On Sunday my girlfriend and I were racing back to Cape Town, hoping to make it in time to watch the final at the Grand Parade. Unfortunately our car broke down about an hour away, and we only made it back to town well after the fan park was closed.
I was absolutely fuming.
First there was the breakdown. Then the wait. Then we got stuck in traffic. And then we missed out on the fan park. And yet, the most infuriating part of the whole thing was that although I was positively brimming with anger, there was no one to be angry with. Despite all my swearing, short remarks, and the blind rage I was feeling inside, there was absolutely no one that I could take it out on. Sure I got very short with my girlfriend, and sat fuming while we waited for the tow truck, but despite my best efforts there was just no one I could blame effectively. I could have gotten pissed off at the car company, but really, who would I have called — and would the poor person I finally got through to really have been responsible for my breakdown? I could have fumed at my girlfriend (which I did), but she had done nothing besides trying to help. Finally I could have punched the car (which I did), but it didn’t respond.
I’m sure you know the feeling. It’s like when you really hit your head on a kitchen cupboard and you take it out on your son for laughing. Now the question is, in that situation, are you taking it out on Johnny because you really are angry at him for having laughed? Or is that just more of an excuse, a reason to be angry with someone, where otherwise there would have been no one? In other words, is your anger at Johnny a legitimate anger, or is he just a surrogate — a substitute for the real cause of your anger, even if no “real” cause exists (for who can really be held responsible for you hitting your head, or for the car breaking down?).
It’s an interesting question because I think it tells us something important about the nature of anger, and how we tend to deal with it. Take for instance the whole idea of how anger is something that one “takes out” on someone or something. It implies that anger is experienced “inside”, and that it is released in some way through its externalisation. Obviously this venting can be achieved in many ways — shouting at someone, punching something or kicking the dog for example — but it seems to me that it is most effective when we believe that our angered response is reasonable or justifiable, and not just a random outburst at a (relatively) innocent bystander.
To return to my breakdown example, while I could vent at my girlfriend, or get short with those trying to help, none of this made me feel better because I knew that being angry at them was unjustified. If our breakdown had been caused by someone crashing into us, then perhaps my anger could have been directed at a plausible cause, and some form of catharsis would have been possible. As such it would seem that anger and frustration are most effectively released when we believe that our venting is being directed at the actual cause of our anger. It’s the because part which is most important: without a belief in the legitimacy of our outburst, our anger can’t be assuaged.
So where am I going with this? We’ll let’s use it to look at the phenomenon of xenophobic violence, for example. It seems plausible to me that those living in townships have many reasons to be angry. Unemployment rates don’t seem to have changed much, and despite promises for housing, and better education etc, many simply feel that life just hasn’t got any better. Add to this the recent recession and the relative wealth of those beautiful people of the World Cup, and it’s no wonder that people are feeling more than a little resentful — but who to blame? The government in their blue-light parade? Or is it the education system perhaps? The problem with both of these is that they are too far removed from the immediacy of the problem, they aren’t on hand at the moment when frustration, resentment and anger levels peak.
But foreigners are.
And as rumours start to spread that we are jobless because foreigners have taken all the jobs, then violence against them starts to feel increasingly justified — after all, they’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place. It’s a logic that emerges out of helplessness, and in the absence of an entity which can be held truly accountable. And the problem is compounded in this case because it’s unlikely that the source of frustration and anger will disappear, even if all the foreigners were to leave. Chronic underdevelopment would remain, and in the face of an unaccountable and unresponsive government, a new set of scapegoats would be found. The logic of this violence is such that stopping the persecution of foreigners wouldn’t remove what drives the violence. It’s a symptom of an underlying condition, and xenophobia is simply a convenient name that in this instance does more to conceal the roots of anger and violence, than it does to explain them.
And so what are you going to do? It is past time for us all to assist the government instead of expecting handouts. We have the ability to change things and create jobs not the government. I am already doing something with the SOUL Foundation’s WET-Africa initiative and the government will be part of it. We are capable of empowering our fellow human beings.
Yes, it is always easy to blame someone else when things go wrong and claim ownership when things go right.
The ANC is happy to pronounce how it was responsible for spearheading a successful WC and tap every last bit of political capital out of it.
Yet on many of these issues in the past the ANC claimed it was not responsible and blamed the private sector, media, economy, community leaders etc. for failures.
It appears that many South Africans have become so dependent on the state and bought into welfare/developmental rhetoric that they cannot do anything for themselves.
You correctly contrast this to foreigners that cannot rely on the state and have to do things for themselves.
But this applies across the board.
All those South African youngsters that go to London are prepared to do jobs that they would not normally be willing to do in SA. (Ok , a lot go as a “gap” year rather than for professional reasons).
Personally, I think the “foreigners” are a good thing and we should do more do get them into the official economy (legal work permits etc).
Let them start the small business, teach in rural areas, transfer professional skills and deliver services that local want delivered and that there are markets for.
At the same time government should realise that the informal economy exists because there is a market for it. It should also realise foreigner exploit this gap because they don’t have “legal constraints” (of course not everyone is illegally in the country) and also those employing them don’t have to adhere to inflexible labor policies.
Government should make it easier for locals to formally start a business and employ people. It should drop the nonsense of “minimum wages”, “decent jobs” and other labor policies that do nothing to uplift the poor and only protect organised labor.
Let people work/employ people for less if they are willing to do so. You have a better chance being formally employed (skills transfer, experience, better opportunities, etc) than being jobless because you cannot qualify for a “decent job” or because bureaucratic red tape makes it unfordable (time/costs) to start a business.
If government is really concerned about the influx of illegal foreigners it should do more to resolve conflict on the continent and adopt a stronger diplomatic approach. The reality is SA will be a magnet for foreigners as long as the continent remains under developed and undemocratic.
Anger is ALWAYS a choice. One could channel that energy in another direction.
A good article.
To label poor people who are feeling the heat as ‘criminals’ is the epitome of hypocrisy, especially coming from kleptocrats who are openly looting the state of taxpayers money. One can anticipate who will form the Nomvula’s team to further line up their pockets by invstigating what everyone knows already.
Bang on the mark, Mike. The post-94 generation have grown up, and will continue to grow, in a society without a clear, present and unambiguous oppressor/foe, but a multitude of reasons to be fuming mad. Foreigners make for an easy target for our national rage, but as you rightly note, if they all left tomorrow we’d still be left in a righteous mess and the masses would find another target for their broad frustrations.
And yet, this is not to say that our massive population of non-south africans has not complicated immensely our problems with crime, housing, service delivery etc., and communities are surely justified in expecting government to attend to south african citizens first and foremost.
To continue with the breakdown analogy, it is sorely tempting to kick the car to pieces, but you’ll only hurt your toe. The lousy mechanic who did a half-arse job on your last service deserves the major share of your anger, but his shop closed down a long time ago (pre-’94) and the best we can do is swallow our fury, and work patiently with another mechanic to get the motor up and running again.
Thought-provoking. It of course brings up a question that to me seems quite obvious. Are we as white South Africans benefiting from the this ‘anger release’ toward (mainly) black foreigners? If the foreigners were not here, would we not then become a convenient, and logical target for anger-release? After all, we can very easily, and not completely incorrectly be seen as the root cause of many of todays economic, educational and social inequities.
Of course this article also clearly points out the fact that there is still, in spite of 14 years of democracy, the TRC, and even BEE, a deep, dark and very hot core of anger in the gut of many of our fellow-South Africans. It points to the fact that justice and change must not only be done, they must be seen and felt to have been done. Justice and change are emotional as much, if not more so than they are logical or practical.
The ‘band-aids’ that are currently being slapped on the gaping wounds in our society are just not cutting it. True change and justice for South Africa’s underprivileged are long overdue. The government needs to realise that ‘games and bread’, the old Roman answer to this same problem, didn’t work then, and won’t work now. The answers do not lie in hosting the World Cup, or the Olympics, but in true, grassroots changes that make a tangible difference in the lives of the underprivileged and disempowered.
I think you are overlooking the fact that “anger” is the wrong response. In common parlance, you need to “get over it” and move on to a solution, not vent your frustration in an illogical lashing out. If we are taught to seek solutions instead of being taught to confront problems, our girlfriends will see us as towers of strength in a crisis!
The ‘blame it on anyone but me’ syndrome is common in post apartheid South Africa. In recent visits to Kenya and Nigeria my offers of corporate help as a skilled white man have been gratefully received and used. No-one asked me my race or my nationality or whether I was BEE or AA compliant, they were just grateful for the application of skills they did not have. Not so in SA. Our laws have made everyone ask your race, your nationality and whether you are BEE compliant, and if you are not, then be gone with you. And Somalis and Zimbabweans and other nationalities must be gone. We call it Xenophibia, actually it’s our legislation.
Fully bro, I think you have hit the nail on the head. What’s even worse is when you are REALLY angry, with no justifiable outlet/target for your rage, and someone points this out y’know? Like someone says “What are you getting angry for, it’s no-ones fault.” That’s the difficulty, trying to communicate to the poorest people, the people who are really feeling it, that their anger is misdirected. Nobody in a rage wants to hear that they are wrong, y’know? That’s why the government gets away with poor service delivery, because they don’t have to face the danger of a petrol bath and a match.
@ Judith,
I agree with you completely; its time that we started doing things for ourselves instead of always relying on govt. But I also think its a lot think like that when one already has a house, decent education, etc… Though, again, the problem with that argument is that it diminishes the agency that people have, reducing them to helpless victims of circumstances that are completely beyond their control. so now that I’ve talked myself in circles…
Yeah, we need to make an effort to do things for ourselves, but also understand that for some this a lot harder than for others. I guess speaking out on what the real problems are, is a good start. At the very least it may help people realise that targeting foreigners is not the answer.
An excellent analogy of your experience and the notion of anger. great blog
You are quite right that one of the signs of emotional maturity is getting over the idea that anger has to be directed at others, and that one needs someone ‘to be angry with’. As Truman said: “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first. “
I really like the neat structure of your theory. It’s so step by step, and clear.
But what about situations where the link is not as tenuous as the one you describe in xenophobia. What about situations where there is someone who is clearly responsible for your anger?
For example, I go to a job interview. I don’t get the job because of say, my gender, my race or my sexuality. The person I can very clearly be angry at is the person interviewing me. If I am angry with that person, is the anatomy any different?
Or is anger just not ever a useful feeling, or one that can help us to feel better?
@Mike & commentators thanks for an insightful blog and comments, for example Robin
Bownes’ incisive comment re anger release & the just society. It seems more and more people are becoming less positional and more honest about ‘our’ society and ‘our’ own roles in it. How refreshing, that ‘us’ and ‘them’ stuff is getting stale – we are in this together.
Great piece, Mike! Anger is so destructive – all that negative energy. That said, it’s a human emotion that will probably never go away. Perhaps we all need a punchbag hanging in the garage, upon which we can vent and get it all out without hurting anyone.
Mike, it is straight forward who was at fault – you – for under-maintaining your car and probably being cheap.
By spewing with your girlfriend you show yourself as a future high-risk case to support children etc.
Thanks for an excellent application of the phenomenon of “scapegoating” within our South African context.
As you mention the foreigners are available, they’re vulnerable and in a one down position compared to the members of the communities around them. Indeed if they weren’t there other scapegoats would be found.
The “underlying condition” that you mention seems to be the unaccountable system of governance that people in these areas find themselves in…We need to make govenment more accountable and accessible.
Mike, nice clear analysis of the process. The other side of the story, which seems to be overlooked: are we helping those who get angry at the wrong people for the wrong reasons because of wrong laws by our understanding them? Does it not strengthen their justification for taking the actions they take against innocent people? I chatted to a person from Limpopo this morning whose utter bewilderment at being threatened “by my own people” would have been comical if it wasn’t..well..justified. WTF! he is in the wrong province and so he “justifiably” becomes the recipient of xenophobic violence? Good grief! Is it not time to discuss the culpability of venting anger at anyone, least of all the wrong people, destroying property, hard-earned new lifes, and show by our total rejection of such actions that we cannot tolerate this?
As a possible solution to this un-ubuntu sickness called xenophobia, why do we not push for legislation that will arrest with zero-tolerance and immediately deport, any person found guilty of this shamefull act, to Zimbabwe, where, I am sure, Uncle Bob would be willing to give them a job as veterans, and where they could perhaps learn to understand why people leave their country in search of a better life.
@Jennifer – yes, there are parallels, you would be getting angry at someone who is already angry because he/she is abiding by a racism-promoting law that should never have been tolerated in the first place.
@Rod of Sydney, a waste of comment space as always. What Mike is illustrating goes way beyond this instance, so perhaps try and take of your criticism blinkers and see the bigger picture for a while.
Rod of Sydney, are there no Australian blogs you can instead bestow your non-wisdom upon? Good grief I can’t remember one comment of yours that didn’t leave me with a frowning, shaking head.
My comment was just that Mike could introspect his own immaturity only as far as critising others – as usual in his self-righteous sneery know it all way. But when it came to a small little frustration which in the big picture of world’s problems, doesn’t register a beat – he throws a tantrum… The same person who continually critises “average Joe” who lives in the economic reality of paying bills and keeping their head above water.
“Racing back”, over-reaction to a little thing.
The economic system is slow to change for good reason – people have to carry on living day-to-day with reasons for being non green or “perfect idealistically” that are a lot bigger than missing some arb event.
Both Mike and Jennifer Thorpe write well with some good points but are inclined to point fingers naively at older people with responsibilities who have to take pragmatic decisions. Similar to satire, I see it as my duty to deflate these egos who have the power platform….
@Poetician: keeping shaking,
until you’re awaking.
or does your head
like only what the peers said?
@ Rod of Sydney
It ironic you speak of egos. You clearly over estimate the value of anything you’ve ever commented. Your over defensive, underwhelming quips fall far short of anything remotely like satire.
Sadly once again, you’ve missed the point of the blog. All I’d hoped to do was to use a personal example to make a bigger point on the logic of Xenophobic violence.
If anything the blog was self-depreciating, and at least I had the courage to look back at my anger and interrogate it. You’d do well to do the same.
@Rod of Sydney – I was not going to bother and, as usual, cursed myself for actually reading your post but, “missing some arb event”???…! This is the WC you are talking about, in South Africa?
You can perhaps be forgiven, being an expat, for not knowing the impact (-/+) this particular event had on South Africans, whether they support soccer or not, but to fail to see that instead of being “self-righteous” or “sneery” or “know-it-all” Mike gave a fresh viewpoint to a problem (xenophobia) that is becoming life threatening to many from the perspective of an everyday, normal occurence(missing an important date), something everyone in South Africa can relate to these days. It would have been everything you say if, for instance, he claimed to have been similarly stuck on the airport, jetting in from Ausie, and then the analogy would have been lost since he could be angry at someone, justifiably so. Keep up with us South Africans would you?