the irony

Posted on February 28th, 2008 by Richard Catto 1,614 views

This post is an edited version of an email I sent to someone.

Ironically last year I stood by another blogger when he was being attacked online. This year he and others have joined together to brand me a racist troll, which I regard as slander.

I befriended him last year in May via his blog. Standing by him obviously helped build our friendship. It soon became apparent, however, that he and I share very different political views. He began to show contempt towards me in his comments. He regarded my political views as idiotic.

Whatever residual goodwill he might have had for me, did not prevent him from posting numerous blog posts in which he slated me.

For some reason, the post I wrote recently about Emily Williams sent him and a few others over the edge with rage. They denounced me as a troll in blog postings and comments.

The strong reaction has taken me by surprise. When I read the account, I was immediately struck by the mother’s decision to remain parked outside the house where she suspected a crime was in progress. I wrote what I felt.

I’m also finding that I’m butting heads with a lot of whites who don’t like what I have to say about taking personal responsibility for their role in Apartheid. As we are all discovering, South Africa is actually very deeply polarised on racial lines. Racism abounds.

Last year I published a blog post about a woman who said "fuck off, kaffir" to a black man at the V&A Waterfront. I was astounded by the racism displayed by many whites in reaction to my article. One Afrikaans business man from KZN unsubscribed from my newsletter leaving a racist comment as his reason.

This year, as you know, a black domestic worker discovered that her white employer regarded her as a "kaffir bitch" via a missent SMS.

These events (and others, including the Skielik shootings) serve only to further polarise South Africans on racial lines. I have been advocating that whites apologise for their role in Apartheid. This has gone over well with black South Africans but provoked a strong angry response from many white South Africans.

I am now being subjected to various attacks because of these views. I’m being smeared online as a troll and a racist, presumeably an anti-white racist, even though I am white myself.

I think this year is turning out to be a year of truthful disillusionment. The Rainbow Nation we were so proud of, appears to be an illusion, shattered by the reality of rampany anti-black racism amongst dissatified whites.

Tags: Apartheid, kaffir, Racism, Rainbow Nation, transformation
Filed under Current Events, South Africa | 6 Comments »