The Riches of Embarrassment (Short Commentaries: Under Fire) (Viewpoint Essay‪)‬

Two newspaper articles caught my eye the last couple of months. In the first, leftie photo-journalist Paul Alberts tells of the unanticipated and disturbing rapport between him and Eugene Terre'Blanche (aka ET). After doing a week-in-the-life-of photo essay of ET, Alberts confesses: 'Ek verskil van die AWB's soos dag en nag--politiek, godsdiens, alles--maar dis my mense. Dit was 'n tuiskoms. Daar 't ek besef ek's oneerlik met myself om my 'n Afrikaanssprekende Suid-Afrikaner te noem. Ek's 'n Afrikaner, en basta met die res' (Retief 2009). (1) In the second piece, Deon Maas (2010) stands up for the right of his children to attend an Afrikaans university. According to Maas, the only problem with making this argument, is that by defending this right be is associating himself with a group of people with whom be has nothing in common: 'Ouens wat oulike kakiehempies dra wat 'n ander kleur hier op die sleutelbeen het' en luister na 'Kurt, Steve of Juanita'. 'Ouens wat Afrikaans as 'n (rassistiese) "politieke statement" sien eerder as 'n "medium van kommunikasie'" (Maas 2010). (2)