Today we celebrate men who love their children. Men who protect their children and men who provide for their children. This is my way of honouring my father.
We all have fathers. Mine raised me well, teaching me many manly arts, being an example to me of what it means to be a man. He taught me to shoot, he taught me how to sharpen a knife, and he taught me the duty a father has to protect his wife and children. He shielded me from my mother's womanly overprotectiveness when she didn't want me playing rugby, and he was there to watch every match of every sport I played. He helped push me in a productive direction when I had none of my own, and he supported me when I tried different paths.
Now he is not only a father to many, but a grandfather to many as well. His grandchildren love him too, and I can see the joy in their eyes whenever they see him. With his children, and his children's children, he truly believes "for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
He did his best to protect his family, and he did his best to provide for his family. No more needs be said, for there is enough glory in this for any man.
Sunday 17 June 2018
Saturday 16 June 2018
Anarcho-tyranny in South Africa: Lights are going off
In South Africa, there were rolling black outs and planned load shedding on the electricity grid about a decade ago, because there was not enough capacity available in the system. That was a failing of government, both in its state-owned corporation Eskom and government proper, but it was incompetence.
Now there is once again load shedding, this time because protesting workers will not allow staff or supplies to enter certain of Eskom's power stations. This is not incompetence, it is anarcho-tyranny.
The workers are by law not allowed to strike - they are an essential service, to use the government's phrase. And yet, they strike without being arrested. Moreover, despite intimidation, hijacking and sabotage already being illegal, Eskom has felt it necessary to get a court interdict prohibiting the strikers from intimidation, hijacking and sabotage. This is the chaotic anarchy. The police, as part of the state which owns Eskom, are doing nothing to force these criminals to obey the law. That is more anarchy. I assume Eskom, as with most companies during strike season, have implemented a no-work-no-pay policy. But with protesters using intimidation against scabs, and blocking entrances, these scabs must either go without pay or use force of their own to get to work. And knowing the South African justice system as I do, I am sure anyone using force against criminals to go do the job they by law must do, would be prosecuted by this same state allowing the criminals free rein. This is tyranny.
The state currently sits in a lose-lose situation. If they allow the protests to continue, ordinary people will suffer from the load shedding and they will once more witness the powerlessness of the state to enforce order where it is required. If they break up the protests by force, the unintelligent and the communists (for such is what NUM and NUMSA consist of) will become more unruly and possibly violent, as will their poorer and less employed fellow travellers in the areas around the power stations. Either way, the state loses legitimacy.
How can the state escape this catch-22? I'm not sure they can. South Africa is a multicultural country, and it is not sustainable. The productive tribes want people to obey the law, broadly speaking, and be orderly and productive, as they themselves are. The unproductive tribes want to be given what they feel is their due, with no regard for where it comes from or who will provide it, beyond a vague magical notion that white monopoly capital has stolen it all and can just give it back.
These two classes of people cannot long sustain the fiction of unity. Multiculturalism has failed. This anarcho-tyrannical empire of tribes is not united, and must soon separate or collapse into chaos. The sooner the division happens, the less painful it will be. But empires are not in the habit of swiftly seeing reason, and so it must be forced by common people to do the right thing. Separate these nations. End the strife. And let each people live as they see fit.
Now there is once again load shedding, this time because protesting workers will not allow staff or supplies to enter certain of Eskom's power stations. This is not incompetence, it is anarcho-tyranny.
The workers are by law not allowed to strike - they are an essential service, to use the government's phrase. And yet, they strike without being arrested. Moreover, despite intimidation, hijacking and sabotage already being illegal, Eskom has felt it necessary to get a court interdict prohibiting the strikers from intimidation, hijacking and sabotage. This is the chaotic anarchy. The police, as part of the state which owns Eskom, are doing nothing to force these criminals to obey the law. That is more anarchy. I assume Eskom, as with most companies during strike season, have implemented a no-work-no-pay policy. But with protesters using intimidation against scabs, and blocking entrances, these scabs must either go without pay or use force of their own to get to work. And knowing the South African justice system as I do, I am sure anyone using force against criminals to go do the job they by law must do, would be prosecuted by this same state allowing the criminals free rein. This is tyranny.
The state currently sits in a lose-lose situation. If they allow the protests to continue, ordinary people will suffer from the load shedding and they will once more witness the powerlessness of the state to enforce order where it is required. If they break up the protests by force, the unintelligent and the communists (for such is what NUM and NUMSA consist of) will become more unruly and possibly violent, as will their poorer and less employed fellow travellers in the areas around the power stations. Either way, the state loses legitimacy.
How can the state escape this catch-22? I'm not sure they can. South Africa is a multicultural country, and it is not sustainable. The productive tribes want people to obey the law, broadly speaking, and be orderly and productive, as they themselves are. The unproductive tribes want to be given what they feel is their due, with no regard for where it comes from or who will provide it, beyond a vague magical notion that white monopoly capital has stolen it all and can just give it back.
These two classes of people cannot long sustain the fiction of unity. Multiculturalism has failed. This anarcho-tyrannical empire of tribes is not united, and must soon separate or collapse into chaos. The sooner the division happens, the less painful it will be. But empires are not in the habit of swiftly seeing reason, and so it must be forced by common people to do the right thing. Separate these nations. End the strife. And let each people live as they see fit.
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