South Africans citizens attended President Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration at the southern lawns, Union Buildings. Picture: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspapers
There is nothing like an expired politician who still inflicts his expired views on an exhausted public. Giving their robotic fans their overused lines and expired anecdotes, their fans will tirelessly applaud them, knowing full well that they are clapping against their better judgement.
But this is not only true of politicians. It’s true of all of us. Of people like me who write. Of those who practise politics and leadership. Of those who host media shows. Of those who write letters or who call into media shows to inflict their continued toxicity and untruths on society.
All our expiry dates are ignored because of some dubious data that indicates that the public approves of this. The inertia around disrupting the sycophantic political and media playbook is obvious. But more damaging is the fact that the generation that is being poisoned by all this is the one that will suffer the consequences.
Donald Trump’s poisoned politics is a consequence of his ignored privilege. The media created a privileged and toxic reality show star. Today they find it hard to take responsibility for his toxicity. His absent intelligence, inflated view of himself and his continued lies are a consequence of the media who created him.
Today he is the face of the true patriotic American. The media won’t refuse to cover him because he is clickbait which drives advertising and other revenue. It means increased profits. But it also means a poisoned society and a generation raised on lies.
Caught up in a culture of three-word dramatic headlines, 10-second sound bites, two-minute interviews and a discombobulation of long-form writing, we suffer the consequence of polluted messages that become the new reality. No one interrogates them.
Downstream, millions of young people, the next generation, are filling their minds with this pollution. Even further downstream is a political podium/local school, waiting anxiously for the next toxic speech or the next AR-15 rifle that will massacre its pupils. Trump is a reality show star that the media created in 2004. It took just 12 years for him to go from toxic reality show star to president.
When I read that the Government of National Unity is our current best option, I hear the dangers of words that elected Donald Trump. I sense a settling down to get going with government business.
Here is the dilemma: we need to get government business going effectively and efficiently, but ignore the obvious cracks for the pleasure of reporting on the current camaraderie. We also confuse efficient service delivery with justice.
There are services and speeches that do not pass the justice test. We are slowly becoming silent about the country of our dreams and our Constitution. We are being blown away by a tornado of efficiency. What are we selling off to have this efficiency?
The ANC will never again win a major election in South Africa. That much is clear. Infused with the pleasure of efficient services and fresh voices, the South African voter is where the USA was in 2016. “Obamian” rhetoric can only take you a certain distance. Voters want a high-end smartphone for a politician. Voters thought Donald Trump was that upgrade in 2016.
The big question is whether the 2024 election was the last big breathing space for white voters in South Africa. Being outnumbered but still managing to outmanoeuvre its opposition, how long will this latest move last? How long will the millions of poor black youth remain calm? How big a role does our media play in creating our politicians?
Are we all clapping for the GNU against our better judgement?
* Lorenzo A. Davids.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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