month later his official residence was stripped of all its security systems by burglars. Hehehe. Yeah. Almost as funny as the guy who wants to sell earplugs for twice the price of a vuvuzela - now that's the spirit or entrepreneurship.
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The South African Dream

Submitted by Christina Engela on 10 February, 2010 - 08:30
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South Africa is full of potential and possibility and hope. All we need to do is grasp it and realize it. Sitting on the sidelines will let others achieve their own corrupt desires unopposed - and make our nightmares come true.

It is so easy to be caught up in the negativity that says South Africa is a dangerous place, that it is a haven for crime and gangsterism and corrupt government officials and conniving self-interested politicians, a place where dreams suffocate and joining the rat race to greener pastures elsewhere is the solution.

It is so easy to overlook the obvious, that we are now 20 years post-Apartheid, we have weathered the worst of it, that despite the doomsayers and gloom merchants, people of all races, cultures and religions, genders and sexual orientations are living together side by side in relative harmony. People are working together, sharing office space and even sharing jokes and sorrows together in ways we never dreamed possible two decades ago.

This is my dream, the South African dream, an equal opportunity society, where we all can make our dreams come true.

.....Well, not quite yet.
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The "M" Word

Submitted by Christina Engela on 8 February, 2010 - 10:59
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Are we only gay, bi, trans or intersex when the good times are rolling?

Are we only pink at parties?


You may detect a note of bitterness in my article today, and I apologize for it - but I feel that by just covering it over with pretty wallpaper will just do more harm than good.

So here we go, here beginneth my rant.

We all know the TV series "The 'L' Word"... well today's subject is "the 'M' Word".

This morning I attended a prayer vigil for the Methodist minister who has been suspended recently, not specifically for being gay - but for being gay AND daring to get married. I find this telling of the times we live in, in South Africa - where almost any attempt by us to use that precious "M" word results in slant-eyed looks, or sudden embarrassing silences.

I took leave specially just for this event as I did not want to miss it. A friend called me at the last minute to attend and asked me for a lift, and even though it was in the opposite direction to the church where the vigil was being held, I said it was on my way and picked him up.

We walked into church together five minutes early, with about 3 people sitting inside, including the minister. We looked at each other half sheepishly, recognizing the significance. This, it seems was going to be yet another typical Port Elizabeth event for the apathetic Port Elizabeth pink community.
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Sleeper, Awake!

Submitted by Christina Engela on 22 October, 2009 - 02:16
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I have been asked by someone living abroad if homophobia in SA is as bad as I seem to be saying it is. They have friends,they say, even gay friends living in SA who tell them they have noticed nothing. Perhaps I am an alarmist? Perhaps I am exaggerating?

I would say the answer to these questions, as with everything, depends on who you ask.

I know gay and transgender people who struggle with discrimination in the workplace. In some cases it is minor things like the HR department not recognizing civil unions or gay marriage certificates, or failing to manage family responsibility leave correctly when the employee takes leave to care for a sick partner, for example. Yes, I can quite understand how this can impede the eyesight of some HR practitioners. Sometimes it is the occasional slur or frustrated homophobic comment. Employers in some areas are homophobic and transphobic and just make life so difficult for GLBT employees to make them quit without having an inconvenient case for unfair dismissal come and bite them in the ass later on.

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