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opinions
Volume 67 Number 11
Think again, Role of the educated citizen McCain tatenda Goredema
THE US Presidential race has been thrown wide open by the GOP candidate, John McCain, choosing to field a little-known governor from one of the smaller states in the US, Alaska. Governor Sarah Palin was a relatively unknown political figure in the US and certainly in the world up until her surprise nomination to the second spot on the GOP ticket. In selecting Governor Palin as his VP, Senator McCain has made both a brave and possibly dangerous move. The choice of Governor Sarah Palin is believed to have been sparked by the fact that Democratic Party’s candidate, Senator Barack Obama, chose Senator Joe Bidden from Delaware for his VP over Senator Hillary Clinton, with whom he competed fiercely for the Democratic nomination. In choosing Palin, McCain seeks to accomplish two things: Get the support of ultra conservatives who believed he was too moderate and to get some of the women votes that potentially would have gone for an Obama/Clinton ticket. It appears from the polls that McCain has achieved his first goal, as the Republican Party seems to be wholly united behind the McCain/ Palin ticket. The second goal, the Presidency, may be a tough sell due to Palin’s conservative beliefs and practices. Hillary Clinton she certainly is not, Palin is an anti-abortion, bible-bashing conservative who is firmly behind liberal gun laws and a small government with minimal influence on the economy. She is particularly appealing to evangelical Christians and conservative independents, who see the selection of Palin as a sign of positive intent by McCain and the GOP. She is, however, not likely to draw Clinton supporters because Palin’s views on the economy, foreign policy issues and healthcare are scant to say the least. Palin seems to have been briefed by McCain to regurgitate things he has said on the campaign trail since the early part of the year with a little personalisation to fool the masses. During the Republican National Convention, when Governor Palin was unveiled as the GOP’s number two, she used her first major national speech to attack Senator Obama and to talk of her trials and tribulations as a ‘hockey mom’, and small-town girl who ran for mayor in Wasilla and went on to secure the Governor’s position. She spoke of her impressive, but short record as Governor, and made that crazy comment about
lipstick being the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. For some reason, people thought that was good. She hardly delved into any of the key issues facing the US, and spoke in generalities about what the country would need and how her record would help achieve that. She is definitely a better speaker than John McCain, and got applause regularly throughout her speech. All this, however, cannot detract from the fact that Palin has very little to stand on in terms of experience. Compared to Senator Joe Biden, she is in the minor league. Biden, who is the current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (one of the most important Committees in the Senate) has a wealth of experience and has sponsored and co-sponsored many laws in the Senate in his long stay in the upper tier of the bicameral Congress. More importantly, Biden is well known and well liked by Republicans and Democrats alike. Compared to Obama, Palin once again comes up short, for the experience of a Governor in a state with a population of a mere six hundred thousand cannot compare to those of a Senator who has sponsored national legislation and has assisted in the overseeing of foreign policy as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Palin’s selection is purely political strategy, and so far it has worked: More attention was given to the Republican National Convention than the Democratic National Convention. The polls now reflect a closer race between Obama and McCain. However, a lot of political commentators have attributed McCain’s gain to a ‘bump’ gained through the buzz around his unusual choice, which is expected to be temporary. In a climate where the US economy is suffering, major corporations are declaring bankruptcy or seeking federal assistance, and foreign relations have deteriorated extensively to the point where America’s image is poor in the eyes of the rest of the world. It would be a misjudgment to elect someone with so thin a portfolio, clearly picked to ride on the coattails of the ‘change’ theme that has been the key for the Democrats’ bid for the White House. Should McCain, who is 72 and has suffered health problems in recent years, be elected in November, Palin will be a ‘heartbeat’ away from the Presidency. In my opinion, that thought alone, is worse than another four years of George W. Bush.
WITH the recent 31st anniversary of the death of the founder of the Black Consciousness movement, Steve Biko, it is important to assert the importance of ‘consciousness’ and the level at which it has been exhibited at this institution. Robert Kennedy once noted that one of the dangers that assuaged the world and posed a great challenge to people speaking out was timidity. In a speech made at UCT, he said ‘few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence.’ This appears to be as relevant today as it was in 1966 when Kennedy delivered it. It appears that a vast majority of the students at the university have opinions that are valid and carefully considered, yet are afraid to voice those opinions for fear of reprisal or derision. I have heard certain people voice their concerns about the quality of VARSITY Newspaper for instance, yet few of them are willing to provide the welcome and necessary construc-
you, consider then that her beauty was purchased by men of valour who knew their duty’. In short, an educated citizen has a responsibility and duty, by virtue of his/her greater knowledge, to uphold the values and principles that were fought for by people such as Steve Biko. This is to further develop his/her immediate environment and ultimately honour the memory of people like Comrade Biko who died in the cause of that noble effort. The Vice-Chancellor in his remarks at the Steve Biko Annual Lecture noted that the youth had a greater role to play in society and should not become complacent simply because the task of obtaining freedom had been accomplished. In the final analysis part of an educated citizen’s duty is to participate actively in the society he inhabits thus the responsibility falls to you the student to join societies and organizations that contribute to eclectic good of society. Jack Kerouac once said ‘if moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime.’ Consider the crime you are committing on a daily basis.
Don’t blame it on the music Louise Ferreira ON A Monday morning, a quiet, well-behaved Matric student walks into his school and kills a fellow pupil with a sword. He goes on a rampage, injuring three other people. In the search for the reasons behind this horrific incident, it is decided that part of the cause must be…his favourite music. Morné Harmse, 18, is being charged with the murder of 16year-old Jacques Pretorius and three counts of attempted murder. The media and others immediately latched onto the fact that Harmse was wearing a homemade mask similar to those worn by heavymetal group Slipknot. In addition, the boy afterwards claimed that Satan told him to kill the children, prompting community leader, Pierre Eksteen, to deduce that the attack was caused by ‘satanic music’. This has led to widespread panic about the supposed connection between Satanism and heavy metal. All of this seems a little unfair. After all, Slipknot is not in fact a satanic band, and most of their fans would be outraged at being called devil-worshippers. It is also difficult to believe that any music, no matter how ‘dark’, would incite an otherwise stable teenager to murder. Shortly after the attack, a radio DJ quoted comedian, Chris Rock, asking why, after school killings, cultural influences like music are so often blamed for the perpetrators’ behaviour? ‘Why can’t they just be crazy?’ He has a point. Music is often named, not necessarily by experts, as a contributing factor when kids go berserk – and heavy metal groups like Slipknot are particularly targeted. But it is also true that of the genre’s millions of fans,
Photo courtesy of i.a.cnn.net
Tatenda Goredema
tive criticism required to maintain the objectivity and relevancy of the paper. President John Kennedy once proclaimed that ‘a university has a special obligation to holdfast to the best of the past and move fast with the best of the future.’ Looking back on past editions of this paper, the values and principles apparent in the views of the students then have helped shape the thinking at this university today. These values and principles were not established by words on paper, but by the people who took it upon themselves to comment and act on the things they felt strongly about. Part of a scripture taken from an Egyptian pyramid reads ‘…and no one was angry enough to speak out.’ This may be the most honest assessment of this generation of young people, who feel more obligated to sit and comment from the sidelines, becoming part of a growing peanut gallery of those satisfied by mediocrity and silence, rather than participate in necessary debate to improve our future. A great Greek general by the name of Pericles once proclaimed that ‘if Athens shall appear great to
Hideous faces - Slipknot in their usual ghastly garb only a handful ever go this far. Why are they suddenly considered the rule when they are so clearly an anomaly? It is certainly likely that they were particularly drawn to metal because of pre-existing emotional problems (although this of course does not apply to all listeners of the genre) that caused them to identify with aspects such as the loud volume and dark lyrics. In this case, the music would have been a symptom rather than a cause of their troubles. We should also ask why people are concentrating on the mask and not looking at other symbols. Why did Harmse choose a samuraisword, for example? It was apparently his favourite sword and he spent a lot of time sharpening the blade. Does this mean there should be a backlash against Japanese warrior culture? One of his friends said that on the morning of the attack, Harmse had spoken in a strange voice, ‘like the Joker in Batman’. No-one has blamed the popularity of The Dark Knight. The ridiculousness of the charge against heavy metal is further illustrated by substituting another disguise for the mask: If Harmse had gone to school dressed as a pirate and saying that Captain Jack Sparrow had told him to kill
everyone, would there be an outcry against Pirates of the Caribbean? Surely not. The boy would simply be called delusional. It has since come to light that Harmse’s teachers had been worried about him for some time. He appeared to have no vision for his future and it was decided that the issue should be followed up, but obviously this did not happen in time. Were the teachers at fault then? Should his parents have known something was wrong? Even if they did, can parents really be blamed if their child commits a murder? After the Columbine shooting in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, there was a huge backlash against video games, heavy metal and goth culture. The music of metal singer, Marilyn Manson, was blamed for the actions of the shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and he cancelled one of his concerts as a result. When he was asked in an interview what he would say to the killers, Manson replied, ‘Nothing. I would have listened, because no one else did.’ School violence in South Africa is widespread. Perhaps we should start asking young people what is going wrong, rather than playing a dangerous game of pass-the-buck.