Years ago, when I was a teenager, I pretended to read Adolf Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf. I say “pretended” because it was, being 50 years old, highly nationalistic and translated from another language, not very gripping.
From the bits of it that I assimilated, I have realised that Mein Kampf was not about a struggle for rights, a nationalistic yearning for expression or a rallying cry for an oppressed nation. This is not a book about have-nots fighting for a place in the sun, but rather a selfish book about haves, who are unwilling to share. Mein Kampf was an aggressive, pre-emptive strike, made under the pretence of defending a cultural ideal that had become irrelevant.
The logic was simple: Remind people of the very bad things in their society, and then blame someone for those. Dogbert had a very similar idea:
The Dogbert method of eliminating guilt is simple. All of your problems are caused by invisible people named Juan and Cindy. All you have to do is find them and kill them. — Scott Adams
You don’t have to be a megalomaniac to fall into this logical error. You might, for example, be a broker. Perhaps your name is Neil Watson, and you might, hypothetically, have a Web site called Crime Expo South Africa.
Mr Watson’s work has received a lot of comment recently, from all levels of society from leading politicians to violent assassins. While I sympathise with him on having to deal with the Independent Democrats, I have very little time for what he is doing. His logic has been shredded by a thousand people, but never quite as well as it has been by South African blogger, Alwaysthewit. Well done there, old chap!
I, however, wish to take issue with Mr Watson on more sociological and philosophical grounds.
I wonder if a single South African has contacted him to say, “Dear Mr Watson. I loved this country until I saw your Web site. Now I hate it and I fear for my life. You convinced me. Thank you. Signed, John Random Saffer.” I’ll tell you what: I’ve trawled through his comments without finding a single message of this nature.
What I do see in his comments are the following:
Moffie Boshoff says ‘right-wing extremist’ like it is a bad thing. Oh, how could you..? (add gay lisp). — Mark
As a Christian I can only put that down to demonism, and no doubt in my mind, it plays its role in the mayhem that has decended on South Africa. — Michelledarling
Well exept for Apartheid, what was wrong with the fundamentals and principles the old government ran the country? — Geel Giellie
I agree with Geel Gielie. Vaal Watcher, you smell like the New Age movement….You are already in our Government, our schools and our Churches!! … We had a 100% vote at Bloodrivier, we can do it again. The whole crux of the reform/recovery/healing of South Africa lies in 2 Cron 7:13,14,15… Valie, jump in the Vaal River and drown with your doctrines, you are declared an heretic, and please get of this site! — Afrikaner Volk
Liberalism, multiculturalism and human rights for criminals is a leftist disease. Multiculturalism has not worked in Britain either, many people there are up in arms, they are sick and tired of a government that has turned their country into a cauldron of ethnics who really want to control the country, and with those socialist commies in power now, that’s not too far away. — crazy horse
You sound like the Freemasons. Can you take your new world order ideas and paste them on a Anarchist site cause that’s exactly what your ideology has created in this country complete anarchy… You will only run this country or the world over my dead body. Look at what human rights have created in this country — Geel Giellie
[sic]
Those are from just two pages. This stuff is so good that you cannot just make it up. That is how these people react to anybody who challenges their viewpoint. When they find this blog entry they are going to call me a “moffie”, a “liberal” and a “communist”. I’ve been called worse, and I have no doubt that I will be again.
The point is that the sort of people who gravitate to Crime Expo South Africa already believe everything that the site expounds. Nobody is being converted, or having their “eyes opened”. The entire effort is a rallying cry for the paranoid, the traumatised, the scarred victims and the ill-content – the very people who we should be reassuring and for whom we should be trying to accentuate the many positive aspects of South Africa. This site rubs salt in the wounds of every victim of crime.
Even worse, it is filled with advice for the well heeled on how to get out of South Africa. It offers no comfort to those who suffer far more horrifically under crime but are too poor to move out of their unsafe environment. Mr Watson offers solutions for rich people only.
Why? I can only guess. According to the Internet, Mr Watson lives in Camps Bay. He must be a pretty successful “broker” to be able to afford to live there. If you are wondering what sort of “broker” he is, the same article claims that he sells insurance. That’s a bit like selling peace of mind to people after you have convinced them that they are about to be murdered in their sleep and have their possessions looted by criminals.
If that is indeed his line of business, having a Web site like Crime Expo South Africa probably does not hurt. Until we are sure, we should probably take what he writes with a pinch of salt.
