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Where is our national pride?

Started by pauljacobson · 10 months ago

Simon Dingle made an interesting comment when we were in Japan recently. He spoke about how in Japan there is a sense of tremendous national pride coupled with an almost unspoken distinction drawn between the Japanese and people who are simply not Japanese. This pride inspires the Japanese to be s ... Continue reading »

4 comments

  • Vincent

    10 months ago

    This country is divided on so many planes that drawing up an acceptable graphic model of the various identities which constitute a "south african" identity and thus a sense of communal nationalism might taken a life time.


    I think that this nation is fragmented because of the current disparities in the class system; I'd hate to sound like a commie so let me refrain from that approach and continue that suggestion with the argument that as the nation becomes more polarized i.e. the space between the rich and the poor widens we will ultimately see a far greater chasm widening and deepening between the have's and the have nots and these two splintered groups will approach this country in two radically different views and will ultimately have two separate and incongruent views of the future of this country.



    Might I also add one more thing; the rainbow nation discourse and its obvious flaws were and are never to be thought of as a marker of this nations democracy, it was a marketing ploy and a cheap crap one at that. It suggested a merger between the various "colours" of the rainbow, and whilst that sounds fantastic is mere retoric as it implies a forced merger which is not how change occurs. One last point on the rainbow saga; if and when someone can point out where the black and white resides on that mult-coloured banner ad for co-existence then perhaps I'll have more of a reason to believe in it.



    I actually penned a poem about our fractured nationality; which you can find at http://www.moralfibre.co.za/2008/05/08/a-journe... it was an attempt when I was younger and still reading fiction :) at providing an overview of the various individuals I met mentally each day when thinking about my / our / your country.



    Good post though it got me thinking as you may well have guessed.
    reply
  • Vincent

    10 months ago

    This country is divided on so many planes that drawing up an acceptable graphic model of the various identities which constitute a "south african" identity and thus a sense of communal nationalism might taken a life time.

    I think that this nation is fragmented because of the current disparities in the class system; I'd hate to sound like a commie so let me refrain from that approach and continue that suggestion with the argument that as the nation becomes more polarized i.e. the space between the rich and the poor widens we will ultimately see a far greater chasm widening and deepening between the have's and the have nots and these two splintered groups will approach this country in two radically different views and will ultimately have two separate and incongruent views of the future of this country.

    Might I also add one more thing; the rainbow nation discourse and its obvious flaws were and are never to be thought of as a marker of this nations democracy, it was a marketing ploy and a cheap crap one at that. It suggested a merger between the various "colours" of the rainbow, and whilst that sounds fantastic is mere retoric as it implies a forced merger which is not how change occurs. One last point on the rainbow saga; if and when someone can point out where the black and white resides on that mult-coloured banner ad for co-existence then perhaps I'll have more of a reason to believe in it.

    I actually penned a poem about our fractured nationality; which you can find at http://www.moralfibre.co.za/2008/05/08/a-journe... it was an attempt when I was younger and still reading fiction :) at providing an overview of the various individuals I met mentally each day when thinking about my / our / your country.

    Good post though it got me thinking as you may well have guessed.
    reply
  • pauljacobson

    10 months ago

    Thanks for your thoughts Vincent. The more I think about this the more I see this as yet another fundamental issue the government is not addressing (for whichever reasons) and which it should address.
    reply
  • pauljacobson

    10 months ago

    Thanks for your thoughts Vincent. The more I think about this the more I see this as yet another fundamental issue the government is not addressing (for whichever reasons) and which it should address.
    reply

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