Online Rage

Coincidentally The Times blog has posted a piece about our culture of public debating. Or lack thereof. This falls neatly into what I said to a former reader with whom I hold no ill will or grudge just because we may have had a disagreement.

From The Times (The Wild Frontier)

Why we can't debate properly in South Africa

The public slanging match between Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and the ANC over Jacob Zuma’s sex life is evidence of the poverty of South Africa’s public debate.

The problem is thrown into sharp relief on the Internet which allows people to vent their true feelings under aliases. I have spent quite a lot time trying to understand how commentary evolves on my blog The Wild Frontier, which is quite heavily focussed on politics.

There are always very robust comments from those who follow the blog posts. These are augmented by even more robust comments when a blog post reaches beyond the traditional audience over some or other controversy.

With metronomic regularity, a discussion thread follows three steps: First there are one or two fairly reasoned responses based on some or other political argument. Then there are replies which invariably take the “race” of the writer into account. From then on, it descends very quickly into an exchange of insults and racial abuse. Eventually, the original article is long forgotten as the writers tear into one another and produce ever-more dire racial epithets.

The reason for this problem runs deep. It starts with the fact that South African politics is framed by the struggle against apartheid and it’s mirror image the struggle over the future of a post-apartheid political order. The first and most important thing that defines a person in public debate is which side of the divide they were on in the apartheid era.

The superficial criteria of race is the most immediate tool available to make this determination.

You will have noticed that I placed “race” in inverted commas above. What is fascinating on the Internet is how many people use their aliases to conceal their true race. It is quite possible online for an Arkansas farmer in a string vest to pretend to be bootilicious 17-year-old Hip Hop fangirl.

Those comment regularly have learned that in South Africa, if you are white and you want to say something critical of the ANC, you would be best served by doing so under a “black” alias. And visa versa.

Blogs are out on the wild frontier of these racial exchanges, but they reveal a broader truth about the public debate.

When Helen Zille comments about Jacob Zuma, her critics see her as a white madam disrespecting Zuma’s culture. Those who rise to her defence question the ability of the new order to conduct itself within the rules of democracy.

Before long the original issue is lost as both sides retreat into their racial shells.

Thus the issue of whether or not it is appropriate for Zille to have appointed an all male, mostly white Cabinet quickly devolves into a discussion of whether or not Zuma should have unprotected sex.

Decorum is thrown out of the window as the voices of the ANC Youth League, desperately frothing with invective, remove any hope that there might be a proper political discussion.

The result is that matters of substance are seldom properly debated in our public media spaces.

The only real cure for this is generational, although it would seem that the youth are being raised on the milk of hate by a new crop of leaders determined to hang onto the political power of race.

The solution to this problem must come from our political leadership. It is scandalous that a democracy like South Africa does not host political debates between leaders during election campaigns. Zuma’s refusal to engage Zille in televised debates might have played well with the ANC’s support base, but it represented a lost opportunity to lead the national debate with political maturity.

The same can be said of Parliament where leaders are seen to be jeering and heckling when they should be exchanging views and trying to understand where their opponents are coming from.