A Brand New Start

You know what I love about the news? That it epitomises the old saying that old habits die hard. If you look at it, news is rarely "new." In fact its usually a series of shop-worn ideas that are repackaged and sold as something really clever and innovative. Fortunately, most of the public has a very short term memory, so essentially, news is like the gift that keeps on giving.

So, call me Santa...lets unwrap some of those secondhand pressies...Now, because I consider myself to have been very good this past while and I already have all my front teeth I thought it might be fun to play that old game, you know "if you could talk to three people, dead or alive, who would they be?" Now, I decided that it might be a little more fun to talk to people who are still alive, so in the mix I have US President Barrack Obama, SA President Jacob Zuma and the sexiest woman in South Africa as voted by FHM readers, Lyndall Jarvis.

Now, its tempting to stereotype each of these public figures and to some - minimise their contribution to society but I've decided against it. Instead I thought I'd just observe. I watched President Obama on the news last night offering something of an olive branch to the Muslim community. I was convinced that he meant it, Osama Bin Laden was not as convinced as I but here's what really got me about the speech. President Obama was pretty clear that the US would have none of that nuclear business, especially since all Americas enemies seem to be gearing up just in case? Israel, China, Russia is keen and quite a few more seem to be less cautious about building and testing the big guns. It made me stop for a minute and think.

My first reaction was..."Who would do that? What kind of animal are we dealing with that the leader of what was once the most powerful nation in the world, had a small amount of fear in his voice because he knew, like many others that he was powerless to change the system. No matter how hard he tries or how passionate he might be." Its actually a bit shocking to my idealist self that there are people (politicians) out there who are literally stopping us from killing each other. All these peace talks and olive branches and official visits are like the get togethers parents have when their teenage kids have been caught having sex so Johnny and Jane's mom and dad get together in a joint effort to parent their own children and control the actions of someone else's kids.

While the US President is ordering that weapons be dropped and hands on heads, South African President Jacob Zuma is asking for his machine gun. Yesterday in Parliament, Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille told President Jacob Zuma that she would sing the old Apartheid "struggle song" if he met her parties expectations. The direct translation of Umshini wami is "Bring me my machine guns, please bring me my machine gun" and variations of that line. Now, there is something about that song that on the surface seems very wrong but its also something that people not involved in that stage of the struggle cannot understand. It speaks volumes about solidarity and oppression masked with a threat of violence. The song is almost synonymous with Jacob Zuma's election campaign than the struggle these days. He has, similar to President Obama presented himself to the public as a man of the people - but with very different approaches clearly.

And last but not least sexy is Lyndall Jarvis. Why her? Well because I have to take my cue of whats sexy from the media don't I? Well it wasn't the media really (as far as we know), in fact it was more than one million South African voters who determined her fate. a recent interview with her didn't reveal much accept that she's from Cape Town and has done a fair share of travelling because of her modelling career. Was I hoping for something deeper? Maybe a little Paris schpeal about using your celebrity status to help needy causes and stuff? No thanks. I think she's fine just as she is. Sexy even, although I didn't vote.

So there you have it. Lets find out how to measure humanity. All of them present a myriad of preconceived ideas about stereotypes, together in a room I'd love to see whether interaction between men and women has really changed, whether leaders can be led, whether Zuma's vote as the countries sexiest politician rivals the FHM vote, whether weapons will always be part of society and what there is to be scared of. Really. And maybe, just maybe we could learn something and finally make a brand new start.