Smackucation

'Smackucation - the art of physical discipline in the hopes of development and growth, of both mental and moral fibre'

It’s all over the media and with one click into the interwebs it doesn’t take much to find the accompanying video footage. Everywhere we look we are graced with the visual proof that the children of today are becoming what society has so long been breeding, yet foolishly hoping would just silently disappear into the shadows of street corners, boring desk jobs, checkout lines at our local Checkers or Spar and maybe even that coveted position at McDonalds.

Hell, I’ve even read that the kids of today actually ASPIRE to be porn stars, because you know, the internet's the new Hollywood now....

Evolution, right…?

It doesn't come as a shocker that the response from the older generations have begun demanding that Corporal Punishment be brought back, and it’s not just the really old, born way back in the day folks either. Uproar from those hailing from the 1980’s and upwards is being added as they express their feels of disgust and rage to the masses as well.

I am no exception. On seeing one of the videos, which showed a student attacking a teacher with a broom HANDED to him by other students egging him on, I was mentally plotting the various punishments I would deal out to those snot nose brats if I ever had the privilege of crossing paths with them.

However, after the rage subsided I began to think: what had led to that?

Sure we can speculate till we’re all blue in the face, but the truth is, we [the public] will never truly know the details. Personally, I feel no matter what went down the students were fully at fault and I praise that teacher for not reacting or even fighting to protect himself, from a BROOM. But the sad part is will justice be given? And when it is ‘supposedly’ given will it be enough?

Then, of course, we have the call to bring back Corporal Punishment.

Frankly it’s a reasonable request if you look at the past few months increase of violence in schools and the resulting punishment that just makes you question whether or not we encourage students to test the system.

How on earth do you expect them to take any sort of authority seriously when you show them that when they attack their fellow classmates brutally and with harmful intent, barely being contained by any teacher brave enough to intervene, that they will be okay for a bit, while the teacher’s life and reputation gets torn to shreds as they are blamed for incompetence or not doing something sooner. But that’s okay, because we must protect the children…

Or when they attack teachers and there needs to be an investigation first before action is taken to prove that it wasn’t the teachers fault, because video footage can be so deceiving…

But let it be a teacher accused of doing something wrong, probably driven to it by

 some mental break or just because they were paedophiles to begin with, we see that action couldn’t be taken fast enough… if someone got through to a news establishment and maybe it was or wasn’t a setup or publicity stunt, who knows.

But that’s of course to show that the government cares for the children and that they protect them… eventually.

But still… we come back to the fact that children are out of hand, so is Corporal Punishment the way to go?

Before I give my answer, let’s look at a few scenarios.

I’d like to think we can all agree that not everybody has had the ‘perfect’ upbringing, by which I refer to the whole ‘white picket-fence’ thing that western TV has imprinted society to picture them all having, or at least trying to have.

Not everyone was lucky enough to have a parent, let alone parents, but it was what it was. Schooling was a privilege some took advantage of and some were given the advantage of taking. Upbringings were not all the same and a lot much more similar than many would ever admit to. And discipline was something that ALWAYS started at home. Don’t agree? Okay, consider this,

Child A was born and raised in a loving family that found discipline a useful tool to use from stopping an innocently ignorant child from touching the heater a second time or leaving their sight to play in the line of oncoming traffic or taking that swirly tasty stick and following Mr. Stranger. Would this child then complain of being punished for breaking serious school rules by an authority figure in their later schooling years, an authority figure that they subconsciously liken to their parents?

Then we have Child B, born into a loving family, but one who feels discipline by hand [or various other at-hand objects] is too extreme. So they resort to talking and resolving things. I imagine in the formative years this would probably not go as planned and the heater wouldn’t be used for some years. I’m also guessing parents would have to be VERY attentive as the child grows to ensure the proper lessons are taught and that the slick-tongued Mr. Stranger and his tasty stuffs are avoided. I can see this family not being pleased with any form of ‘physical’ discipline being dealt to their ‘innocent angels’. But their ‘angels’ got into said trouble now, didn’t they? So what went wrong?

Now we move to Child C, as you guessed, this child didn’t get the happy family and the best of upbringings. Maybe it was by choice, but chances are that’s not the whole truth. These are the children that most teachers of today give up on the minute they enter the classroom or maybe these are the children that hide their crappy lives so well, you can almost believe they aren’t so bad… almost. You see, Child C had one of two upbringings. On one side they were once loved, until something happened that changed home life and made it a place to be visited instead of lived and the on the other side, well let’s just say ‘love’ was the thing you would rather sell than hold onto, had more surety that way. But both upbringings have one thing in common and it doesn’t take much to figure out what.

Violence begets violence. Chances are high Child C knows what it’s like to be hit around, whether by someone they know or not. Taking that in, do you honestly think any sort of authority would be able to get away with laying a hand on them and NOT getting some form of ‘payback’? The parents may not care [unless there’s benefit to them] but the retaliation from the ‘victim’ that’s something to think about.

But let us not forget WHY Corporal Punishment was taken away in the first place, and no it wasn’t because of all that jabber of children’s rights and parent’s feelings and so on… [Okay, maybe a little of it was…] but it was mostly because too many teachers were abusing their power and racism was still rife within the hearts of those fresh from an era just exiting troubled times.

Did we need it gone then? I think we did, but that’s just my observation.

So then, is Corporal Punishment the answer? Should it make a comeback?

My answer, yes I think it should be brought back. However, teacher’s safety must be considered and punishments properly monitored. But most of all, something that will NEVER change, it always starts at home. No matter how much you reprimand a child, if they aren’t getting the cement to build the proper foundation to build on, it’s all pointless.

Alternatives that can be implemented to compensate for the human trash some feel the need to still call parents, can be the investment of counselors who pupils can be comfortable with and talk to. Individuals not ruled by stupid people judgment and school procedure who are free to actually talk to the children and seek the help they need.

As for protecting the children, how about we screen the people who we send to teach them. Train them to defend themselves, teach them quality abilities and techniques to use in teaching the children at acceptable levels and actually assessing them to ensure that they aren’t ‘going off their rocker’.

Also, now it’s a little outside the box, but how about we pay them? You know recognize the people who are molding the minds that will one day be running things while we watch from the sidelines?

Actions speak louder than words Mr Gordhan

Something tells me that Pravin Gordhan isn't getting any Christmas gifts from parliament this year, or maybe he gets a bonus. Who knows?

As most have probably read already, earlier this week Mr Gordhan declared that all government credit cards be cut up and wasteful expenditure be stopped immediately, leaving all MP’s with the unfortunate decision to cancel that Hilton Hotel booking and instead stay in one of the Protea hotel’s rooms, the horror I tell you…

In a bid to assure the masses that taxpayer monies would no longer grease the luxuriously fluffy lives of our supposedly hard-working officials and states personnel, Mr Gordhan goes on and boldly claims that no new credit cards would replace the ones to be tossed out. He went on to assure us how all these ‘benefits’, that have been funded by our hard earned income by the way, such as fancy cars and comfy flights and so on would end… apparently.

But of course as I came to the end of the article I finally saw the catch where all this was only to come into effect on the 1 December. [I assume it to be this year 2013, though the article I read doesn't specify.]

In all honesty, this announcement doesn't come as a surprise to me. The government has been attacked by other political parties, the public and media for long enough now to know they need to actually do something or they are good and thoroughly screwed.

All the financial misconduct that has been leaked out and continues to leak out is starting to anger the majority and I’m guessing it’s starting to affect their pockets in some way, or why else do something about it?

Okay, yes… I can be somewhat of a pessimist at times, especially when it comes to our lovely government, but I work on facts] and experience. In the past few months alone, too many officials have been caught with either their hand in the cookie jar or with their pants down, both scenarios which somehow seemed to expose some kind of huge financial hiccup.

Now whether or not it was a case of false accusation or someone using those caught as scapegoats, I think it can be considered generally irrelevant in this case. Why you may ask? Well, because;

•          Karma will deal with that, and
•         The Money/Property/whatever Valuable is still gone, wasted, lost between outstretched words and continuous explanations that explain nothing.

So with such a pothole of a track record it was only a matter of time before something was going to happen and with it a reaction.

Personally, I think the E-Tolls were the public’s last straw, the ‘event’ that tipped the bucket, if you will. It was bad enough that SANRAL was pushing for it to exist, but really what broke the stick was the signing of the ‘E-Toll Bill’ [let’s be honest, no one will really call it anything else…] by our President, who ensured his absence from the country at the time of the big news to the rest of us.

Sure you could say the bucket was already swinging with the whole Nklandla stuff and the Guptagate area of things, but those were ‘over the fence’ kind of issues. E-tolls on the other hand live in your backyard and suck the color right out from your sunrise and we all need those beautiful colors of our country’s sunrise when we wake up and need to start a day without ramming our cars into unwanted structures or setting fire to incompetent colleagues/bosses put into positions to make the company look good, while you actually do the work, without the pay….

But getting back on track, E-toll was the hand that pushed and the result was simple, enough was enough. Already being taxed three ways to Sunday for those roads AND other’s fluffy life styles, the public obviously wouldn't just sit back and accept a fourth hand digging into a very slimming salary as well. So now we have the bucket tipped and all this goo crawling around and we see it spawning some strange things, take the EFF for example.

And the result: The Government trying to cover its ass with all the same pre-election ‘tactics’ [which still boggle my mind as to why they still work], except of course it would seem our president has realized that maybe, just maybe, he should talk to the ‘educated’ and thus he sends our former president to talk to those considered worthy. Of course we should just forget he was chased out by JZ and all those whispered fights and scandals, but whatever right? Water under the bridge…

Let’s not forget the ‘punishments’ for all those officials who were caught being bad. But to that I can only quote Trevor Noah in asking ‘Who gets fired into their position?’

If being caught and punished by my boss meant I not only kept my job, but about 16 million Rand as well, where do I sign up!

Now we have Pravin Gordhan, most likely just trying to calm the riled citizens who watch as the higher ups live it up, while the rest of us wonder where the hell we will get the next pay out to feed our children, ourselves, our pets. How much we will have left to pay for our barely roadworthy vehicles or public transport or even how much we can scramble together to pay school fees, house payments, rental… how much we have to live AFTER we've probably bought the left shoelace of some official we are likely never to meet.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the message he comes with. The picture he paints looks promising. The words he strings together are hopeful, HOWEVER, they are still just words.

Actions speak louder than words and unfortunately, over the last 19 years of leadership, our government has shown a progression of action that went from the outlines of hopes, dreams, the writings of laws and then suddenly to complete disinterest, corruption and the blatant disregard of the public’s opinion.

So forgive me while I don’t believe the beautifully stringed sentences until action is taken, proven and a difference is seen and the public actually matters more than how sad MP’s are that they can’t have an all-you-can-eat at meetings about their next vacation in Mexico.

Juju - hopeless giant baby

“Beware of the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry, [who] infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How will I know? For this I have done. And I am Julius Caesar.”

What is it about some people that make them want to experience something that most of us would rather avoid?

Has film and TV exposed us too much to content that makes us wonder, ‘What if?’ or ‘What would it be like?’

Is it because we've read so much of it all in history books, or maybe took too much interest in history class and neglected all our woodwork homework?

Why does it seem like the leaders of our country so badly want to lead us into war?

I have never expected much to come from Julius Malema’s campaign. I mean, with tax evasion charges and fraud charges looming over his head, I would have thought it was pretty obvious that voting for him was just asking for the apocalypse to come calling. But with the amount of supporters I have seen around, I am truly... just… WTF!?

Now, I read his most recent campaign [to my knowledge] of how he speaks of some new “baby” being born and how it should be feared. He goes on to state something about a ‘home for the hopeless’.

Oh! But my favorite part comes when he harps on about ‘the expropriation of ‘white’ land owners, while lashing out, once again, at the ANC.

I am continually amazed and saddened whenever this man opens his mouth. Each word a contradiction of his actions, not to mention a blatant instigation towards a war I’m sure he’ll be the first to run from.

‘…Expropriation of ‘white’ land owners…’?

I really wish he’d be more specific. Surely he cannot mean EVERYBODY? What about those who have worked just as hard as those other previously disadvantaged individuals have, with blood, sweat and tears put into the last 20 years to earn the land they live on. 

Will they too be ‘expropriated’ simply because of the color of their skin?

What if they had been disadvantaged as well during those times because they chose to treat everyone equally human, what then?

Aaah… then we have the ‘inbetweeners’, neither here nor there.

Don’t tell me you've forgotten all about them. The ones of origin, right alongside you, maybe even way before you. Of course they grew when the ones from far and the ones next door decided they weren't so different after all. Or are they just not ‘dark’ enough for you Julius? Too much ‘blood of the oppressor’ in them [which by the way would be partially wrong in many cases]

What about their land rights? Never heard you mention anything about that.

Honestly Mr Red-Beret, I just can’t keep up anymore.

You keep shouting ‘Equality’, but you go around and direct it to a single race, as if other races don’t occupy this land.

You quack on and on about how the ANC is deceiving us and how they steal from us, but then you flash around your fancy cars and houses and beg us to believe you only live off R20 000 a month and when you get caught you refuse to admit to the lies and give up the cash and belongings, claiming you did nothing wrong.

You preach to the youth of loyalty and fighting for freedom, after you just finished bashing your former employers [the ANC] on how horrid they are, after which you encourage them to ‘literally’ fight against the system, effectively endangering their lives and taking away their freedom.

Then, once all is said and done, the streets in blood but your hands all ‘clean’, there you go off into the shadows to hide in you luxury, leaving all your followers with nothing but lost loved ones, broken homes, biased laws and broken promises.

Words on a board, Queue Politicians

‘Words… they are but letters stringed together. Empty of all, except the ink we used to create them and the material we lay them upon.’ – Tracy-Lee van der Haar

Of course, that is until you apply feelings to the equation.

I recently saw the news about billboards being put up, advertising the E-Tolls. They were pretty simple, blurred picture of the things as the background and the message ‘E-Tolls. Proudly brought to you by the ANC’, pretty straight forward, to the point, no fluff.

But obviously, someone found offense, most likely an ANC supporter or maybe even one of the officials passing by in their helicopter [you know, ‘cos driving costs, petrol, etc….]

Their complaint is basically how this ‘is not funny’, ‘defamation’, ‘against election something or other…’, I’d go one but it’s a bunch of BS.

Oooo, did I just say that •o• !? Yes, yes I did.

‘E-Tolls, Proudly brought to you by the ANC’

There is absolutely nothing untrue about this statement, it is FACT. Whether the ANC likes it or not, it cannot be changed. That thing was 100% ANC supported and signed into existence, not to mention financially sustained, under the ANC administration. Our President made sure of this when he knowingly and willingly [can I add negligently… O_o] signed that law into effect last month.

It isn’t false advertising, just words. Powerful words, yes but only because they were given power by those who chose to take offense by it [Those pesky feels … >.<].  

The only way to find that statement offensive, derogatory, or whatever defence they plan to cook up, is if you take from it a feeling of guilt or discomfort.

It is unfortunate that it happens to be negative publicity, but you kinda did it to yourself… can’t really blame that on others.

Admittedly, the DA could have dealt with the President’s snub to the public, differently. But having played nice(ish) for so long and constantly hitting the wall, I can sort of see why they take the jabs where they can. Of course it doesn’t change the fact that this stunt will cost them.

But at least the billboards will be around for a while according to a recent statement from the DA. 

Frankly I think there should be more and they should last longer, you know to prepare everyone for it. After all, according to all advertising laws and regulations, this ad is in no way a violation of any legislation.

Huh… Funny how one can have a love/hate relationship with the laws and regulations in this country *-*

E-Tolls (those things...)

I wasn't going to touch this with a tooth pick, let alone a stick. 

Why? Well, my naïve self actually had a smidgen of hope left in our government… σ_σ I know right.

I figured even they drive cars and stuff, you know - the fancy ones we sort of pay for but can’t afford ourselves, and with all the functions and very important meetings they go to, I can just imagine all the travelling they do. 

So it would make sense that this ridiculous thing they want to sign into effect wouldn't happen. Because as much as we dislike parting with our hard earned income to pay taxes, I'm pretty sure our great leaders are far more reluctant to part with their own…uh… income.

But it seems my faith in humanity is just destined to be tested- again =_=

When the hold on signing the thing was announced to be next year ‘sometime’, it didn't take much thought to realize that was an election ploy. It was a really sad attempt from the ANC to tease us into voting for them, trying to appear indifferent to SANRAL’s constant jabber.

But once again, the ANC misjudged the intelligence of the people they were SUPPOSED to be serving and as evidence came to light of all these officials having their hand in the cookie jar, the façade broke and the indifference turned to, *Well, we spent so much fixing up the roads for the 2010 World Cup… then there was the upgrading of roads in general. Eish, all those potholes…*

Comrade say what!? ◘_◘

As far as I know, when a country gets chosen in the FIFA draw to host the World Cup, I'm pretty sure they get paid to do so. I base this assumption on my knowledge as an accountant. Aside from that I'm guessing people are going to want to advertise like mad, so there you have some more income. 

Now let’s not forget all the tourists coming to Africa, and not just for the soccer too, they’ll want to be seeing our lions and some of the other beauties in the Big Five.

Now with this entire party going on and the excitement everywhere, there’s still that one month you take out to be sad and have some moments because, the world might be descending on your homeland, but that doesn't stop the Tax-man from calling.

So how, Dear Comrade, could we ever believe your words of ‘running out of money’? σ_σ

-_- And so the war began, OUTA [Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance] was born to defend the people. 

For a little while they seemed to be doing something, of course this was before ANC officials were caught with the crumbs in their laps. But then, once the cookie jar tipped over completely and the names and connections were stringed together and as I said earlier the façade cracked.

My guess is that ego pushed our President, or whoever was consulting him, to do what he did. I don’t think too much thought was given to the timing, or if it was, then our politicians are starting to slip up about how much respect they're supposed to show they have for the people. 

I mean, we’re still paying for you •-•

So, it seemed that our president felt the cat was out the bag, so why wait and went ahead and signed the legislature that would allow that thing to go ahead and ‘officially’ carry on doing its thing. Turns out the day he did it, was allegedly the same day the appeal that all legislature is open to within a specific time limit, was being placed in court.

Really~ Mr President… of all days, that one?

Look, I think we've established over your term as 'number one' where your priorities lay, but was it really necessary to be so blatant about it?

I don’t know you or your agenda, but from the image your giving, I am pushed-dragged to believe that you really aren't taking this president thing serious any more and that… that won’t end well for anyone, especially with people who do things before thinking.

[*Disclaimer*This is what I'm assuming was said… @_@]

Positive News vs. Actual News

Yesterday I read of a conversation our dear President, Mr Jacob Zuma, had with some journalist students. He was reported to have complained about how fascinated he was with Mexico and how they didn’t have any negative news and that he was sad to return to South Africa and its constant negative media… σ_σ

This led to another article on how; due to our president’s ‘good-news philosophy’, certain things are being neglected, such as how crime statistics were given way after they were needed.

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-10-01-why-kenya-should-be-furious-with-sa/

Really Mr President…? Are you messing with us or is this for realz?

Look, I couldn’t give a stick of gum if the man can read or not [though it would help improve his fiduciary duties…] but so long as you’re running the country properly and shaping it for future generations […something I think you need some help with btw @_@] I can tolerate it. But if you are going to play ignorant to what is so blatantly obvious in Mexico and then try and implement the same thing over here. Then you need to take a long, secluded vacation… elsewhere, or maybe take some leave and go visit Mexico for a while. I am sure then you will learn that what you don’t know CAN kill you, more often than not.

Hey, I understand that it’s sad reading negative news almost all the time and wondering if anything good ever happens anymore. It’s partially why I stopped bothering with media for a long time.

But trying to enforce this ‘good-news philosophy’, where all that’s happening is you higher ups forcing journalists [some who don’t even take much convincing anymore -_-] and basically wiping all the crap under a rug and trying to distract anyone looking with all the pretty patterns lining the rug. 

Do you really think the people would stand for that? You honestly cannot tell me you have forgotten who it is that pays for all the sparkles and speed you VIPs like to ‘hide’?

It seems to me that all that was discovered in Mexico was how well to run a system so you don’t get caught and shut the complaining workers up. After all, they’re just the funding, there’s no need for their feelings and opinions •_•

I’m not saying positive news […the true stuff…] isn’t a bad thing. My day has been turned for the better more than once because of it, but the appreciation of positive cannot exist without knowing the extent of the negative.

Admittedly SA’s negative isn’t exactly one we should be proud of, but I don’t feel the government or its body are in a place to complain on that. Don’t complain about a stomach-ache and continue to eat the cake!

Point is, as negative as it’s going to be, we [The People] are owed the Actual news, it is ours to be given. Why? You might ask, simple. We pay for the running of a country, therefore we’d like the progress report, which just so happens to be the news [>>_>>well, the uncontrolled ones…<<_<<]. 

Denying us that progress report gives us the right to withhold funds.

Now you wouldn’t like that, would you?

Apparently, women can't drive σ_σ

So… apparently the medieval days have not left us yet. At least that’s what I’m getting from an article I read today.

http://za.news.yahoo.com/saudi-cleric-says-driving-hurts-womens-ovaries-125531390.html

Driving hurts women’s ovaries?  ◘_◘ this right here, someone needs to explain to me…

See, I didn’t take science/biology back in high school, dumb move on my part, but from basic knowledge and experience as a woman, I’m not seeing the connection between a car and the innards of the female body [unless of course we’re talking about the places many have regretted being 9 months later….].

Of course, once I was done reading the rest of the article, my filed-away promise to read up on this theory vanished. I mean, how could I take it seriously when it turns out that this ‘warning’ comes from a man who clearly just doesn’t want some female ban, that I’m surprised even exists, to be lifted?

‘Automatically affects the ovaries and pushes up the pelvis…’ 

Last I checked sir that was called sitting down. Pretty sure the same happens to you, except for the ovary thing. But hey I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time.

And playing the ‘It affects the children…’ card, that just screams to me that you are trying to influence the gullible and naïve, not to mention the poorly educated, as it seems you prefer ‘your’ beautiful woman to stay [funny though, considering they still outsmart you…]. I take offense here too, as I have been put into this category, on occasion >.<, of either being naïve or gullible. The only difference I seem to have, a privilege I wasn’t even aware of, was growing up in South Africa. 

Trying to impose such a ban, or any of the other outrageous restrictions you seem to have, on the women here is like asking for a reason to be humiliated and stripped of your manhood and rights as a living and breathing human being σ_σ

Then you just had to go and do it, didn’t you? You had to bring in some religious literature, the Quran and Sunna.

Now I’ve never read either, but I am very fascinated by the culture and no doubt will find time to acquire these books, but I will go on and assume it is the equivalent to the Bible, a book I know.

If memory serves, these brilliant texts where written thousands of years ago and unlike the laws of today, they cannot be amended just because someone feels like breaking a law or two, but not feeling too~ bad about it. 

On that note, unless archaeologists and historians are hiding some big secret, I don’t think any vehicles existed back then, so saying that those holy relics forbid the act of women driving…. Just no, go back to the rock you lived under when common sense was being freely given.

Look, I’m not saying ALL women should be on the road, but that’s more a logical-common-sense sort of problem. But both genders have their fair share of crappy drivers, women just tip the scale a bit more… okay maybe slightly more, but that doesn’t mean you pass the same judgement on the whole group. How the hell do you think racism and segregation started?