Bullsh*t

Ok, so I’ve mentioned bulls before in this blog, but in a different capacity.

In this post, I want to reflect on the stuff that we normally refer to as bullsh*t, cr*p, horse-man*re, and the most eloquent one of them all (being South African) k*k. Ok, so you might wonder, why this fascination with bodily waste. Actually its not fecal matter per se, that I am referring to, but the atrocious way in which human beings behave sometimes, the things they say and the absolutely unacceptable way in which some people think. And the fact that many people believe they can get away with it, without being held accountable, is what makes it downright sh*tty.  

Bullsh*t exists in all aspects of our lives. Don’t get me wrong though. I think that human beings in general, are pretty ok creatures (I happen to be one, though not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination). But there are those types that are; selfish, inconsiderate, demeaning, racist, mean, unfeeling, pompous, delusional…geez, i could go on. And I’m not implying that I may not have some of these tendencies…(somebody please set me straight on this, if I do). But I think my parents raised me propah…err, I mean, properly : ) 

Of late I have been encountering folk that have made me want to break out into a fit of absolute rage. I see outrageous behaviour in my work space, sometimes in my social network, and often in the activist spaces I hang out in. I was raised to believe that people are not bad as such, it’s circumstances that make them bad, but I wonder if circumstances can be so bad, that they turn human beings into outright unprincipled, unethical, morally corrupt beasts. And geez, do they exist out there….not only by the bucketfull, but in swarms (notice the reference to bees, the kind that sting you).

There are people close to me, whose horror stories of how they have been treated recently, have made me livid. I myself have been a victim of corrupt and unethical behaviour…what one may politely refer to as being “scr*w*d over.”

I could relate these stories here, of what I and people I know have gone through, but I don’t want to repeat them, as they are so horrendous.

What does this all mean though? Is it a sign of the times ? Is it because we have as a society moved away from certain age-old value systems, and adopted high tech modes of existence, that we are losing our humanity (and at such a rapid pace).

Is it ok, for someone you have loved with all your heart, to one day just throw you away like a piece of crumpled candy wrapping? Is it ok to be disrespectful and demeaning to someone of a different race, religion, etc, just because you think you are better than them? Is it ok to use people, even those who are supposed to be your friends ? NO, most definitely not, but I see this happening all of the time. One of the most ugly faces of immoral behaviour was the xenophobic attacks we saw earlier this year in South Africa. How do we explain this, and make sense of it….frustrated and vulnerable people, turning on other vulnerable people? Does your own frustration give you enough justification to act horribly towards other people?

There is clearly a problem here, in our contemporary society, and I don’t know how we fix it, but something has to be done. What is reassuring though is that there are far more good and decent people than there are bad ones. Perhaps we need a groundswell of goodness, to overwhelm the evil that is out there. 

Ideas, anyone ?