I have been following the public response to the Oscar case with dismay and growing disillusionment. The majority of commentators have already found him guilty, and are asking for him to be hang, drawn and quartered. Everyone suddenly knows the facts of the case, what happened when they were alone, what sequence the bullet holes were made in etc etc.
The few lone voices of reason are drowned out by the cacophany of barbaric hubris, prejudice and bloodthirst. I can now start to understand why consistently SA ranks amongst the top in any category where violence and barbarism are part of crime. No wonder we have a country where people can douse someone with petrol and set them alight. No wonder we have the capacity to necklace someone, or stone them to death.
We seem to have this absolute desire to yank anyone who does well off their position and into the gutters. Are we a jealous people? Can we not acknowledge and abide by someone else's success? Comments like "nail him Nel, nail him", or "I never liked him, he will burn in hell", are only some of the more moderate utterances. And all this before he even offered any statement!
I despair for a country where the veneer of civilization is about as thick as the varnish on my cheap wall unit. Is there some deep psycological belief that you can only be a good person if you are poor and struggling?
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