GOVERNMENT spokesperson Jimmy Manyi is in trouble like British fashion designer John Galliano's in trouble.
The latter had a drunken rant about his love for Hitler and got fired by Christian Dior. Now a pariah in an industry where he was once an icon, recent Oscar winner Natalie Portman vowed never to wear anything he designs.
What's all this fuss about?
Galliano's gay. He's no taller than 1,8m . He has brown eyes. He's not German.
He looks, in fact, closer to what Jews look like than he will ever be to what Hitler saw as the superior race.
Had he lived in Hitler's Germany he'd have been sent to one of the gas chambers that he said Hitler would have sent the "ugly" people who were taunting him during that stupid declaration of love for Hitler of his.
Say, if you were German, 1,8m tall, blonde and blue-eyed, heterosexual, of sound mind and not handicapped, what reason would you have to hate Hitler in his rampantly anti-Semitic heyday?
If you were Afrikaans, rich, maybe with a name that rhymes with Eve Dofnaaier, what reason would you have to hate apartheid? The answer to both questions is, very little, if any.
Humans seldom hate what helps them thrive.
Of course, if you are Jewish or sympathetic to Jewish causes, you have every reason to hate Hitler.
If you are a black South African or simply sympathetic to the plight of black South Africans, you have every reason to hate apartheid.
Does that mean that every human being on earth is obliged to be sympathetic to causes that are close to you?
No.
Democracy, freedom, the rule of law, rights and all these concepts that we so vigorously cherish, come with an acid test. If you hate Hitler, can you respect someone else's right to love the man?
And if you can, are you not a more enlightened being than the one who wants to force his beliefs on all and sundry?
What harm is done when somebody declares his love for something you abhor?
Manyi said South Africa belongs to all who live in it and "coloureds" must exercise this right and move beyond the borders of Western Cape.
Is that really racist, Trevor Manuel? Did you honestly apply your mind to this before writing your vitriolic open letter?
Would this energy not be better spent condemning things like what Noseweek calls the awarding of "... an option to a company associated with Trevor Manuel's friend Fred Robertson to buy a prime piece of Cape Town real estate worth at least R200 million for just R3,5 million?"
Doesn't the sale of state assets for a pittance harm more of us than just your racial grouping?
Why don't you make a noise about that?
Why did you not make a noise when I said blacks must "get the hell out of Soweto" for the same reason Manyi says "coloureds" must get out of the Western Cape?
Humans seldom hate what helps them thrive
GOVERNMENT spokesperson Jimmy Manyi is in trouble like British fashion designer John Galliano's in trouble.
The latter had a drunken rant about his love for Hitler and got fired by Christian Dior. Now a pariah in an industry where he was once an icon, recent Oscar winner Natalie Portman vowed never to wear anything he designs.
What's all this fuss about?
Galliano's gay. He's no taller than 1,8m . He has brown eyes. He's not German.
He looks, in fact, closer to what Jews look like than he will ever be to what Hitler saw as the superior race.
Had he lived in Hitler's Germany he'd have been sent to one of the gas chambers that he said Hitler would have sent the "ugly" people who were taunting him during that stupid declaration of love for Hitler of his.
Say, if you were German, 1,8m tall, blonde and blue-eyed, heterosexual, of sound mind and not handicapped, what reason would you have to hate Hitler in his rampantly anti-Semitic heyday?
If you were Afrikaans, rich, maybe with a name that rhymes with Eve Dofnaaier, what reason would you have to hate apartheid? The answer to both questions is, very little, if any.
Humans seldom hate what helps them thrive.
Of course, if you are Jewish or sympathetic to Jewish causes, you have every reason to hate Hitler.
If you are a black South African or simply sympathetic to the plight of black South Africans, you have every reason to hate apartheid.
Does that mean that every human being on earth is obliged to be sympathetic to causes that are close to you?
No.
Democracy, freedom, the rule of law, rights and all these concepts that we so vigorously cherish, come with an acid test. If you hate Hitler, can you respect someone else's right to love the man?
And if you can, are you not a more enlightened being than the one who wants to force his beliefs on all and sundry?
What harm is done when somebody declares his love for something you abhor?
Manyi said South Africa belongs to all who live in it and "coloureds" must exercise this right and move beyond the borders of Western Cape.
Is that really racist, Trevor Manuel? Did you honestly apply your mind to this before writing your vitriolic open letter?
Would this energy not be better spent condemning things like what Noseweek calls the awarding of "... an option to a company associated with Trevor Manuel's friend Fred Robertson to buy a prime piece of Cape Town real estate worth at least R200 million for just R3,5 million?"
Doesn't the sale of state assets for a pittance harm more of us than just your racial grouping?
Why don't you make a noise about that?
Why did you not make a noise when I said blacks must "get the hell out of Soweto" for the same reason Manyi says "coloureds" must get out of the Western Cape?
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