It's all about the 'people'

Just when one feels convinced of the grand immunity of one’s views, irony daubs Banksy-style graffiti all across their Plascon-coated protective surface. Oh, sure you can wash it off and your walls are good as new, but it’s Banksy. And it’s so darned pretty too.

Take the first rule of Thought Leader — “Discuss the issues, not the people.”

Riaan is quite right — or should I say “correct”, but is there any difference between the two?

Am I distinct from the views I hold? Are you? Can we tease the two apart like strands of DNA? I damn well hope not. That would imply one could pop down to the local Opinions ‘R’ Us during lunchtime and pick up a few of the latest releases. Or maybe we’d prefer an old classic with some good memorable lines. That’s just balderdash and I can no sooner debate Marxism without Karl or Christianity without Jesus or the ANC without Thabo.

The people are the issues.

That’s what’s got us in the mess we’re in. Or, if you’re of another preference, what’s brought us to the glorious pinnacle of Mount Howfarwevecome. There is no more of an “issue” around hacking a seven-year-old’s head off for R20 000 as there is an “issue” of the political motives that underpin Koni Media’s assault on Johncom. Issues are comfort-zone fluff. Talking people — that’s tough!

We in South Africa love to debate “issues” when the problems lie with the “people”. It’s probably why we do it at dinner tables and in lecture halls and bosberaads, when we should be saying: “You, sir/madam, are an arsehole who should be removed from society without further delay!”

By sleight of nomenclature we “address the issue” of an almost insurmountable education catastrophe by renaming teachers “educators” and those little shits “learners”. Or, as the bigger shits around Pandor tell us, Eddie Cators and the Lennahs. These aren’t “issues” that you pick up with latex gloves and send to “trace” for analysis.

There are no issues. It’s all about the people — and there’s just no way you can discuss one without the other. Sorry, Riaan, I know that’s not the way to win Thought Leader‘s heart, and it might be an even less auspicious start for this blog. But, to quote Victor Borge: “That’s the way the management of this theatre feels about it, so that’s the way it’s gonna be!”

Here — for as long as it lasts — we’re gonna do some straight thinking and try thereby to do some straight leading. And most of all straight talking — and if feelings are hurt in the process or people are called names like “the enemy” and “spawn of Satan”, tough. Hey, folks, it’s a war out there and, if it makes it easier for you to sleep at night, you can call those mangled piles of viscera “collateral damage”. To me, they’re dead people.

Now that that’s off my chest, let’s blog!