Virtual Rainbow Nation a spoof?
It is the nature of things that people with common interests will gravitate towards each other. In South Africa, the fundamental basis of those interests tends to be strongly rooted in one’s melanin count.
Fortunately so, (if you agreed with the implementation of Apartheid) and unfortunately (if actually reckon that the Rainbow Nation actually is not a fairytale).
True, this phenomenon is not really evident in primary school playgrounds, where even though they don’t look alike, the kids all speak with a Model-C accent. So they sound the same anyway.
Plus, you know it’s a problem when little Xolisa pronounces his own name Khow-lee-sa. The point is, kids see the person in the skin. But I digress.
When we grow up these differences become more noticeable. Cafeterias in schools and at tertiary institutions are sporadically clustered with the cool kids, the cheerleaders, the nerds – sorry, wait, wrong movie.
In South Africa it’s more like the Black kids, the White kids, the Asians, the Coloureds, and there’ll always be that one group that is demographically representational. Power to you.
The above situation closely mirrors the virtual communities present on the net. Even in this space, or maybe especially in this space, people migrate towards what interests them.
The internet is so user-friendly that one has the power to customise almost everything nowadays. You can even, after subscribing to a certain online publication’s RSS feed, then use a programme that creates your own electronic journal. Choosing only the news you want to read…this unhinges a can of issues that lie outside this post’s focus right now.
The liberal nature of the internet means anyone can say anything about anything. Yey for democracy, when it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s rights…right? Right.
Just recently, a Facebook Group ek laaik nie n houtkop nie sou what received prominent media coverage. The founders created it as a racism promoting medium, which claimed a significant number of members until the press got wind.
Then most members, including the founders - ran with tails in hiding. While the rest were chased out by the new admin guy. He decided to turn the space around, he kept the name, and turned it to an anti-racism campaign. The group now hosts 370 members.
But how can one be sure if a line has been crossed, Facebook hosts a number of groups that cater for specialised groups. Including popular ones like Im Proud TO be WHITE and You KNOW ur a TRULY South African DARKIE When… These are just the groups, there are also websites dedicated to special interest groups.
To keep within the confines of culture I’ll skip over the ones on yarn spinning, Hansie fan clubs and the ones protesting against South Park that I’m sure exist. Instead I’ll touch on the culturally specific websites - Die Knoop, Pro-Afrikaanse Aksiegroep Gespreskforum, and Bruin-ou.com. These are just some examples of networks and forums that aim to represent the views of niche collectives – particularly those of the Afrikaans speaking persuation.
I’m all for people finding and utilising spaces that make them comfortable, spaces that speak to who they are. I figure as long as it stays within good fun…why the hell not?
