This week we watched a movie titled Unthinkable. It was about a terrorist who planted 3 bombs across the United States and wouldn't tell the authorities where he'd hidden them. They then assembled a team to try and get the truth out of him, the team included Samuel L Jackson and he specialized in torture. He spent days torturing the guy, chopping off his fingers and doing many unthinkable things to him. But the guy still wouldn't talk. They then brought in his wife, threatened to torture her too and still, the guy wouldn't talk. Then Samuel L Jackson murdered the wife in front of him, still he didn't tell them where he'd hidden the bombs. As a last resort they brought in his 2 kids, and put them in a room with the torturer, it was only at this point that he broke down and told them the location of the 3 bombs, and then they let the kids go. But just as the 3 were discovered, they realized there was possibly a 4th bomb, then the team leader suggested they bring the kids back in to get the guy to tell the truth. It was at this point that the lead female character stepped in and said No. As the other members of the team tried to justify that millions of lives would be lost if the bomb wasn't found, she stood her ground and said No. I think her words were "because we are human beings."
It was quite a difficult movie to watch, because as much as there were millions of peoples lives at stake, the team reached a point where their own morality was questioned. As much as it was clear that the terrorist was a bad guy, did that justify what they were doing to him? Was it okay to torment his family and murder his wife? Would they have been okay torturing his kids?
There's a number of reasons I started this post with a description of the movie, because it brought a couple of issues to the fore, and what our response to these issues says about our own humanity.
The first one is the recurring debate about whether or not Africans should care so much about global acts of terror (similar to the recent Orlando shooting) whilst on our continent various tragedies occur and no one even bats an eyelid, our stories don't make headlines and even when they do, the world doesn't seem to mourn or care as much (Facebook has never changed it's settings for the thousands of people who've died in the hands of Boko Haram).
The second one is closer to home, the issue of increasing incidents of overt racism in South Africa, from the notorious Penny Sparrow incident to the recent Vicki Momberg racist rant that was released by eNCA this week. As was expected, people were furious after watching the video, a lot of them expressed their anger on social media and various platforms. It got worse when people shared Vicki's phone number, home address and photograph, making threats to go to her house etc.
On both counts, these situations call for us to evaluate our own humanity. As a person who empathises with the cause of the LGBT community, I was deeply touched by the Orlando shooting, and as a result I wanted to share my condolences without feeling like I'm prioritizing Western suffering over the challenges faced by my own continent. I'm a human being, when human beings anywhere in the world are suffering (especially the innocent, who lose lives because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or socio-economic status), I am affected by it.
On the increasing racial incidents, I'm disturbed by how we constantly fuel the flames by getting angry, making threats and demanding that people go to the racists house and "show them". That's not who we are, and as much as it's not my place to tell people how to react, I think it would be wise to ask ourselves some important questions when we are faced with racists and other situations that would normally make us angry. Questions like: What does my reaction mean about my own values and my humanity? Should someone's ignorant racist rant ruin my day? Who wins if I now behave badly because of what they've said. A friend likes of mine likes to say: Don't wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty and the pig will like it.
It was quite a difficult movie to watch, because as much as there were millions of peoples lives at stake, the team reached a point where their own morality was questioned. As much as it was clear that the terrorist was a bad guy, did that justify what they were doing to him? Was it okay to torment his family and murder his wife? Would they have been okay torturing his kids?
There's a number of reasons I started this post with a description of the movie, because it brought a couple of issues to the fore, and what our response to these issues says about our own humanity.
The first one is the recurring debate about whether or not Africans should care so much about global acts of terror (similar to the recent Orlando shooting) whilst on our continent various tragedies occur and no one even bats an eyelid, our stories don't make headlines and even when they do, the world doesn't seem to mourn or care as much (Facebook has never changed it's settings for the thousands of people who've died in the hands of Boko Haram).
The second one is closer to home, the issue of increasing incidents of overt racism in South Africa, from the notorious Penny Sparrow incident to the recent Vicki Momberg racist rant that was released by eNCA this week. As was expected, people were furious after watching the video, a lot of them expressed their anger on social media and various platforms. It got worse when people shared Vicki's phone number, home address and photograph, making threats to go to her house etc.
On both counts, these situations call for us to evaluate our own humanity. As a person who empathises with the cause of the LGBT community, I was deeply touched by the Orlando shooting, and as a result I wanted to share my condolences without feeling like I'm prioritizing Western suffering over the challenges faced by my own continent. I'm a human being, when human beings anywhere in the world are suffering (especially the innocent, who lose lives because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or socio-economic status), I am affected by it.
On the increasing racial incidents, I'm disturbed by how we constantly fuel the flames by getting angry, making threats and demanding that people go to the racists house and "show them". That's not who we are, and as much as it's not my place to tell people how to react, I think it would be wise to ask ourselves some important questions when we are faced with racists and other situations that would normally make us angry. Questions like: What does my reaction mean about my own values and my humanity? Should someone's ignorant racist rant ruin my day? Who wins if I now behave badly because of what they've said. A friend likes of mine likes to say: Don't wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty and the pig will like it.
