Le Clos, Phelps & South Africa’s Inferiority Complex

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Nas Who • 0 Comments
Another: #wethink
Tags: Chad Le Clos, London Olympics 2012, Michael Phelps, Olympics, South Africa, swimming

Illustration by Moray Rhoda

Last night, while the country sweat so hard that whole households needed private lifeguards, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos beat out US swimming legend Michael Phelps in the men’s 200m butterfly at the London Olympics. And what an achievement it was. Le Clos is only 20-years-old and he took down the world champ. At his age, the only event I could’ve gotten a gold medal in was misinterpretive dance.

All the praise aside though, pretty much all the discussion I’ve caught since the event ended has moved on to a dissection not of Le Clos’ epic performance, but rather focuses on why Michael Phelps is a douche, why Le Clos’ win is justified (totally, we swear), how shitty the commentators were, and even how the international feed SuperSport is probably paying out the wazoo for, is out to get South Africa.

Take a moment and picture the malevolent producer and cameramen. Now feel ashamed of yourself.

What A Boss: Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse Gets His Matric Results

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Nas Who • 0 Comments
Another: #joburg
Tags: Education, Matric, Sipho Hotstix Mabuse, South Africa

I’ve always really dug Sipho Hotstix Mabuse’s music. I’m still pretty bummed I didn’t get to see him play at Oppi last year, where he celebrated his 60th birthday performing on stage at the festival for the first time in his career. I think his successful musical career is pretty damn inspirational, because it proves that a lot of hard work mixed with raw talent can really get you where you believe you need to be. And now Hotstix has found yet another way to inspire and impress us: by finally getting his matric exemption at the age of 61.

What a boss!

Happy Birthday, Madiba

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Nas Who • 0 Comments
Another: #wethink
Tags: #MandelaDay, Madiba, Nelson Mandela, South Africa

I chose the above image for my post on #MandelaDay because it is “Vintage Madiba”, before his face was sloganized onto a clock or a t-shirt or a mug or whatever. When he was just a guy. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against branding. It is the prime way of getting an idea across from person to person in our sexy futureworld, and I think Nelson Mandela represents an idea worth sharing.

Zapiro Goes Back To The Well, uh, Dick

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Nas Who • 0 Comments
Another: Uncategorized
Tags: art, Brett Murray, political commentary, politics, President Jacob Zuma, South Africa, The Goodman Gallery, The Spear, Zapiro

Check out Zapiro‘s latest dig at SA President Jacob Zuma for the Mail & Guardian published here today. In all honesty, I’m finding his attacks on Zuma repetitive and they long ago veered off the path of political commentary and into the realm of personal vendetta. The inclusion of the little poem is “cute” but also pretty lazy. And I think it’s interesting that we live in a country that simultaneously wants to moan about how ashamed we all are that the President is supposedly some kind of sex-crazed maniac, but also just won’t let go of the image of his sexuality as a means of criticizing him.

Meh. That’s it.

The Race Card

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Nas Who • 0 Comments
Another: #wethink
Tags: race, South Africa, the race card

So I read this article yesterday that talked about how men and women see and describe themselves in front of others, and how that can, as author Yashar Ali puts it, “contribute to our toxic beauty culture”. More specifically, Ali tackles our use of the word “fat”, mostly in idle conversation, and usually as a slur. That by using it as a negative, even just to describe ourselves, we help perpetuate body image issues in ourselves and in those around us.

I’m inclined to agree. I spend a fair amount of time with people who never mention their bodies, but also a little time with people who do it ALL. THE. TIME. When I was younger I simply noticed the criticism in abstract; like the person was criticizing everyone who was “fat”. Now that I’m a little older, I take less offense and instead notice how what people say out loud is just a reflection of their internal beliefs about themselves.

That got me thinking about other words we use as slurs, and the obvious ones all came to mind first. But I don’t wanna talk about how our usual racial slurs are bad. I wanna talk about how race in and of itself has become a sort of slur. One we use to perpetuate a culture of racialism. Read on.

Tag Archives: South Africa