By Kabelo Mollo
How do you know you are not a bigot? And why do so many of us determine for ourselves that we are not bigoted?
Ironically many will be reinforcing this view while being called out for something bigoted they’ve said or done. For me, the rule of thumb has always been, if you must start a sentence with “I’m not racist but…” or “I’m not a sexist, however…” then you’re probably a bigot of the exact variety you just denounced.
Now, the important bit is how you’ve arrived at the conclusion that you’re not a supremacist of sorts. Is it because your wife, mother and sisters are women? Do you and your female boss get on well and even make jokes that are right on the verge of inappropriate? Is that how you know? Or perhaps you’re a Caucasian whose best friends are black. You’ve been to their houses and braais and even share deeper bonds than that? Is that how you’ve decided?
Recently a storm has broken out over Joe Rogan and his Spotify podcast. For those unfamiliar, Spotify is a music streaming platform that pays artists almost nothing to play their music. That same platform enticed Joe Rogan, a popular American podcaster to take his talents to the platform. How did they entice him you ask? Well, with one hundred million US dollars.
A princely sum by any stretch of the imagination, even more so when you consider that musicians are paid 0.008 of a cent for every stream. Now, Rogan has positioned himself as mild anti vaxxer. He’s not hardline in that he doesn’t speak definitively on vaccines being ineffective, but he peddles enough antivax opinion for the listener to understand his view. Anyhow, those sentiments were the gateway to his troubles.
Spotify, with their brand at stake decided to pull all the podcasts where Rogan seemed to be purveying antivax sentiments. However, shortly thereafter a video emerged of the self same podcaster using the “n-word” in excess of seventy times. Quickly after that a podcast of him referring to a black neighbourhood in America as “planet of the apes” emerged.
The evidence it seems was damning but Rogan in his defence said he’s not racist, and would never use the racial slur in a racist manner. He does concede that it was a mistake to use the slur at all, and has apologised profusely for that. What fascinates me is that he states categorically in his apology that he is not a racist. He claims he made an error in judgement with both using the “n word” and the subsequent “planet of the apes” comment.
And so I ask again, what makes him so sure that he’s not a racist when all the evidence to us laymen points to the exact opposite?
Gareth Cliff is a shock jock and former favourite entertainer of mine. He made his bones on controversy and flying as close to the sun as possible. Like Icarus though his wings eventually caught flames. Since moving from mainstream radio onto a self owned digital platform his true colours have emerged, and quite frankly those colours seem bigoted.
A number of race tinted scandals have broken out with him at the centre but most recently he was embroiled in another controversy where he spoke over a young black female and categorically stated that her experience as a young black woman had nothing to do with the discussion, and even cited South Africa’s Institute of Race Relations document as his proof. The IRR itself is questionable but that’s not the point. He had the wherewithal and gumption to tell a person from the most marginalised grouping in South Africa that her experience was of no value. Naturally, in his non apology statement he reiterated the view that he is not racist and was merely stating the facts as he understood them.
When I was a young boy of say 11 or so I was told by those wiser than me that somethings are not for your own determination. For instance, it wasn’t for you to state “I’m smart” nor was it for you to decide on whether you were a veteran or not. I think we should add not being a bigot to that mix. We’ll let the views of others better versed in the matter determine whether you’re a bigot or not. Your views and expressions will tell us what we need to know about you.
For the last little while my view has been that those who hold supremacist views should be less shy and more forthright with their opinions. They should post them without disclaimer so that they can be made pariahs in society. The funny thing Is, they won’t be. Sadly, there’ll always be somebody to defend their cause. Either way, it’s time for the “ists” to out themselves so we can know where not to spend our money.
With any luck many more of us will unlearn our bigoted views so that we can live in a much more open and accepting society.
