same old lie

The news about South Africa(the rainbow nation) and what is now being popularly called xenophobic attacks could also be termed as sad, disappointing and the like. their actions can be termed as selfish, ungrateful , mean and stupid. but in the bottom of all this lies the age old lie that human beings live with the world over and leaders, or politicians as they are called in these parts use day in day out. these kind of wars and conflicts are most of the times always based on a lie.

apartheid was based on a lie that the whites were genetically better than the blacks. that was why even Jesus chose a white skin, beauty was based on whiteness and even lakes and rivers that had outlived humans were 'discovered' and renamed by the white. the story of that fight is known to all. but in other places, that lie was being repeated, that we are better than them, better traders, better sports men, better academics etc. we are genetically superior.

but its not always about being better, there are other lies about the other person. that our problems are caused by those other guys. and so that was the lie told to Africans to risk their lives for independence. independence was then peddled as the panacea for all ills. just like the end of apartheid. now normally when those lies come to light, its often important to form another plausible lie. like that your jobs are being taken away by foreigners. or that your schools are taken up etc. so people choose to chase the foreigners instead of going to college. just like am told some black Americans don't bank coz those are tools of white supremacy.
the problem with these lies is that some people believe them and internalize them. They are then ready to die for them. like the lie that one Raila was unelectable. when that lie came to, people were ready to kill to disapprove the facts. loads of money was used to stop the man to no avail. Armies were deployed and central park sealed off just to prove an old lie! some other lies are told to some people that if you kill an American, you will inherit 70 virgins once you are dead!

but Americans themselves and western media has also perpetuated those lies especially in their movies. showing africans as uncultured apes. so when Etoó dazzles the white 'gods' they cannot reconcile with the reality and hence resort to cat calls, insults and other racial slurs.

The violence in SA may continue and even get worse but at the end of the day, once all the 'foreigners' are gone, if indeed they will, the ruling class will have to do decide, either nail the root problem or spawn another lie