In our previous article we looked at the 8 fundamental differences in culture and custom which distinguishes the South African black person from the White South African, but also from his ethnic counterpart in the US and Europe.
Those are, alas, not the only major differences which makes it utterly impossible to reconcile the ethnic groups in South Africa and which, by implication, is also the reason why the New South Africa with its much revered “Rainbow Nation”, which Mandela and De Klerk dreamt up, cannot last. It is doomed to failure, it doesn’t matter how long the ANC or the liberal media tries to prolong the date of its downfall.
One of the very main irreconcilables is the fact that South African Black person suffers from a huge lack in abstract thinking. The American philosopher and anthropologist, dr Gedaliah Braun, spent 30 years in Africa and came to the conclusion that this is one of the main reasons for the barrier that will forever exist between African and Western thought processes.
Language is a challenge to start off with. Before the arrival of Europeans in Africa, indigenous languages were sufficient to express everything the indigenous peoples, and the black Africans moving in from Central Africa in the 16th century, needed to express. Dr Braun tells of how students were surprised at her English dictionary.
In their opinion one should know all the words in your language and there should be no need for a dictionary. It is obvious that a language which is entirely oral exists only in the minds of the speakers. The overall size of such a language remains constant, while a written language grows far beyond the point the capacity of anyone to know it in its entirety. An oral language can accommodate only a certain number of concepts and therefore both the language and its thinking will be severely impoverished.
This invariably leads to standard Western meanings of words getting a completely different meaning in the African language and consequently the African custom. When a Westerner says: “I promise” it is an indication of binding oneself to a course of action. Totally different with the black man in South Africa. In Zulu, for example, the word for “promise” is “isithembiso” – which literally implies “maybe I will and maybe I won’t”
The same happens with the word : “Obligation”. This is a concept which morally binds you – an abstract concept. The black South African struggles with abstract concepts. He does not understand a moral binding. The Zulu word for “obligation” therefore translates to “As if to bind one’s feet.” An abstract concept must be made concrete and therefore loses its power of morality.
The black South African rarely keeps a promise and sees no need for apology when he breaks it.
In order to form a nation of national unity, there must be a very high level of trust and mutual understanding. It is impossible for a Western nation with a developed sense of morality and abstract thought processes to unite with a group who does not understand the moral concepts of “obligation” and “promise”. This is a fundamental difference, and therefore unity in the shape of the New South Africa can never be.
(Source: How Africans may differ from Westeners – dr Gedaliah Braun)
By Daniel Lötter (Front National)
South Africa Today – South Africa News
