'Jokes about White Genocide Are Funny: joking about gang-rapes is not' http://www.praag.co.za/index.php/nuus-magazine-402/afrikaanse-nuus-magazine-401/13825-volksmoord-grappe-is-snaaks-verkragting-grappe-nie.html
Thursday, July 18 2013 - Dr Dan Roodt of the Pro-Afrikaans Action group has slammed the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa for providing a public platform to its writer Sarah Britten to 'justify her own participation in the incitement of white genocide' in the social media'.
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He compares this with the action taken against Max Barashenkov and Montle Moorosi of the 'man's magazine' FHM, who were suspended by editor Brendan Cooper after 'joking on their facebook pages about corrective rape of lesbians'.
FHM editor Brendan Cooper said they are 'shocked about the exceedingly offensive remarks by two workers on their private facebook profiles.
The remarks were placed by article-editor Max Barashenkov and editorial assistant Montle Moorosi - two weeks after the corrective gang-rape and murder of a lesbian woman in Thokoza, Duduzile Zozo.
Meanwhile the Mail and Guardian's writer Sarah Britten said the 'jokes about the white genocide in South Africa are not problematic - they are clearly just jokes', writing:
"So today, I am going to explain why I thought it was appropriate to tweet about #whitegenocide a few weeks ago — but why I thought the jokes about corrective rape by two FHM writers weren't funny, and got them into trouble for good reason.
"First, a bit of background. The #whitegenocide hashtag came about after Siyanda Mohutsiwa started tweeting about what she planned to do when blacks rose up against the whites after the death of Nelson Mandela.
Here's a good example: Attention black SA: this is a time to get a driver's license. Don't worry. After #whitegenocide you can have any car you want. [Siyanda-Panda from: SiyandaWrites]
"It was provocative and subversive. I felt somewhat disconcerted. What did I do? I joined in."
Here's why:
"1. The hashtag was clearly tongue in cheek, and it was being used by a self-described agent provocateur who has a track record of challenging preconceived ideas, both in her Thought Leader blog and on Twitter.
"2. The mockery was not of actual murder (which is not funny), but the long-standing conspiracy theory that blacks would rise up against whites the moment Madiba dies. This is a ridiculous and stupid belief no matter how sincerely you hold it, and mocking it is a way of marking a distinction between what we accept as a commonly held belief, and what we do not.
"3. I felt that the conspiracy theory was in itself offensively racist, so should be mocked in order to make my views on it clear. Addressing fears that many might feel afraid to express was a way to bring them into the open into a way that was healthier than discussing them around the braai.
"4. If whites did not join in, then it would become and us vs them situation. Whites attend the Blacks Only comedy shows and laugh at David Kau's jokes, so why shouldn't they participate in a hashtag that mocks them?
"5. Genocide, used in its correct historical context (as in the Holocaust, Armenia and Rwanda) is not funny at all. But claims of genocide where they are not justified debase the term and the gravity of what it means. The former secretary-general of Medecins Sans Frontieres, Alain Destexhe, has said that the word genocide has fallen victim to "a sort of verbal inflation, in much the same way as happened with the word fascist".
"Most of those who participated used the opportunity to demonstrate how completely unfounded fears of a "white genocide" are."... END QUOTE
Dr Dan Roodt of PRAAG, the pro-Afrikaans Action Group, writes: "the Mail and Guardian thus has offered Ms Britten the opportunity to justify the genocide - after she herself had participated actively in the incitement of the genocide'.
http://www.praag.co.za/index.php/nuus-magazine-402/afrikaanse-nuus-magazine-401/13825-volksmoord-grappe-is-snaaks-verkragting-grappe-nie.html
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