Having a RaceCardTM neatly tucked into your wallet, ready to be despatched at a moment’s notice, makes you a card-carrying … what?
A bit of a spanner, maybe?
Yeah, someone’s finally done it. There’s a RaceCardTM now, complete with choice of colours and neat little boxes to tick.
The idea is that you wave it at your assailants when in a tight spot, an obvious but clever dig at the flying circus running this country and the ruling party. “Used By Politicians”, the site declares.
The idea was apparently birthed by Gareth Cliff, as a satirical joke against the culture of accountability-dodging that seems to be the one common thing among all South African politicians. It’s grumpy, it’s grim acceptance, it’s cynicism. It’s a small up-yours to the powers that be. It’s an incredibly white joke (no one flash a RaceCardTM at me), and is thus supposedly ironic. No black person is going to carry a RaceCardTM around, trust me. Not even the starkest of coconuts, with the poshest of accents, would be that obdurate.
I was reminded of the words of fellow Thought Leader blogger David James Smith when I first came across racecard.co.za. He said: “Irony is a weird thing. Because the irony of irony is that the last laugh is always on you. The ironic T-shirt that no one gets, the Poison album you play in your car, the B-grade horror movies that line your DVD shelf and the mullet haircut you paid a fortune for. At some point you realise they are not funny, they are just crap. And you may have been better off doing things because you genuinely like them rather than for the sake of some elaborate ironic joke. A joke you thought you were making at the expense of the world. But oh the irony, it turns out it’s on you.”
Do you see my problem with this joke? Name me one other situation, aside from an ANCYL press conference, where you could safely deploy the RaceCardTM and not look like a complete knob. It pokes away at what is still a raw nerve for many without really getting its message across. Notice how black people are sheepishly labelled “Africans” on the card?
I don’t see Julius Malema getting this one. If he does get it, he’ll take enormous umbrage and get Floyd to write an angrily-worded letter, making off-colour suggestions about your ancestry and general state of mind. At worst, Zuma’s goons might want a word.
It’s a good joke, as jokes borne of frustration, irascibility and outrage go, but the intended target will completely miss the humour.
What’s worse, pulling this joke won’t make you look clever. For all your efforts, you’ll simply establish yourself as a certified tool.
yejaundicedeye@gmail.com
They’re a terrible disappointment anyway. No snide in-jokes that ‘the other’ wouldn’t get. No representing cartoon politicians on them. The only really funny bit was the curious tasty pink of the whitefolks’ one. But without a ‘there’s hummus on my keyboard’ or even a picture of Zillekins, it was still flatter than the two of diamonds. Yawn. If you’re going to do it, do it right.
Totally agreed.
And the David Smith quote is spot on.
… and what on earth is an “honorary white”? Do you get “honorary black” too?
Well it is vaguely more thought-provoking than some of the other material that emanates from more mainstream Afrikaner comedians. Indeed, I am sure for the average Afrikaner this is the height of wit and satire as “the joke” does not rely on slapstick or some confused attempt at a pun.
I flash a card that reads “this white guy is married to a black woman and have two coloured children. Can I have a piece of BEE, for my childrens sake at least. PLEASE”
Dude I am confused. Why is this a “white joke?” It’s social commentary. It’s not real. They are saying that everyone, everyone in South Africa resorts to the race excuse rather than being proactive and going to the source of the problem, or trying to solve things. People of all colours do it in SA all the time. I don’t understand why you are upset by this, because it’s true!
The people who use the race excuse will not appreciate the joke, you are right, but that’s kind of the point.
I think you just pulled a race card on the race cards. Now that is true irony!
Also the reason the word “African” is used instead of black, is because the cards are referring to the old Apartheid system of race labelling, to try and show how ironic it is that we are still so obsessed with race labels today.
yes I agree. Not to mention the waste of paper, cardboard, ink, time and money for those people who actually went out and printed the damn things.
Also they must have paid for the internet domain, hosting and web development LOL!
Sipho
Soccer referees carry 2 cards – a yellow card for less serious offences and a Red card for more serious offences (“straight Red”)or for two Yellow cards issued against the same player in a match.
Perahps we need a Yellow card for the “Culture card” and a Red card for the “race card”.
I kind of like the culture card – I come from Scandinavian stock, so if I were to steal, embezzle, or to have my way with a less than willing wench, I could always pull out the culture card and say “hey – have you never heard or Rape, pillage and plunder?” (Apologies to my ancestors, who, in reality, and contrary to popular myth did very little raping, pillaging or plundering.
Not that I blame them – after 15 or so days across the North Sea in an open long boat, most of them must have been too knackered to get out of the boat, let alone anything else1)
Every time I come to thoughtleader for some leading thoughts, I’m reminded within three sentences of reading why I really find it so dour.
@John Everyman – Hey, that is nasty and incorrect since the last time I checked Gareth Cliff was a Britisher.
@Laura
“and what on earth is an “honorary white”? Do you get “honorary black” too?”
During apartheid an “honorary white” was usually an Asian (Chinese, Japanese…) or some person of color with an international passport that the apartheid government gave special white privileges to in order to prevent embarrassment and to propagate the acceptability of their evil ideas. Just shows what hypocrites they were.
There is no such thing as an “honorary black”, however, the financial and political muscle of the Chinese government were successful in recently arm twisting the ANC to allow Chinese to classified as black primarily to obtain BEE privileges.
So the Chinese have proven that you can have your cake and eat it.
SA is an odd place & TL it seems, even more. A racist shock jock confirms the colour he’s nailed to the (denialist) mast. While the rest of us shrug off the ‘rancid’ attempt at humour, you feel the need to warn Gareth his joke won’t be funny applied anywhere other than the youth league. So by your calculation the ANCYL are the only blacks deserving of this contempt from the likes of Gareth.
Well, today Malema and Shivambu tommorow, cravat wearing blacks my friend..
@Po,
I say this is a white joke because it relies on satire and sarcasm to get it’s point across, something that is non-existent in black (or perhaps I should speak for the Zulu tongue, which I am most familiar with) lexicon. Zulu humour does not contain satire, irony or the vagaries thereof.
If you were to pull this joke on a Zulu person, they’d take it literally, in other words, thinking you’re labelling yourself as a racist. Which kind of ISN’T the point.
Andrew: there is no printing. It’s a joke!
@Po – well put!
@ Laura: I thought the ‘honorary white’ was funny and apt. It is this phenomenon that allows for stereotyped beliefs about the ‘other’ to continue, despite meeting people from that group who don’t fit the stereotypes.
Here’s some imaginary dialogue from old SA:
Peter: “I really like Constance, she is so diligent, and honest and funny.”
Louise: “That’s right. She’s not like other Blacks at all … she’s more like one of us …”
Peter nods, and they both take another sip of G&T and continue looking out over the manicured lawn.
So, whenever you meet or hear about a person who doesn’t fit your stereotypes, you dismiss them as ‘non-representative’ of their group.
Voila. The rest is history, as they say.
what immediatly took drew attention was that they were too politically correct
It’s interesting how the comments are influenced by the opinion of the writer, the original article on the RaceCards was positive therefore comments more positive.. Seems the majority of people just need to find something to agree on…
Sipho, to my dismay I think you have firmly established yourself as one of the “intended targets” who has completely missed the humour.
The presence of the site itself, complete with card-creating features, is the point.
I don’t think that it is expected that anyone will seriously walk around carrying them, except to extend the joke even further..
For someone who “enjoys political satire”, you’ve missed the point completely.
It’s the brainchild of Garth Cliff you say? Suppose ’nuff said.
Sipho I am glad you are cuming up with these articles- true this is a white joke.Satire and sarcasm are imported concepts among black.Indeed a lot of things taken for granted her do not apply to the majority of voters in SA. which makes this forum a “caffe latte” society- an ivory tower from which emenates meaningless noise.You Sipho obviously recognises this and must be aware a lot of people take themselves seriously here and actually belive that what they say reaches a meaningful numbers of black people.
I sometimes sit back and imagine some of the people here churning away loads of stuff correct spelings and all. They dont realise their domestic effectively neutralises their votes no matter how much they try to influence them.
Sipho, what a preposterous suggestion that Zulus don’t get irony.
I have worked, over many years, with about 100 nationalities (including South Africans) and people who between them speak, at a guess, probably 150 languages (including Zulu).
They all get irony. Humans get irony. Everywhere. It is a universal language. You just need to know how to access it for a particular audience.
If you, as a Zulu, claim to non-Zulus that Zulus don’t get irony, then you’re presumably just trying to play a little game of cultural one-upmanship.
It’s like South Africans claiming that South Africans don’t get irony. (Except for the ever-so-clever speaker of course.) South Africans most certainly do get irony.
Sipho, ok I see your point but I think the irony is in the situation rather than the people who have made the “race cards” are creating an ironic joke. The inrony is there in that South Africans use the old Apartheid race cateogries all the time. Whether you choose to see the irony or not is another story. But ironically (oops!) the person who showed me these race cards first on Facebook is black, and he definitely saw the irony in the joke!
re: honorary Whites: During the latter days of apartheid/the cold war the NP forged trade and defence alliances with several nations that were not previously considered ‘white’ or ‘friendly’ nations. Israel, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan were the most notable. The Asiatic nations were granted honorary white status and their nationals were allowed to live in white areas and send their kids to white schools as early as 1988.
North Koreans and mainland Chinese (communists) although ethnically no different from South Koreans and Taiwanese respectively were denied such “honorary status”. This is why the Chinese are now considered honorary black, as they were pretty much considered agents of the ‘rooigevaar’ under PW Botha’s regime. It has nothing to do with China ‘strongarming’ the SA government (although I will concede it could be a move to improve relations with China, given the Mbeki administrations open fawning on that country), and Chinese South African community spearheaded the movement to be included in BEE categories based on this situation.
What this means is that a Chinese national, natuaralised before 1995 can have greater access to job opportunities in South Africa than white people were born here and who’s families may have been here for hundreds of years. Unfair, much? Whatever happened to ‘Africa for Africans’?
@Hugh Robinson,
I agree with you. The joke is too self-conscious, too politically correct. It supposedly harkens back to the apartheid era by mentioning “Honorary Whites”, but then negates that effect by bashfully referring to Africans, instead of “blacks”, as was the practice back then.
Satire should never be blunted, in my opinion.
What if I pulled a race card for my race card (and then another one for that, ad infinitum)?
“Name me one other situation, aside from an ANCYL press conference, where you could safely deploy the RaceCard”.
Well, the eminent, bibulous Judge Nkola Motata played that dog eared ol’ race card for what it’s worth. He was positively venomous with it. And then of course there was the rugby ‘victim’ Ziningi Shibambo who made wild and fanciful accusations, but even with 10k rondt dangled as a carrot, she never could dig up any alleged culprits.
Truth is, if you’re looking for sympathy, or a scapegoat, as a black South African you can always rely on those pesky whites to blame. Everyone falls for it. Ask Ziningi!
@Crocky-Wock what abou moaning and wingding card
I love funny things. Humour is the medicine that makes the shit stuff go down. The problem with these race cards is they are played too straight. They are far too obvious. The humour is lazy. They really should have found ways to push them. To put them into a space that made us think a little more. So that’s kinda why i don’t dig them. They are a badly told joke.
Morally, I’m not fussed, they are not particularly offensive and don’t really hurt anyone. They are just bland. To quote Sipho H: The joke is too self-conscious, too politically correct.
And the person who said Afrikaners don’t get humour or irony or some shit, what rubbish! Three links below. Each one is steeped in irony and humour.
robbie wessels – liewe ouers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQVa3isBt8Y
robbie wessels – bokkoors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdYu9glU6Lc
jack parow – cooler as ekke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRzFqW4Xh2k
@Sipho
Is there a word for sarcasm and one for satire in Pedi?
Sorry Sipho, but on this one, I think you misunderstood the intention of the joke. I have to agree with @po
haiwa tigere, “domestic”? What domestic. I sent her packing a long time ago, as a show of my support for the new SA. And I must say I do not miss her one bit.
Sipho: An interesting article, touching on some memorable historical oxymorons of “Old South Africa’s” twisted thinking.
@ Laura: Your disbelief implied in your question proves the point above! [You are probably much younger]. The explanation by CALLIOPE and DAVE HARRIS is right on. However, CROCK-WOCK is in error as to the timing [1988/1995] of the origin and application of this syllogism. The correct period was the early 1960s and the privilege of “Honorary White” was first negotiated by the then Japanese Ambassador [whose daughter I went to Oxford with and became very close friends]. The Chinese and other nationalities, including Malawians, were added later as S.A. made diplomatic forays to these countries as crock-wock rightly points out. It all had to do with privileged association then, and as the Chinese case shows now, with economic opportunities, e.g. BEE.
@ Joe: Thanks for pointing that out. I knew the nationalists had tried to have the Japanese removed from the Union of SA’s list of banned immigrants as early as 1930, but Jan Smuts opposed this move as he thought it would ‘open the door the the Koreans and the Chinese’. I had no idea that they were allowed to live as white people in SA from 1960.
@Phila: What is a wingding? If you want to debate with me, please use real words if you expect a real reply.
Dear X Cepting
I wasn’t saying that the joke was compiled by an Afrikaner but was merely saying that it was better than the de-politicized slapstick humour that so often seems to flood our media. I don’t mind a little bit of political incorrect humour as long as move beyond a “guy sitting on a chicken” being regarded as the height of mainstream South African humour.
Goeie bliksem. This is a perfectly light-hearted, funny and informative piece of writing, why the hell is everyone taking it so seriously!!?
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-23-bmf-calls-for-lifestyle-audits-mask-racist-narrative
As if on cue, more ‘race-baiting’ comes forth. That tatty olld race card is played for all it’s worth, by all and sundry (well, ANC voters largely) in The New (yet hopelessly unimproved) South Africa.
Sipho, do you understand humour and irony. Clearly not, no one is going to physically have a racecard printed out and in their pocket. It’s a joke! But let me explain. This is a commentary on our society , where our members( expecially current politicians), use the racecard on a frequent basis. Do you agree? It happens everywhere. Perhaps your upset because it is primarly used by black politicans? Anyway, I appaled to think that you think zulu/black people cannot understand irony. Certainly not the case with my collegues.
You said: “It’s an incredibly white joke”. Clearly you don’t actually need an actual race card to play it. But before we get to that: the RaceCard is not an ironic joke, it is satirical. I blame Alanis Morissette for this confusion. Irony exists irrespective of whether people express it. Satire only comes into existance once someone has created it out of a situation. A situation or event can be ironic in its own right, but you need someone to actually create the satire out of it. Irony and satire can be mutualy exclusive, but often hunt in pairs. There is no irony in the race card because it does not imply a hidden meaning. It is satirical because it trivialises the playing of the race card and shows it for the red herring it is. What is ironic, though, is that you’ve stepped into the irony trap. We all agree that racism is a very serious issue: how then is it justifiable to accuse someone of being a racist by someone who is trying to avoid accountability? In the light of our past, being called a racist is a serious accusation. But please just don’t make fun of false accusations if you are white. Irony works like a mirror, satire like filter.