Post by cjm on Jul 23, 2016 8:23:12 GMT
Article no doubt prompted by ANC members being killed. When the bullet bites the settlers, it is their just deserts.
South Africa’s politicians must guard against killer narratives
July 20, 2016 8.30pm SAST
Lyn Snodgrass
Associate Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Humans are a storytelling species that is immersed in and perceives the world through the narratives that shape its emotional and ethical realities.
The transference of history and communal memory through narrative solidifies a collective identity that binds a people together. It is through stories that humans know who they are, make sense of the present, and imagine and plan for the future.
In a rapidly globalising world characterised by deepening inequalities, economic uncertainties, deadly terrorist attacks and unprecedented human migration, there is heightened insecurity and fear.
Opportunistic and unscrupulous political leaders are adept at conjuring the regressive and unrealistic story lines that feed these insecurities. Paranoid narratives were evident in the campaign pursued by the pro-Brexit Boris Johnson in the UK. They are staple fare for Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump in the US election.
Such narratives can provide the populace with a false sense of safety and control in a complex and confusing world. But the result is to perpetuate discrimination, scapegoating, xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
South African politicians need to be alert to the dangers of inflammatory political rhetoric. In the countdown to the country’s most hotly-contested municipal elections since the end of apartheid, deadly violence has already been witnessed.
...
July 20, 2016 8.30pm SAST
Lyn Snodgrass
Associate Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Humans are a storytelling species that is immersed in and perceives the world through the narratives that shape its emotional and ethical realities.
The transference of history and communal memory through narrative solidifies a collective identity that binds a people together. It is through stories that humans know who they are, make sense of the present, and imagine and plan for the future.
In a rapidly globalising world characterised by deepening inequalities, economic uncertainties, deadly terrorist attacks and unprecedented human migration, there is heightened insecurity and fear.
Opportunistic and unscrupulous political leaders are adept at conjuring the regressive and unrealistic story lines that feed these insecurities. Paranoid narratives were evident in the campaign pursued by the pro-Brexit Boris Johnson in the UK. They are staple fare for Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump in the US election.
Such narratives can provide the populace with a false sense of safety and control in a complex and confusing world. But the result is to perpetuate discrimination, scapegoating, xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
South African politicians need to be alert to the dangers of inflammatory political rhetoric. In the countdown to the country’s most hotly-contested municipal elections since the end of apartheid, deadly violence has already been witnessed.
...