Let’s now pit the sensible against the nonsensical
WE ARE bombarded with constant reflections about As opposed to Bs. We see protagonists sparring antagonists; black versus white; rich versus poor; anti-someone versus pro-someone; and the good versus the corrupt.
There are opposites in our country like anywhere else, but we need to move away from the usual suspects.
I suggest we have a new set of opposites consisting of people from a mixture of those suspects. I suggest we talk about sense versus nonsense.
The adjectives are “sensible” and “nonsensical”. If you ponder long enough on them in our context, you may come to the conclusion this is spot on. Are the newsmakers and noisemakers sensible?
Perhaps this is the question radical protesters should ask themselves. Are they being sensible? They think they are fighting for a cause, but so were the arsonists of Vuwani. So were the miners of Marikana, who miraculously turned from murderers into martyrs. Are these students seeking the same?
Sensible people would not participate in nonsensical actions. Just because one of Africa’s leaders has lived a lifestyle of nonsensical actions does not mean it’s okay to follow suit. Ideas like substituting science subjects for an African alternative would also fall under the nonsense column.
This is the same column that contains the notion of axing a good finance minister and replacing him with an unheard-of back bencher. In the nonsense column, we also find institutions like SAA, NPA, SABC, Hawks and the puppets in charge.
There is no need for mindless conversations about black versus white and rich versus poor. If one focuses on such trivialities, it’s a one-way street to a stalemate. Rather, let’s spend the time thinking about sensible solutions to problematic issues. Rob Bradfield
We see black versus white and rich versus poor