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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   32276 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 17, 2023

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Around 80% of South African youths are functionally illiterate.

https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/17/over-80-of-south-african-children-around-10-years-old-have-difficulty-reading-study//

It's fair to say that if the black radicals get what they want, South Africa will quickly become Congo (at best).

Thus far, black elites are smart enough to understand that, which is why they don't give in to those radical demands. But if I were a white South African, I wouldn't make any long-term bets on the country. Then again, some of these white families have lived there for centuries, so I can understand their reluctance to just walk away. Easier said than done.

A lot of these white families don’t have anywhere to go.

“I wouldn’t make any long-term bets on S Africa”

Which of course is horrible for development. Your investment return hurdle for buying widget making machine turns to will it pay for itself in 12-18 months. You divert cash-flow to buying London or Vancouver real estate instead of long term domestic investment.

It's fair to say that if the black radicals get what they want, South Africa will quickly become Congo (at best).

It's interesting that the Congo has maintained its 'heart of darkness, cannibals, pygmy tribes, blood diamonds, deepest Africa' reputation. There are big parts of the Congo that are a shithole but other parts are in fact doing well, GDP growth in 2022 was like 9%, and there's a rapidly growing middle class in Kinshasa, which I would say will probably become one of the better sub-Saharan African cities shortly, if it isn't already. Good hotels, interesting contemporary art galleries, better food (perhaps the Franco-Belgian legacy, as Belgian food has an undeservedly poor reputation), streets that are often very clean and well kept for the region. In some ways, the DRC might well have a brighter future than South Africa. Maybe it's because the main language of commerce, government and culture there is French, so there's comparatively much less written in English about the country.

I think that 2009era Moldbug post (I think it was him, or maybe someone else in the NrX sphere at the time) where he compares old photographs of the well-maintained European quarter of Leopoldville circa 1940 or whatever (which was probably all of about ten blocks) to some generic modern African city with corrugated iron roofs and garbage in the street and things falling apart etc. has poisoned a lot of people to the fact that in much of the continent things have actually gotten a lot better over the last 25 years.

One thing that's true about South Africans which, in my experience, isn't true about many other Sub-Saharan African countries is that there's a perennial air of pessimism and decline common to people of all races. In the DRC, people are much more optimistic.

There are big parts of the Congo that are a shithole but other parts are in fact doing well, GDP growth in 2022 was like 9% In some ways, the DRC might well have a brighter future than South Africa.

TIL: there are two Congos. And the richest one has become radically poorer over the past decade whereas the bottom-ranked one is still so far behind that Pakistan, of all countries, is thrice as rich.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=CG-CD

So you'll excuse my cynicism over your valiant attempts to puff the Congo(s), of all places.

P.S. I wouldn't look at growth rates without looking at the currency movements (3 year average). Turkey is a good example of this. Posting very high growth rates did exactly nothing because the lira has continuously tanked. D.S.

I’m talking about the DRC, not the Republic.

Any good news about Black progress is poisoned or avoided by afropessimist activists, who have a vested interest in presenting a narrative of oppression to soak up donor dollars.

It's the same in Africa that it is in America, where I have friends that tell me racism has increased in the past twenty years despite anti Black racism being in quite obvious decline.

Could you elaborate? I'm not convinced. On the Africa side of things, that is.

Sub-Saharan Africa development aid per year. It crossed $1bn in the 60s, and has increased steadily to over $60bn/yr today. All those dollars go through various middlemen and NGOs, all of which have a vested interest in preserving those flows.

Development aid and charity fundraising is typically not themed around "Hey, they're doing pretty ok, but just this one more push and they'll be even better off!" It's themed around starvation, famine, death, oppression, murder, dreaded diseases, uncontrolled civil war, genocide. Nobody ever came to my church to gather money for a cause and talked about how basically-ok things are. They talk about how horrible things are.

Those activists and charity groups are the dominant players in controlling US coverage of Africa. African states themselves have either been incapable or uninterested in writing and publicizing books about how great things are in Africa after the independence hangover set in.

I read the NYT Sunday Book Review most weeks, and there's often an African author somewhere in the list, rarely are those books upbeat comedies; a technically well written book by any African "exploring the intersections of race, religion, gender and oppression in the author's native..." While we don't get the African Tucker Max or something like that. The books from African topics/authors I read in undergrad were things like The Pickup (SA illegal immigrants), Things Fall Apart (Itself a wonderful book but about the downsides of colonialism), Machete Season (Rwandan Genocide).

George Clooney et al can always cash in on publicizing something bad happening somewhere in Africa for Human Rights Activist street cred; the last time celebrities put effort into publicizing well developed Africa was, what, The Rumble in the Jungle?

Compare to Asian countries that have specifically put effort into enhancing their image abroad.

This along with thier army of progregressive allies who need to make sure that the blame for any set-back lands somewhere other than leftist economic and social justice policies.

It's a true babtist-and-bootlegger coalition.

Unironically yes.

People here keep accusing me of being overly contrary, or snarky but a this is legitimately what i believe.

I believe that the reason black-pilled progs seem to gravitate towards hbd and fascism is that its safer for thier egos than the alternatives.

Are those friends fans of Steve Sailer?

Somehow, I doubt they’re concerned about curbing the excesses of affirmative action.

It's the same in Africa that it is in America, where I have friends that tell me racism has increased in the past twenty years despite anti Black racism being in quite obvious decline.

I (African immigrant to Canada) just had a totally surreal conversation with my sister (also immigrated to US but was born there and moved back as a child) about how the US sucks to live and racism is everywhere. Miami is apparently horrible cause DeSantis, the cops constantly bother you for being black and you might die. Keep in mind: this is the child of an African migrant who came to the US as part of a diplomatic mission making upper-middle class money.

I didn't even know where to begin. She has an alternate cultural heritage (African parents are...skeptical of black American narratives*), if she got this big a dose of it I can only imagine what others are getting.

* It's very amusing to watch them talk around it - "she started following...those people. And you know how they can be".

African parents are...skeptical of black American narratives

I’ve noticed this and it amuses me endlessly that the most prejudiced people against African Americans are… other blacks. Jamaicans are often even more prejudiced.

Never ask a Nigerian his opinion of his daughter potentially dating an ADOS man.

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