Sensational racism

Over the last week, The Blind View (TBV) has published several satirical articles on Julius Malema, Robert Mugabe, and Eugene Terre'blanche. There was a strong response from readers and contributors.

Mike's article, Julius on Education, caused a real stir, including a death threat:
"It is unfortunate that South Africa still has such racist bigot pale skinned moffies... people should kill all the Blind View writers for being racist... One settler!!! One bullet!!!"

Luckily that threat proved to be as real as the AWB's speedily retracted call for 'revenge'.

Julius on Education and some of the other articles published were sensationalist: the stories and quotes were excited at the expense of factual accuracy, which prompted criticism that the articles risked further splitting an already divided nation.

The articles were certainly divisive: they provoked a couple of radical, murderous comments but the majority were more measured: either appreciating the comic value of the articles:

"...descriptions such as sarcastic, tounge-in-cheek, facetious, humorous and witty come to mind."

Or seeking reasonable middle ground:

"South Africa is too hard on itself - we should appreciate Julius, learning to deal with him is a learning curve for future progress!""Reading the above piece, descriptors such as sarcastic, tounge-in-cheek, facetious, humorous and witty come to mind."

And the pole amongst our readers produced an almost unanimous consensus that singing, "One Farmer! One Bullet!" is hate speech.

Did The Blind View's embrace of sensationalism drive segregation? I doubt it. Just as Terre'blanche's murder was not the spark of Machete Race Wars that some had feared, blogging will not cause or cure segregation in South Africa. It is too historical, too complex, and too deeply ingrained. What The Blind View can do, is generate discussion about it. The goal was to engage readers in dialogue of where the boundaries lie for what is reasonable and what is not, and not to forward a particular view or agenda.

After all the human rights violations we have suffered under apartheid, is it reasonable for the leader of the country's largest youth movement to pay a supportive visit to the region's best known and worst dictator? That is sensational, and provoked our response.