Isidingo - The Need

Mel Gibson has refused to make a movie with Idol star Jennifer Hudson because she's black. Most people would find that disgusting. It would be surprising if he ever worked in showbiz again, and quite rightly so. Only it wasn't Gibson and Hudson that were involved in this scenario. It was Denzyl Washington refusing to do a movie with Julia Roberts because she is white.
Oh, that's okay then. How noble of Washington to insist his leading lady be coloured.
When last did you see a movie where the bad guy is Jewish?
Quite frankly I can't recall one. Why is that?
This is not an anti-Semitic rant. I'm just curious as to why this might be. Come to think of it, when last you saw a homosexual being anything but lovable and sensitive?
Why this has suddenly come to my attention is because recently BBC ran a programme called Don't drop the Baby. It was a really interesting premise. The producers had made robotronic babies that worked more or less like real ones. Then they gave the babies to celebrities to look after for a few days and carefully monitored their progress. I can't even remember the names of the celebrities, but one was a gay couple who wanted a child of their own and had obviously read up on the subject. The other was some model who was not interested in children, didn't know a thing about them and was completely useless at anything other than pouting and painting her nails.
And that was it.
There was no heterosexual couple who wanted a baby. No gay men who didn't want a baby. No single woman with a modicum of common sense. Guess which celebrity came off looking like the best choice of parent.
I am sure that there are plenty of gay men out there in stable relationships that would make great parents, but the BBC chose to slant the programme in favour of the gays.
This coupled with a recent report that some homosexual bodies want to pry their way into home school and private schools to ensure that children are not being taught homophobic attitudes made me wonder where we draw the line.


Surely parents have a choice as to what to teach their children. And given that they are going to the trouble to home school their children this in my view gives them more control over what they choose to teach their children.


Those of you who know me know I have little religious affiliation and even less sexual affiliation except for what I believe is sacred - freedom of choice.


There are certain acts, crimes, that cause harm to the community. These include murder, robbery, rape, child molestation, theft, fraud, etc etc. Then there are other things which some people view as criminal which actually do no harm to the community at all. Things like homosexuality and the following of certain religions, abortion, prostitution and drug taking. That is where freedom of choice comes in.


It was the self-styled satanist Anton La Vey (I think) who first coined the creed of "Do what thy wilt"


But it was actually Jesus Christ Himself who said "Do unto others as you would be done by." And that is the basic tenet of most mainstream religions in the world today.


So where, exactly, does this leave society? Very basically if groups of people do things that other groups of people find unacceptable it would lead to a Balkanisation of social groups. Whereas if we respect individual rights - as long as they do not harm anyone - we can all get along just fine.


This kind of thinking is born out in places like Hong Kong. This is where people do have the luxury of choice. If a Muslim woman wears a veil, no one looks twice. If men hold hands in public, no one cares. People here can wear crosses, and put piggy banks on their desks, put up Christmas trees and sing carols, put up Luna New Year symbols and watch lion dances - and no one cares.


This is the year of the Pig. We have an entire Muslim community here, and there was not one peep out of them. Just as the Chinese don't complain when they celebrate Ramadan.


But in protecting what were previously seen as "minority" group rights, we seem to have gone overboard in being PC, to the detriment of what we would term the mainstream.


If God fearing Christians feel that homosexuality is sinful then they have every right to teach that to their children, just as Muslim parents can teach their children that they need to go to Mecca and slaughter a goat to have their sins forgiven.


Certain religions feel that Christmas should not be celebrated - Christians among them I might add. That's all well and good. No one is FORCING them to celebrate it. But for the rest of us they should just get out of the way.


Just as no one is forcing any woman to have an abortion. It's her choice (well, okay, except in China). It's no one else's business, just as what goes on between two consenting adults is no one else's business.


It has, of late, however, become my business.


You see, I'm a white South African. I cannot say that blacks are murdering thieving incompetent animals because that would make me a racist and I would be accused of hate speech and locked up. Just like Mel Gibson could never get away with saying he didn't want to do a part with Jennifer Hudson because she's black.


Yet the Deputy President of South Africa can sing about how he wants to get his gun and shoot the whites - and that's okay. Washington can say he doesn't want to do a love scene with a white woman, and he is applauded. Why is it okay to be racist if you're non-white? Why is it okay to be anti-Christian but not anti-Jewish?


Is that not a form of bigotry in and of itself?


There is a man by the name of Ernst Zundel who has been sentenced to five years in prison. His heinous crime was not robbery or assault or even drunken driving. No, this terrible criminal actually had the temerity to question the "facts" of the holocaust. Shock and horror. He didn't actually commit the holocaust. He just questioned the facts. He's serving time for this way of thinking. Just as David Hicks appears to be serving time in Guantanamo for supporting 9/11. Not committing it, not planning it, just thinking it was a good idea at the time. In which case half the Muslim world and a few others should also be behind bars.


Isn't it time we stopped paying so much attention to minority rights and started worrying about individual rights?