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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Bunch of Pe(t)anuts!

There are people all over the world that are clearly nuts. But, then, you get the PETAnuts. Humane treatment of flies, cockroaches and weird new names for fish! Nuts, just pe(t)anuts!

Chuck Colson writes:
Charles Colson
"There was a lot going in the news last week—riots over the election in Iran, North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling.  But the biggest story of the week, it turns out, was—drum roll, please—the story of President Obama swatting a fly.

"'I got the sucker!' Obama told CNBC correspondent John Harwood after killing a fly that had been buzzing around his head.

"Harwood laughed and the camera crew applauded. But the sight of the fly’s corpse lying on the White House rug was too much for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—and insects, apparently. They sent a letter to the Fly Swatter in Chief, expressing their disapproval."
Read more in Colson's short commentary, "'I Got the Sucker': Obama, PETA, and the Value of Human Life."

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The conquest of Aztlan: South-West United States

The illegal immigration problem in the U.S., especially from Mexico, seems poised to become a problem way bigger than could have been imagined.

Read all about it here!

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

What involvement should governments have in central banks?

Samuel Gregg of the Acton Institute wrote a short but thought provoking article that gives us a peek into the issue of government vs. central bank.

"One of the financial crisis’ long-term effects will be to raise questions about central banks’ ability to maintain an independent monetary policy during periods of economic stress: that is, precisely when such independence is most important. Of course, no institution can be rendered completely immune from political and public pressures. But over forthcoming months, central banks are going to be faced with making decisions unlikely to please governments and legislatures worried about being reelected....

"The bigger political question, however, is the place of central banks in democratic political orders. Insulating central banks from excessive political influence reflects recognition of the truth that even in a democracy there are many public-policy decisions that should not be made by legislative or popular votes. Most democracies, for example, embody constitutional limits on the ability of governments and legislatures to interfere with the judiciary’s operations. This is usually derived from awareness that the common good normally requires some separation of powers in order to prevent excessive centralization of power."

Continue Samuel Gregg's "Can Central Banks Be More Insulated from Politics?"



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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Reverse racism advanced Sotomayor

Racism is evil, no matter what euphemism is used to advance its cause. Here in South Africa it is called BEE (Black Economic Empowerment), elsewhere and in South Africa it is called "affirmative action." When one group is advanced over another because of skin colour or culture, it is RACISM!

Well, it seems that Sonia Sotomayor has advanced in life, purely through the machinery of racism, albeit reverse racism. Read about it in Pat Buchanan's "Miss Affirmative Action, 2009."


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Friday, June 12, 2009

South African Broadcasting Corporation hopeless!

It seems like institution after institution related to the state in South Africa finds itself in deep trouble. This time the SABC is in such deep trouble that they have asked the government to bail them out to the amount of R2bn! With this request for a R2bn bailout from government, they will ensure that the citizens of this country have paid twice for their TV licences. Mismanagement is the rule at the SABC, as at many other state entities.

The SABC is the owner of 3 TV channels and several radio stations. The slogan of the SABC is "Broadcasting for Total Citizen Empowerment." My problem with them is that the they are a completely mismanaged institution, sucking citizens dry of their hard earned money. Ok, it really isn't expensive to have a license to have TV in your home, but then you would expect better use of your money! That is not what you get from the SABC!


My solution for this dinosaur of a corporation is to scrap it completely! Get rid of state owned television completely! The SABC was a propaganda machine of the National Party government before the 1994 elections when Nelson Mandela became president, and now it is the propaganda machine of the ANC government! Nothing has changed. It still remains the voicebox of the ruling party!

Instead of having one corporation handling 3 different channels, each of these channels must become independent, non-state television channels. Each channel must have complete autonomy over its own programming, and must be privately owned. Further, each of these television broadcasting companies must become profitable by themselves. There must be no reliance on government funds. This will ensure that the state will no longer be able to prescribe to these television broadcasting companies what programming to show apart from preventing indecency, etc.

Lastly, TV licences must be done away with! Radio licences came to an end many years ago. The time has come for these archaic TV licences to go. Advertizing is sufficient to pay for these television broadcasting companies to run successfully.

Maybe, just maybe, if these television broadcasting companies start standing on their own feet, working hard at their own profitability, then perhaps we will get better programming and better managing of funds. But, only maybe!

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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Lost in a cachophany of sound

What do you experience when there is just silence around you? No TV, no radio, no computer, no aircon, no cars, just silence! Do you become anxious? Maybe you even panic?! Or is that a moment in which you can think clearly, reflecting on the events of the day? Perhaps you use such time to reflect on deeper things, like the meaning of life, or your faith in Jesus Christ! As Dr. Albert Mohler writes:
"Our culture now assumes noise and the constant availability of
music, electronic chatter, and entertainment. In many homes, there is
virtually no silence -- at least during waking hours. In some homes,
family members live in isolated environments of independent sound, with
iPods, televisions, radios, and any number of other technologies
providing a customized experience of noise.

"All this takes a toll upon the soul. Psychologists argue that the
development of individual identity requires extended periods of
solitude, reflection, and silence. The Christian tradition has honored
silence as a matter of spiritual discipline and an intentional effort
to flee the noise of everyday life in order to hear what that noise
cannot supply.

"The life of the mind and the shaping of the soul require the ability to
hear, recognize, and understand what would be lost in a cachophany of
sound."
You can read more about our need for silence in Dr. Albert Mohler's commentary, "'Where Do All the Colors Go at Night?' -- Children and the Need for Silence."


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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Obama bows before tyranny and evil, unlike Reagan

If ever there was a U.S. president out of his depth it is Barack Hussein Obama. He is not a man of conviction, standing on moral high ground demanding that evil and tyrannies be brought to an end. No, he will be remembered as the groveling president, the grovobama!
"As for Barack, he behaves on the world stage like some Ivy League kid ashamed of the people he came from, letting one and all on campus know that he is nothing like his benighted family with its sordid history.

"In Cairo, he confessed that America had a hand in dumping over the regime in Iran in 1953. He did not mention that the United States forced the retreat of Joseph Stalin's army from Iran in 1946."

Read Pat Buchanan's article on the grovobama as The Anti-Reagan!

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Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Homosexual parents produce homosexual children

New revelations from past studies reveal that the children of openly homosexual parents "are seven times more likely to develop 'non-heterosexual preferences' than other children;" however, lawmakers are in the dark about this since researchers have concealed their discoveries.

"The 'studies thus far find that between 8 percent and 21 percent of homosexually parented children ultimately identify as non-heterosexual,' the psychologist wrote. 'For comparison purposes, approximately 2 percent of the general population are non-heterosexual. Therefore, if these percentages continue to hold true, children of homosexuals have a 4 to 10 times greater likelihood of developing a non-heterosexual preference than other children.'... However, those researchers who found such differences 'nonetheless declared in their research summaries that no differences were found,' the report said."

Read more about this in Bob Unruh's article, "'Gay' family kids 7 times more likely to be homosexual: But report shows researchers concealing information."

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Monday, June 08, 2009

Will your taxes pay for healthcare you may not use?

The ANC is very secretive concerning a report on a newly proposed National Health Insurance (NHI). The report has not been made public yet. The question is, what is the big deal about the NHI?

When the idea of the NHI came to light some years ago, there was a lot of speculation concerning how it will work. So far, it seems an additional R100bn will be needed annually in the national budget to run this monster.

Will the NHI be added as an additional health tax to pay for the health care of the poor? Of course, the question that follows on this is, Who will benefit from the NHI? Is this going to be a case of the "rich" having to pay for something they will not be able to make use of?

Of course, if the ANC wants the "rich" to pay for something they cannot benefit from, it can clearly be classified as stealing from the "rich" to give to the poor. This would be extortion if it becomes a reality.

Health economist Alex van den Heever, revealed that the funding of the NHI would come from both those already belonging to medical aid schemes and those not. Van den Heever told the Hospital Association of SA's conference in Durban recently that members of medical schemes will pay 85% of their contribution to the NHI which would pay both public and private sector providers. Those without medical schemes will have to pay 5% of their income to the NHI.

Now here is the kicker, if Van den Heever is right, medical schemes will not be able to cover benefits that are covered by the NHI!

As a member of a medical scheme, would the 15% remaining of my usual contribution to my medical scheme, cover benefits that are worth being covered? Is the government orchestrated, socialistic NHI going to cover anything significant? If that is not the case, how will it impact the benefits I get from my medical scheme?

Am I going to lose significant benefits because my 15% contribution to my medical scheme simply cannot pay for those benefits? Will the government health scheme really pick up the slack on those benefits, or are we going to sit with a huge gap in benefits that cannot be covered because the government has thought up another lame entitlement scheme that one group of people must pay for so that the other group could reap the benefits?

Apart from benefits lost, what about all the jobs that will be lost because of this hare-brained idea? Medical schemes currently must make use of 100% of contributions for medical issues and salaries for staff. How will they accomplish this now with only 15% of those contributions? Sure, they will cover less benefits, but that means that less people can accomplish the job too.

The problem with this government is that it has created an environment of entitlement in the masses. Whatever one group has, the other group is entitled to that. This is an unhealthy environment. This will recreate Zimbabwe right here in South Africa where one group can take from another group simply because they have this false "right" to it.

How much of the NHI budget costs will pay for sicknesses and diseases that will come from behaviour that individuals have chosen? These would be health costs related to obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, STDs, HIV/AIDS, etc. Would it be right for one person to pay for another person's indiscretions? I think not!

Personally, I do not think that the ANC has thought this through. Of course, that would be a whole new experience for this country!

But, then again, tax those with money enough and they will take their money and expertise elsewhere!

Also read:
Concern over govt health scheme
Rights, responsibilities and health care

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Chairman Zero is a failure at history

Chairman Zero, aka Barack Obama, has once again failed a real test... a history test. Either he simply keeps on repeating leftist ideas, or he is fully aware of the falsehoods he keeps repeating. Is he helping rewrite this revisionist history? Why is it that the MSM is quiet about it? Why do they keep swooning at the feet of The Zero?

Visit theblogprof to learn about Zero's failure at history.

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Friday, June 05, 2009

Driving in South Africa - Pt 2

Read Part 1 if you haven't yet.

A couple of days ago I started writing a "series" on driving in South Africa. It concerned the issue of stealing while we drive. Driving in South Africa is not the safest thing to do, and when you have lived in a first world country you would immediately know what I am writing about here. In first world countries people have a greater respect for the rules of the road and for other drivers.

Today I would like to touch on the dangerous practice of South Africans changing lanes over solid white lines. "Big deal!", I hear from many corners of South Africa. Well, the next time a family member or friend is fatally injured because somebody did not keep to legal lane usage on our roads, you will probably change your mind. The problem is that too many people wait for something drastic to happen before they change their attitudes and behaviour.


Pic AAs in my previous post, I would like to present you with a practical example. Looking at the picture on the left (Pic A), you will notice that a road joins a north-south double lane road from the west. The problem is that the double-lane only starts after the road joining from the west. The traffic moving from south to north are using a single lane that effectively becomes a double-lane just after the road from the west. So, what is the problem?

Well, vehicles coming from the west is presented with a yield sign when they arrive at the south-north road. After yielding, they may go, since they have a dedicated lane which joins the double lane road after the end of the SOLID white line in the middle of the road, separating the traffic coming from the south from the "joining" traffic. When you look at Pic A, you will notice the white lines I added. I also added red and green lines. Green lines represent legal driving and the red line represents illegal driving.

With the way people are driving down that road, it sometimes becomes a real hassle to join the road from the west, since cars come storming down that road and they move over to the left lane across the yellow chevron lines and solid white lines preventing cars from using the dedicated "joining" lane from the west. This is a serious risk, since drivers simply ignore the rules of the road!

The simple unbridled selfishness of South African drivers astound me. 9 times out of 10, if an error such as this is pointed out to an offending driver, you would probably have to endure foul language or rude hand signals or both.

My bet is, if South African drivers could retain their driver's licenses based on the way they drive, hordes of them would forfeit their licenses because of their bad driving and disregard for the law.

Continue with Part 3, Part 4.

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

The Battle for the mind in the news media

Dr. Peter Hammond from Africa Christian Action has written a thought provoking article on the reporting abilities of the MSM. I have said for a long time that the modern MSM has lost its ability to report without being biased one way or another. Pick up a newspaper or watch the news or some so-called investigative TV news programme, and you will soon realize that it is not the truth that matters, but the point they are trying to make. Please, don't let the story be obscured by facts and truth!

Read Dr. Hammond's article below. Remember, the news you read or watch, is not all that it seems to be.


THE BATTLE FOR THE MIND
IN THE NEWS MEDIA

Without Fear or Favour

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour…” Ephesians 4:25

While claiming to be neutral, newspaper journalists and TV presenters often report the news from an anti-Christian point of view. At one time, especially in the 19th century, most leading newspapers were Christian. However, there has been a major shift in the news media on what is covered and how it is covered.

Is There an Agenda?

Instead of the wide-angle lens of context, all too often the zoom lens of selective focus has predominated. Is there an agenda? Or are we dealing merely with bias and prejudice?

Misinformation on Mozambique

My first mission field was Marxist Mozambique. Many asked why the mass media accounts of what was happening in Mozambique differed so radically from Frontline Fellowship reports.

My answer was that there simply was no freedom of speech, freedom of movement or freedom of the press in Mozambique at that time. Most press accounts in Mozambique came from Frelimo’s Agency Information Mozambique (AIM). These press releases were distributed by telex and the wire services of SAPA-Reuter and others. Most articles in the print media and items on radio and TV originated with AIM, a Marxist, state-owned propaganda agency – hardly renowned for honesty and lack of bias.

During the 1980’s very few journalists actually visited Mozambique, and those who did were normally restricted to the five-star Polana Hotel in Maputo. Their main sources of information were briefings by Frelimo officials, or guided tours and stage-managed interviews – all hosted by Marxist officials and translators.

In a country with a history of concentration camps, torture, public floggings and mass executions, it was easy to find co-operative villagers and pastors who would espouse the desired party line. Those gullible and naïve journalists who then readily parroted the standard stock phrases, parrot cries and clichés no doubt received Frelimo’s approval, and further invitations to return for another propaganda exercise some other day.

By way of contrast, our missionaries had continual contact with the people on the ground, in the rural areas. We got the feel of the country by personal experience, over long periods of time, and as the villagers unburdened their hearts to us and related what they had suffered. “An ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory.”

Disinformation in Rwanda


The ease with which the orchestrators of the genocide in Rwanda confused international journalists and abused their national media to mobilize the unprecedented concentration of carnage, raised uncomfortable questions.

In it’s 1200 page report on the genocide in Rwanda, African Rights concluded that: “The response to the aftermath of the genocide was almost as shocking as the response to the genocide itself…Progress towards justice has been negligible. On the contrary, there is a concentrated attempt to distort or deny what has happened. The survivors of the genocide are not the beneficiaries of national and international compassion and support, rather they are almost wholly forgotten, while displaced people and refugees receive massive and indiscriminate assistance…The refusal to face the reality of what is one of the very worst crimes against humanity since the foundation of the United Nations…”

The AR report found that the killings were meticulously organised in advance. The French-trained Presidential Guard, the Army, the Gendarmes and Civil Administrators were willing instruments in the genocide. The killings in Rwanda were no spontaneous outburst, but followed instructions from the highest level.

African Rights condemned the gullibility of the international media for accepting the MRND party line that the killings were merely “tribal anarchy” and “uncontrollable tribal killing.” By portraying the genocide as “tribalism” and as a result of “the war” they provided a smokescreen of confusion, which allowed the killers to proceed with their diabolical plans.

Central to the Hutu MRND government strategy was to sow confusion so that no one knew what was happening. They isolated their victims by imposing a news blackout, cutting telephone links, establishing a dense network of roadblocks, and imposing a nationwide curfew. These measures kept people in their homes and prevented most people from fleeing. By cutting communications and restricting travel they isolated their victims and sought to stifle the flow of news.

When the genocide was launched on 6 April 1994, most African correspondents were in South Africa for the elections. There were, actually, only two international journalists in Rwanda at that time – and they were in Kigali, cut off from what was going on in the rural areas

Following the assassination of the president the MRND government launched a campaign of disinformation. They portrayed the killings as a spontaneous outbreak of “tribal violence.” They sought to confuse the mass killings of defenseless peoples with “the war” and insisted that a ceasefire was the pre-condition for involvement. Thirdly they played “the humanitarian card” by pleading for emergency aid. All this deflected attention from the central issue of the genocide.

The tenancy [sic] of most journalists to label every conflict in Africa as “tribalism” has become absurd. Many foreign aid workers fuelled this tendency with ill-informed comments such as: “Everyone is killing everyone!”; “It’s uncontrollable violence”; “the Hutus and Tutsis are killing one another again!”

Having killed opposition politicians, Rwandese journalists, human rights activists and others who might present an accurate report on the bloodshed, the MRND government then pursued their second strategy of disinformation to confuse the issue with self-serving false reports. They portrayed the violence as “spontaneous rage” in response to the assassination of the president, even though it was the MRND government and military who were responsible for the assassination of the President themselves.

In the first days, international attention generally focused on the plight of foreigners. Camera crews were, understandably, only prepared to travel with international troops – whose mission was to evacuate foreigners. This naturally led to a slanted and incomplete picture being portrayed to the world.

The strategy of disinformation and terror so callously and effectively orchestrated by the MRND Hutu government in Rwanda was spectacularly successful. With most international attention focused on South Africa’s volatile elections, there were no journalists in the rural areas of Rwanda reporting on the massacres there. The rural genocide was effectively hidden from the outside world for almost three weeks.

Aaron Makuba, whose whole family was wiped out complained: “The world persists in characterizing the bloodshed as ethnic clashes. We who have lost our families, relatives, colleagues and neighbours regard this as unfair, unjust and a source of immense pain.”

“People should stop describing Rwanda to us as tribes who are in the process of killing one another,” Dr Jean Herve Bradol of MSF – France concluded, “I think it is really the final insult to the victims, to present the matters in this way. And I believe that this way of presenting things is not altogether incidental, perhaps in order to justify the passivity of various parties…”

Focusing on Darfur and Ignoring the Nuba

It is quite remarkable that such a vast amount of media attention has recently been focused on the suffering of Muslims in Darfur, while completely ignoring the vastly greater and much longer tragedy of Islamic Jihad against the Christians of Southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains.

Approximately 2 million people, most of these Christians, died in the 50 years Jihad against the Christians in Southern Sudan. Yet, the news media showed little interest and the UN and Western governments did comparatively little for the Christian victims of Jihad in Southern Sudan.

However, for some reason, the five years of low intensity conflict in Western Sudan in Darfur has received enormous worldwide media and government attention. As a result it is has also received disproportionately more Church attention and aid.

Darfur is a 99% Muslim area in Western Sudan. What had been going on in Darfur is Muslim-on- Muslim violence. It is typical Arab banditry that has been going on for centuries. In this case Muslim Arabs are fighting against Muslim Blacks. The Christians that we serve in Southern Sudan, Northern Nigeria and other parts of Africa, are somewhat cynical about this, pointing out that it seems the West is only concerned for Muslims and never Christians.

The West was tremendously concerned for Muslims in Bosnia, Muslims in Kuwait, Muslims in Somalia, Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq and Muslims in Darfur. However, the West stood by while hundreds of thousands of Christians were slaughtered in Rwanda and in Southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. The point made is that it would seem that the world media, and the UN, would only mobilize international campaigns to support Muslim victims, never Christians.

Another point worth noting is that the Black Muslims of Darfur have traditionally been some of the worst slave raiders, guilty of many of the worst atrocities committed against Christians in Bar-el-Ghazal, and the Nuba Mountains. When General Charles Gordon travelled to Sudan in the 19 th century, he saw that the worst slave raids came from the Darfur Muslims. At that time he noted that 7 out of every 8 Black people in Sudan were slaves.

Villifying the Victims and Justifying the Villains

Over the last 26 years that I have been serving as missionary to the persecuted in Africa, I could not help but notice how frequently the mass media chose to target those targeted by international communism. Is it just coincidental that during the Rhodesian War, the Border war in South West Africa/Namibia, the riots in South Africa, the Killing fields of Mozambique, the civil war in Angola, the massacre of Matebele tribesmen in Zimbabwe, the Red Terror in Ethiopia, the holocaust in Rwanda, the Jihad in Sudan, the wave of church burning in Northern Nigeria, or any other of the many calamities and conflicts in Africa, most of the mass media have chosen to confuse the issues, avoid the heart of the matter, villify the victims and whitewash the villains?

Pro-Abortion Journalism

After one interview with a journalist from The Argus concerning our work in Sudan, I asked: “Why is it that The Argus continually publishes Pro-Abortion articles, and ignores Pro-Life events such as the Life Chains and the National Day of Repentance?”

The answer was astounding: “Well, we’re pro-choice.”

“Yes, I understand that, but surely it is your intention to report events and present the facts, without fear or favour, from both sides?”

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders: “Well, I’m pro-choice. Every journalist that I know is pro-choice. And, well, I guess we’re just biased!” she grinned broadly.

That was a remarkable honest statement, but there is no doubt that most of the print media in South Africa is pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality.

Selective Focus

Although most journalists and editors will claim that they are objective, even the most objective journalist has to admit that they collect far more facts than they publish. There is the judgment on what to cover, how to cover it, and what facts, opinions or viewpoints that they have come across to include in the story and which to discard.

Secondly the reporter or editor decides which of the facts should be included in the first paragraph of the story and thereby emphasized above the others.

Thirdly the editor will decide whether the story is placed on page one, or page sixteen. On page one it will attract far more attention than it would on any other page.

Spiking the Spiritual

Although at one time, particularly in the early part of the 19th century, journalism emphasized God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, most modern journalists choose to spike the Spiritual. At one time newspaper articles pointed out that kings who disobeyed God were exposed and deposed. Those who engaged in duels were without true honour because they sought esteem amongst men more than following God’s commands. Lightning storms were seen to demonstrate Spiritual lessons. Lack of repentance was shown to have murderous consequences.

“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:50

To read the rest of this article, click here.

The above article was published in the Christian Action magazine, 2009, Volume 2. Subscribe for only R60 a year. Published quarterly.

Dr. Peter Hammond

Africa Christian Action
PO Box 23632
Claremont
7735
Cape Town
South Africa
Tel: 021-689 4481
E-mail: info@christianaction.org.za
Web: www.christianaction.org.za
 
Some recommended Christian Media :
Christian News from Christians for Truth: mail@cft.org.za
Frontline Fellowship News: P.O. Box 74, Newlands, 7725, Cape Town, South Africa, admin@frontline.org.za.
Gospel Defence League: P.O. Box 832, Milnerton, 7435, Cape Town, dscarborough@mweb.co.za.
JOY! Magazine: P.O. Box 2990, Somerset West, 7130, Cape Town, South Africa, E-mail: info@joymag.co.za, Web: www.joymag.co.za
The Revivalist: 356-376 Ravenhill Road, Belfast, BT6 8GL, Northern Ireland
Movieguide: 2510 G, Las Posas Road 502, Camarillo, CA 93010, USA, Web: www.movieguide.org
World Magazine: P.O. Box 20002, Ashville, NC 28802-9998, USA, Web: www.worldmag.com
Focus on the Family Monthly Magazine: Private Bag X1023, Hillcrest, 3650, Cape Town, South Africa, E-mail: correspondence@fotf.co.za, Web: www.safamily.org.za

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Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Driving in South Africa

Driving in South Africa can become very frustrating. South African drivers simply do not care about the rules of the road. Red lights are skipped as if they were green, STOP signs are ignored, solid white lines are treated as broken white lines and yellow-lined shoulders on roads have become extra lanes. Further, speed limits have become speed minimums to many. Jumping STOP signs have become so frequent that a new idiom has arisen to explain how badly something or someone has been ignored: "Ignore him/it like a STOP sign!"

I am intending to make a series out of the issue of driving in South Africa. However, there will not be regular posts on the issue, but rather I will write as things happen and I am reminded of more South African driving quirks.

Today I would like to raise the issue of stealing while we drive!


I know that sounds weird, but let me explain. Many afternoons, when I leave work, a line of cars traveling from west to east, form to join the road that Picture Aforms a 'T' with our road. If you open picture 'A' on the right, you will find green lines going from the left of the picture and also from the bottom of the picture toward a roundabout (mini circle). These green lines represent the way that we are supposed to travel. You will also find red lines, the way we are not supposed to go.

At the end of the road, at the 'T', on the right hand side of the road there is a petrol station. People that are impatient, or who think that it is below their station in life to wait in line for their turn to make use of the roundabout, would slip past all the waiting cars on the left, and then ride where the red lines go, through the petrol station.

Sometimes, traveling on the green lines from south to north, approaching the roundabout in order to turn left, there could be a line forming as traffic piles up. Again, the same people I mentioned in the previous paragraph, would cross the grounds of the petrol station to the left to get on the road to the office.

Driving across the grounds of the petrol station highlight two issues for me.

1. Jumping the line
It makes me think of going to the supermarket and standing in a line waiting to pay. Next minute, someone from behind decides to pass everyone to get in line further up the line. He is pushing in! Why would it be any different when we are sitting in our cars?

People deliberately drive through the grounds of the petrol station in order to push in further up the line! These are people who care only about themselves and their comfort, and not about all those people who have already been waiting for their turn to move around the roundabout. Those people that push in like that, now make the line slower for the people that have been waiting already!

2. Stealing private property
Picture B"Huh?" I know, this has probably never occurred to you, but when you drive across someone else's property without paying for its use, you are stealing from that person, whether it is an individual, a company or even the government. Picture 'B' on the left has a similar scenario as described above.

In a case like these petrol stations, you have no right to drive across those properties without purchasing petrol or diesel or something from the convenience store connected to it.

When you purchase something from them, you help paying towards the maintenance of the place. However, when you drive across the property simply to get to the other side, then you are creating usage "damage" that you have not paid for. In essence, you are then trespassing on another's property. Of course, just because you bought petrol or a coke from them last time does not mean you can drive across their property now. Last time's purchase paid for last time's property usage!

So, next time you find yourself in this situation, perhaps you will think twice about jumping the line ro stealing from some property owner.

The question is, are your ethics based on your own personal convenience or something firmer?

Continue with Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

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