Friday 21 June 2013

I don't employ American terms of reference

Or, Australian or British terms, for that matter.

This means I can sometimes appear like an American leftist, sometimes like an American rightist.  But I am neither.

I'm not hypocritical.

Often enough I don't even know about the delimiting markers.  I don't play that game because I AM NOT THE GAME.   It's not my war:  I wasn't educated to play that role.

I'm African.  More accurately, I was African.   Nowadays, I am simply someone whose perceptions have been conditioned by African experiences.

People tend to read a left wing or right wing identity into me, but to the degree that these are Western identities, you WILL miss your mark.  It's not even a question of 'IF'.

You WILL miss it.  And you will miss it again and again.

I'm not deceiving you.  You are deceiving yourself.  You may not have taken the time to immerse yourself into an African sensibility.  It could even be that you do not know very much about Southern Africa.

Any default assumption that I am simply Western will come naturally to you.

It's an interesting solution to your problem.

That solution will make me less understandable, as assuming I have Western points of reference will lead you to  obvious errors.  But, you have not had the kinds of experience that would enable you to know what I am.

I don't mean to condemn you as your mistakes have already been anticipated as well as documented.

The pattern of mistakes is scientifically verifiable.

My points of reference are consistent with African sensibilities -- particularly  war, revolution and social overturn in Southern Africa.

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Cultural barriers to objectivity