We can shape SA into our own La La Land

La La Land is not merely a film title at the centre of Hollywood’s latest Oscar gaffe.

La La Land is like cloud cuckoo land, a fantasy world, a field of dreams, Peter Pan’s Neverland or Alice’s Wonderland. It denotes a place where the impossible can happen and reality is whatever you want it to be.

We tend to think of it as something far away, up in the clouds. Yet when we describe people as being from another planet or in a parallel universe, we mean to signify that their reality is different from ours.

All this may sound glib. Yet one of life’s most difficult tasks is to appreciate viewpoints which differ from our own. Some folk never seem to shed the narrow self-absorption of infancy.

Language is replete with idioms about the need to see other perspectives. Examples include the Native American expression, “Never criticise a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins”, and Robbie Burns’ “O wad some Power the giftie gie us, To see oursels as ithers see us”.

South Africa would be a better place if more of us could begin to comprehend, or at least tolerate views different from our own.

If you were guided solely by media and politicians, it would be easy to conclude that we are an intolerant society. Our parliament descends into chaos when intolerant opponents try to impose their views by using brute force and hateful language.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen a rise in xenophobia, with property being destroyed and protesters marching against foreigners.

Pleas for tolerance are widely ignored. People from other countries, especially African neighbours, are blamed for all manner of ills, including crime and jobs shortages. There is no proven factual basis for these accusations. Reason and truth are casualties when ideologies clash.

Intolerance reached new levels during last week’s disrupted meeting of the Johannesburg City Council. My personal reality bubble came close to being shattered by protesters throwing bricks and wielding metal poles, as they smashed their way into the lower level of the building.

When you are looking at an attacker while he hurls a dangerous projectile at the window between you, it can be difficult to stop and think what makes him tick. I fled.

Certainly transgressors are driven by a different reality. So, too, are the likes of new MP Brian Molefe and deposed Prasa acting CEO Collins Letsoalo. With their wrongdoings laid bare they still try to carry on as if nothing happened. What motivates them?

They are not alone in their brazenness. When the country’s number one citizen giggles after being found wanting by the Constitutional Court, he sets an example of impunity. In the mind of a Zupta, not only is it acceptable to plunder state resources. It is an obsession, to be pursued no matter what.

Yet brazen thieves and intolerant thugs who dominate headlines are a minority.

South Africa is not La La Land. Nor is it Zuptaland. It is our land. SA belongs to all who live in it black, white, or any colour. If enough of us want that reality, we can make it happen.

Imagine.

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