Land Of The Free-For-All

 Some interesting facts about our country:

We had (perhaps, still have) a law that prohibited taking bears to the beach. Also wrestling with bears. The fact that there have been no bears in South Africa for over a million years was clearly of no consequence to the lawmakers. 

That seems to be quite in line with current political thinking too. Accentuate the antiquated. Accentuate the irrelevant. We do still indulge in bear baiting, when we flash the race card as readily as a pedantic referee flashes a yellow card. That big, old bear is going to maul some people severely someday.

We are the only country with eleven official languages. We still fail dismally at communication that edifies. The fact that we have the longest wine route in the world may add to our incoherence.  And we have our own political 'newspeak', where night is day, day is night and all is filtered through the New Dusk.

The Cradle of Humankind is a world heritage site that houses some of the oldest fossils known to mankind. It's  not unique. Some of the most fossilized thinking in the universe is housed in our political milieu and in the civil service. 

We had  the world's first heart transplant. And where are you now, Dr Chris? There are pensioners in and out of parliament that need you. And some younger ones, too.  They sit, like a choked artery, in a misty realm of glories past. Or an equally nebulous utopian future. One that will never come to be.

We have the highest commercial  bungee jump in the world. Quite appropriate. We are a nation constantly poised on the edge, not sure whether the rope will hold.

We are the only country in the world with two Nobel prize winners from one street. We are the only country in the world with so many prize clowns from the same political streets. 

A law that has been removed from the books is one that required taxi drivers to wear a white coat. We should have kept that law. There are many minibus taxi drivers that would look at home in a straitjacket.

 

The fascinating Land of the Free-For-All.

Tips for the blogger gratefully accepted 

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