I agree with the non-ex-South Africans who have not yet ascended to a higher plane. First, aseptic, stagnant, socially moribund Europe (where I presume our enlightened pundit is dropping pearls of wisdom on us from) is not all it's cracked up to be. I will not roll statistics (you can always spot a sot - the more statistics quoted, the more profound the sottishness), but Europe has its own minorities, getting bigger; plus, it's just a matter of time before there are more terrorist attacks. Europe is doing down man - get out before it's too late!
Further, their (Europeans') conceit is based solely on their wealth (much of which was historically made thro the rape & plunder of Africa), the supposed proof that they've "got it together" - but that is coming crashing down now. To hearten all the South Africans reading this newsgroup, & to confound the loud-mouth on the other side, an interesting article: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20081122084550356C569068 To close, a word from a great S African Statesman, Jan Smuts: "It is the history of this country that inclines us to optimism. South Africa has passed through dark and difficult passages in her history: more than once she has stood face to face with stark disaster. For generations she has been tried and tested as perhaps no other young country of our day has been tested, but a kind of Providence has never quite forsaken her. Here we have seen how in a nation’s story good comes out of evil; how goodwill in the end smooths out the tangles and mistakes; how an era of construction follows the destruction and the bitter struggles of races and of war. It is this experience that has given us faith in human nature, and makes us believe that whatever the future may bring, we shall not utterly fail. History, sunshine, religion, all combine to make South Africans optimists on the whole." To A Stuit - keep your sodden, cloudy lump of earth. However, to the others who have suggested this person should be banned, I totally disagree: debate is good, & however self-satisfied or self- congratulatory a person is, so long as there is no personal aggression, vulgarity, no commercialism, etc., we would be destroying the integrity of the group were we not to allow everyone to voice their opinion. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to obsnw@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---