I have seen this coming for a while now. Since 2008 I have written numerous newsletters criticising the media for their negativity and unbalanced reporting.

Of course, nobody in the media took much notice. Now the mango has really klapped the fan and we are sitting at another critical point in the history of our young democracy.

Before I begin, I want to state the following upfront:

1. I stand unequivocally and absolutely for complete media freedom in our country. The draconian, restrictive clauses in the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal are a major threat to our democracy. They should be fought tooth and nail by everybody (including you) at every opportunity. 
   
2. I also stand unequivocally and absolutely for BALANCED reporting. I would like to be fed a balanced diet consisting of what is going wrong in our country (and the world) and what is going right. This is definitely not happening right now!
3. When I speak of the media in this article, I speak mainly of the print press, radio and television news reports. I refer broadly to the world media at large, not just the South African Media.
4. I also stand for balanced politics. I am therefore not aligned or loyal to any political party. I am loyal to my country and her citizens. I will therefore always vote for the opposition, regardless of which party it happens to be, until such time as we have a healthy balance of political power in SA. In the USA, they have only 2 parties, both with almost equal support. The one is more left wing and the other more right wing. This creates a healthy balance of power, and every few years the one ruling party is replaced by the other and the new broom has the opportunity to sweep clean. I long for the day when we can get to a similar position in our country.
5. I do not subscribe to GLOP, or General Labelling Of People. I therefore do not believe that ALL politicians and ALL policemen are corrupt. I do not believe that ALL journalists and ALL editors have hidden agendas. I do not believe that ALL men are pigs and ALL blondes are dumb. My experience has shown me that ALL people are unique and different, with a capacity for good and evil in equal measure. The Yin and the Yan exists in ALL of us. It is the CHOICES we make in each moment of each day which will determine who we become.
6. I am a serial optimist, in that I always look for the inherent good in people, situations and life. I acknowledge that there is a whole lot in the news right now which may make some people concerned, angry, ashamed or downright terrified. I simply do not allow this drama to affect my positive focus or drain my valuable energy. I choose rather to be part of the solution and therefore keep looking for ways to make things better for myself and my fellow South Africans. Life is what you make it my boet, and happiness is an inside job!
7. I am privileged to meet hundreds of new people every month as part of my work. They are people of every age, sex, race and religion. I interact and motivate and communicate and connect with them at all levels. I find most of them to be kind, helpful, concerned, caring people who simply want a better life for themselves and their loved ones. Yet they find it increasingly difficult to stay positive about our country (or the planet) and its future. Their attitude is massively influenced by what they see, hear and read in the mainstream media.
8. I have a tendency to look at the bigger picture of our country, planet, galaxy and universe as a way to stay positive by keeping it all in perspective. I also try to be open-minded and see things from many different viewpoints, in order to understand WHY things are the way they are.

Ok so lets get into the topic of media freeDOM. In my understanding, the word NEWS is an acronym for North, East, West and South. Therefore part of the job of the media is to tell us what is going ON. Yet they insist upon telling us mainly what is going WRONG. More than 75% of what we see, hear and read in the mainstream media is negative.This would appear to be a worldwide phenomenon, as evidenced by the following quotes:

Bestselling American author Deepak Chopra: “The current perception I get from the news is that the world is dominated by human failure, crime, catastrophe, corruption, and tragedy. We are all tuning in to see how the human mind is evolving, but the media keeps hammering home the opposite, that the human mind is mired in darkness and folly”.

Paul Conneally, Head of Media for the International Red Cross: “In 2008, more than 75 percent of the media stories in Africa were negative. This is despite the fact that there are many positive indications that the African economy is going from strength to strength, that governments are becoming more accountable.”

A verse from John Mayer’s hit song, Waiting for the world to change: “When you trust the television, what you get is what you got, cause when they own the information, they can bend it all they want.”

In my May 2008 newsletter I sunk so low as to refer to journalists as uninspired, negative, disaster focused, sensation seeking, sad sorry scumbags. Again, I have come to realise that not ALL of them deserve this nasty title. However, since then, I have repeatedly asked why they insist on shoving so much D down our throats – Death, Destruction, Disaster, Divorce, Disease, Doubt, Depression and Doom.  I have literally pleaded for them to dish us up more palatable, balanced fare with lots more C – Compassion, Caring, Courage, Consciousness, Creativity, Community, Comedy, Chivalry and Capability.

Yet all we ever seem to see is Catastrophe after Catastrophe.

Have you ever considered the reasons why the media cannot give us more C? Here are some possible causes:

1. They are simply giving the public what they want. They understand that for some strange reason we are morbidly attracted to the horror and disaster and drama. I often ask my audiences why they continue to watch, read or listen to the news, when about 80% of it is negative. They usually tell me: “I need to know what is going on”, or “I have always watched it – it’s just a habit” or “it makes me feel good to know that the crap I see going on out there is not happening to me!” Well break the habit buddy – you may as well go and bang your head against a wall because it feels so good when the pain stops.

2. The media have their backs against the wall – they are under major threat and engaged in a desperate fight for survival. They face huge competition from each other, as well as from the Internet, YouTube, Blogs, Social Media, Gumtree and the likes. Advertising revenue is plunging and shareholders are complaining. So they are forced to find the most sensationalist, scary, shocking headlines and stories in order to try and sell more newspapers and advertising space. When it comes to choosing headlines: If it bleeds – it leads. Sies man!

3. It is damn difficult to write positive, uplifting, funny, motivational articles. Do you know that it literally takes me weeks to write these newsletters? It involves countless hours of preparation and researching and agonising and refining and adding and deleting and fretting and fussing. I’m serious – writing these things sometimes feels like giving birth to a porcupine – a true labour of love.

It just seems to be so much easier to dig up some muck, uncover an affair, gasp at the levels of greed and corruption or dish up another disaster. According to the World Health Organisation, 150 000 people will die on this planet EVERY 24 HOURS and some of these deaths are bound to be horrific. So how hard do you really have to look to find something tragic to report on?

By the way, I am all for investigative reporting – goodness knows we really do need these brave people. But what about the POSITIVE investigative reporting – who does that? Who is tasked to go and sniff out the diligent, hard working unsung heroes in our politics, police force, educational system, bureaucracies and municipalities ? Who writes about those passionate, committed human beings who fulfil the thankless role of being true public servants? Somebody out there is providing low cost homes, electrifying the townships, supplying clean running water, improving our roads, catching criminals and paying out welfare. A whole lot of people worked their butts off to make the Soccer World Cup such a major success. Yet how many stories have you read about them in the media?

Think about this – how would you feel if you were a quiet, diligent, hardworking, honest, uncorrupt public servant, going the extra mile for your constituents and earning a pretty small salary to boot. You never seek the limelight because you are not doing this for the glory – it is your patriotic call of duty. And all you ever get to read about is the scum and sleaze and the sickening greed and excess of your colleagues.

How would this make you feel? Proud perhaps, or patriotic and motivated to work harder? Shit scared that you might get caught if you behave the way they do? Or tempted to get on the gravy train yourself because nobody seems to get convicted if they are caught anyway?

Option 3 seems most likely to me!

Do you stubborn editors sincerely believe that fear is a deterrent any more? Get your arrogant heads out of your arses and wake up! Fear ceased to work years ago. We have moved into a new age, a time of awakening consciousness, a time for using positive praise to reinforce good behaviour. You have not moved with the times. Admittedly, you have become really good at catching people who screw up. Now however, it is time for you to also start catching them succeeding.

The media seem to believe that if they continually catch people doing things WRONG, eventually EVIL will be eradicated and GOOD will prevail. So they encourage whistle blowing and investigative reporting and exposés. This is all good and well, but is it achieving the result? No, because the theory is fatally flawed. We all know psychologically that telling somebody NOT to do something is like waving a red flag to a bull.

So they keep perpetuating the negative behaviour. They turn criminals into superstars. Why can’t they turn boring bureaucrats or brave policemen into heroes? Or is that too much like hard work and not really “newsworthy” either?

The media seriously needs to redefine this term “newsworthy” if they want to retain their worth and relevance. Because even if government succeeds in forcing through restrictive legislation, modern technology will ensure that there is always a free flow of relevant information. And for this to happen we don’t really NEED the mainstream media. This is the awesome power of the internet!

Right now I can imagine the editors and journalists thinking: “Piss off you privileged little prick – it’s easy for you to sit in your ivory tower and take pot shots at us. You have no idea of the challenges we face every day in doing our jobs.”

You are right. I have never worked within the media. And I can imagine that you work under extreme deadlines and huge pressure, sometimes for relatively little pay. And right now, your very survival is being challenged. I imagine that it must be an extremely challenging time for all of you. That is why I say it is time to adapt or die my friends.

In my line of work, I speak to hundreds of people each month, literally thousands per year, with the objective of motivating and inspiring them and giving them hope and self belief. And I have realised that they believe what you feed them and that your narrative shapes their attitudes dramatically. And they have become so numbed and shell shocked that they have lost their passion, their hope, their optimism and compassion. They are wandering in the terrifying wilderness looking for guidance and you are giving them very little, if any, scraps of hope. Yet you expect them to support you now, in your time of need?

The question is simply as follows: Do you believe that seeing is believing or BELIEVING IS SEEING? Think about that deeply. Are you merely reporting on what is happening or are you actually CAUSING some of it to happen? Have you ever considered that some of your reporting on criminal behavoiur might actually encourage others to commit crimes?

Alternatively, do you understand the power of an optimistic nation filled with belief in itself?

Yet you continue to report mainly on what is going wrong, assuming that the public will find out for themselves what is really going on, what is going right. Well too many of them do not, they cannot, they will not. They need you to tell them, because they trust you and they believe you and they pay your salaries. You wield great power, and with great power comes great responsibility. I believe that it is the irresponsible use of this power which is partly to blame for the current media freedom debacle.

As I said earlier, I am all for media freedom. I am all for democracy and choice. But if you cannot make the shift to balanced, responsible reporting, you will cease to exist my friends. You are busy digging your own graves.

The negative news depresses me. It always has. It creates the perception that there is more going wrong on the planet than is going right. It fans the flames of fear in our hearts. And yet, there is so much good happening, in many of our communities, our workplaces, our corporations, our NGO’s, our places of worship, our conservation activities, our charities and our informal business sector.

I think that half of the hoo-ha going on right now actually boils down to the fact that the media rarely highlights any of the good work being done by our ruling party. They rarely champion any of the positive achievements of the ANC. They paint them (as they did the Nats before them) as corrupt, incompetent, bumbling buffoons, driven by greed and ego and nepotism. And as I said before, not ALL of them are like that. If they were, our country would be a lot worse off than it is right now. Perhaps it’s because the media are afraid of being seen as too patriotic or selling out to the government if they did show some balance by also reporting on their positive achievements?

Well I am not afraid. As I said earlier, I will support the opposition until we have a balance of power. But this does not mean that I cannot acknowledge the great work done by Trevor Manuel, Gill Marcus, Pravin Gordhan, Tito Mboweni, Cheryl Carolus, Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa. And these are the high profile people. How many more are there to be found out there, doing good, selfless, honest work to help make this place better? Let’s find them and praise them and report on them so that they can become highly visible, high profile shining examples of what is going right.

In the profession of selling we sometimes split our sales team into hunters and farmers. Hunters are tasked with seeking out new business and prospects whilst farmers focus on building and nurturing the existing relationships. What if the media employed a similar approach – hunters were tasked to dig up and expose the negative issues and farmers were instructed to focus on sniffing out and reporting on the good stuff. Cause we all know there is a whole lot of really good stuff going on out there. But how will the “farmers” make the “ordinary stuff” NEWSWORTHY? And, more importantly, will it be bought by their customers? It takes hard work, effort, sweat and creativity to find the good stuff being done by Joe Public and more importantly – to write about it in a positive, uplifting and interesting way.

But there are glimmers of hope. Just google Lead SA or SA Goodnews or Awesome SA or Stop Crime Say Hello. Take a look at how much good news they have to offer. Then ask yourself why you still pay to get depressed when there is so much positive stuff available for free?

The media must take some responsibility for the current media freedom debacle. I am not asking you to stop exposing the negatives. I am imploring you to find ways to balance these with more positives. We are hungry for good news boet, in fact we are starving .

Ultimately, it will require of us, the public, to shift beyond OUR conditioned, negative, fearful, victim based beliefs before we are ready to support such a massive shift in the mainstream media.

We urgently need to wake ourselves up, to become more conscious, to dramatically increase our awareness. We need to start recycling our garbage and conserving resources and saving our planet. We need to stop fearing and hating each other. We need to finally learn to love and accept ourselves and others. The next 2 years are going to force us to do this. We are going to see more change and uncertainty in the next 2 years than we saw in the last 10. And our best method to cope with this challenge will be to dramatically accelerate our spiritual evolotion. We do this through growing our knowledge and experience of what it means to be a conscious, whole and humble human being.

To quote Gary Zukav, from his beautiful book The Seat of the Soul: “Our species is no longer humble. It has no reverence. It is arrogant and filled with its own technology. We take from the earth and from each other. We destroy forests and oceans and atmosphere. We enslave each other, and torture and beat and humiliate and murder each other.”

He goes on to suggest: “Your decision to evolve consciously through responsible choice contributes not only to your own evolution, but also to the evolution of all of those aspects of humanity in which you participate. It is not just you that is evolving through your decisions, but the entirety of humanity.

So there you have it. And now that you know it is ultimately all up to you, yes YOU, what on earth can you do?

It’s your time now to stand up and be counted. Join Lead SA. Write letters to your media of choice, encouraging them to balance their reporting. Sign all the petitions for media freedom. Read self help books and attend workshops to accelerate your evolution. Find a spiritual teacher or healer. Get a LIFE.

If you are unsure where to start with all of this, please email me and I will gladly point you to the multitude of books, courses, teachers and resources which are readily available to you right now. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

But, most importantly, do whatever it takes to drop your baggage, move from victim to victor and make the shift from pessimist to optimist. Start making a difference wherever you can RIGHT NOW instead of waiting for the world to change. Start by really knowing and growing yourself. Start by becoming a better you.

As Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

You are the world. It is your time to shine. Do it NOW.

Ke Nako

Mark

It’s not easy being an optimist in these challenging times.  The forces of sadness and negativity are finding more and more evidence to justify their unhappy existence. The psychic vampires are conspiring to drain my positive energy.

Also, I am beginning to think we South Africans suffer from a form of collective national erectile dysfunction. Or at least a massive countrywide inferiority complex, with a smidgen of schizophrenia thrown in. It seems to me that many other countries believe in South Africa more than we believe in ourselves!

The Indian Premier League is a prime example. The people of India (who completely idolise their cricket players) were concerned about the IPL players’ safety due to possible unrest during their elections. So they sent them all to SA, in the midst of our elections, to play the IPL tournament here. They believed that their players would be safer here than back home in India. In addition, we were given only a few weeks to prepare for this massive event and, in true SA schtyle, we pulled it off magnificently!

We also seem to believe that we have the monopoly on dodgy politicians. Right now our old imperialist coloniser Grate Britain (yes spelled grate – because of their constant whingeing and complaining) are catching a major wake-up call. Many of their politicians are deeply embroiled in the current expenses scandal. Their justice Minister Shahid Malik recently resigned after being caught red handed. We had travelgate – they now have mastergate.

Many other countries regularly report highly questionable behaviour by their politicians. For example, click here to view a report on the top 5 most corrupt USA politicians of 2008. It may surprise you to learn that as a country, we only rank 46^th in terms of corruption. Which means we are less corrupt than Greece, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, China, Egypt and India to name but a few.  This statistic by no means justifies or minimises the actions of our businessmen or politicians who succumb to the massive temptations of position and power. It merely puts their behaviour into context.

As John Mayer sings: “We keep waiting, waiting for the world to change”  So we keep waiting for the policemen, politicians, councillors, trade unionists and others to effect the change we need in order for us to finally believe. We spread sad stories of inefficiency, corruption, poor leadership and incompetent civil servants. What is the point? It merely serves to perpetuate our lack of self belief. How long are we going to keep waiting for things to change? When are we, to quote Gandhi, going to become the change we want to see in our country?

There is an ongoing debate on whether seeing is believing, or believing is seeing. The USA is a prime example of the latter. They are technically a bankrupt nation, with a national deficit running into trillions of dollars. About half of their population is overweight and 30% of them obese. Nationmaster reported in a survey on crimes per capita that the USA has more crimes per capita than SA. (Unflippingbelievable!) All they seem to have going for them now are a likeable presidential couple, a thriving democracy and tons of self belief.

Having lived in the USA for 12 months, I was amazed to see their collective level of self belief and patriotism. They harness this collective energy and somehow manage to have the strongest economy on the planet, with less than a third of the population of India and a quarter of that of China! Why? Because they fly their flag and sing their anthem and speak one language and believe in themselves and support one another and work together to keep their dream alive! For them, believing is seeing. We really should learn from this.

As a motivational speaker, my strategy is to open my eyes, my mind and my heart and look out for what is going right. Then focus my attention on it, to keep my spirits high. Which is different to getting high on spirits!

So what do I see in SA, in order to help me believe?

• I see massive roadworks, currently causing some major traffic problems. I believe however, that within 12 months they should be finished and we will have a vastly improved transportation infrastructure.
• I see many people struggling financially in these awful economic times. Yet I also believe that we are not as badly affected as many other countries, partly due to the National Credit Act and Exchange Controls which we moaned about for so long.
• I see layoffs and retrenchments and short time. Yet I also see many people restructuring their busy lives, reprioritising what is really important and starting to create more balance between their work, health and family life.
• I see compassion and caring starting to replace greed and consumerism.
• I see reports of many South African expatriates coming home, which I believe could alleviate the acute specialised skills shortage in some of our sectors.
• I see doctors going on strike, demanding higher remuneration. I support them completely – doctors need to be paid well or they will simply seek work in other countries. Once again, other countries welcome our doctors with open arms, believing in them more than we do. We simply cannot afford to let them go. (By the way, have you ever wondered why doctors study for at least 7 years and then spend the rest of their life practising?)
• I see my white children, schooling and playing and laughing with black and brown and even Asian kids. I believe this is our hope for the future. (I also had China’s in school, but they were from Jo’burg!)
• I see cranes and stadiums and construction and housing projects for the poor and packed convention centres and busy shopping malls and an economy which continues to function, albeit in slow motion.
• I see a photo of Africa, taken from outer space, showing visible evidence of why we are Africa’s largest economy. Africa believes in us – the bulk of the 9.5 million tourists we welcomed to SA last year were visitors from Africa.
• I see a new minister of finance who has a truly remarkable track record, having vastly improved the efficiency and revenue collection of SARS. I believe he is a worthy successor to Clever Trevor.
• I see SA companies like MTN and Shoprite expanding into Africa, making a difference and making a profit. Isn’t that what business is all about?
• I see so much more, but don’t want to become a bore.

What do you see? What do you believe? If we open our eyes, our hearts and our minds, how much more can we achieve?

Henry Ford said: If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are right.

I THINK WE CAN!

Our new leader you are

From humble beginnings

You’ve really come far.

And now is your time

To shine and be strong

And make a real difference

And prove them all wrong.

We hope you will show us

The man that you are

With the mind of a politician

And the voice of a rock star.

The ladies will swoon

And many will say

That you use much less botox

Than Zille of the DA.

You’ve shrugged off the charges

You’ve given us hope

You even have managed

To fight off the COPE.

We hope you are firm

We hope you are fair

We hope you will never

Put colour in your hair.

We hope you can calm us

When voices are shrill

We hope you get along with

Patricia de Lille.

As well as the opposition

Who will question you so

And challenge your decisions

To ensure that we grow.

For we really do need you

And you really need us

But who really needs

The Freedom Front Plus?

Our politicians are many

Their ideas are too

But it’s not what they say

It’s about what they DO!

We want you to solve

The serious dilemma

Of that very strange man

Called Julius Malema.

And also the Taxis

Who break all the rules

And endanger our lives

And drive like real fools.

We need lots of jobs

And houses and things

And maybe in our parks

For the kids, some swings?

We need much less crime

And violence and fear

And much less of those who

Make corruption their career.

We want service delivery

And efficiency and speed

And competent people

We do urgently need.

To run the departments

Which impact the lives

Of our sons and our daughters

And our parents and wives.

And Africa she needs us

To show her the way

Out of gradual decline

And rapid decay.

But don’t try to fix Africa

By neglecting the South

As was tried by Mbeki

With his pipe in his mouth.

Our economy is strong

And it can still get stronger

If the minister of finance

Could just stay a bit longer?

Cause we want this to work

And we need you to win

And make better lives for those

Who voted you in.

Without grabbing the farmland

Without calling for war

Without making the mistakes

Of Mad Bob next door.

We’re a Banana Republic

I’m hearing some say

But I think we are more like

A Choc Nut sundae.

With some white and some brown

And some nuts in between

And a warm, rich black topping

With a dollop of cream.

So we hope you’re a fighter

Who will fight the good fight

For the blacks and the coloureds

And indians and whites

We hope you will lead us

With vision and grace

So we can become

A much better place.

Yes you are our leader

And we wish you the best

As the next few years

Put you to the test.

So we send you best wishes

And hope you do well

And as they say in the classics

ONLY TIME WILL TELL!

Good Luck Msholozi!

Howzit

Wow! I am absolutely astounded by the sheer volume of responses to my “gatvol” email two weeks ago. Now I know what they mean when they say “word gets around” I’m blown away boet! Gobsmacked, to say the least!

A big thanks to all of you who took the time to reply. You can view your replies at the end of this article.

Ironically, just after my letter, we are klapped with Xenophobia. Things now appear to be moving from bad to wors. (Personally, I smaak my wors medium rare – how about you?) Anyway back to the punt. One in five citizens now plans to quit SA, according to the Cape Times front page on Thurs 22 May. This is not surprising, considering that the Cape Times front page of 19 May displayed a shockingly disgusting and disturbing full colour picture of a burning man set alight by insane thugs. In my last letter I wrote: “I accept that bad news sells, but soon there will be nobody left here to buy it!” Wake up Mr. Cape Times Editor – I tjooned you my bru!

So what to do? Stay or waai? Eish, this is an agonising question my boet. Are things really better in other “first world” countries? I suppose it depends upon what you mean by better. If you talk safety, security, infrastructure, law, order and good governance, probably. If you talk lifestyle, climate, sense of humour, natural beauty, cultural diversity, depth of character, creativity, zest for life, biltong, braaivleis and boerewors, maybe not?

It would also appear that Xenophobia is on the rise in many other countries around the world. To quote Justine Gerardy, in the Weekend Argus of May 24.  “Xenophobic attacks and immigration challenges are not new. They are not even particularly South African. For example in Russia, since the beginning of 2008, there have been 211 reported victims of hate crimes – with 53 murders. In Italy, just last week, police arrested hundreds of people in a (Xenophobia) crackdown. And even Britain, an island nation with no porous land borders or neighbouring dictatorships, is facing a historical immigration high.”

Even in the good old USA boet, this stuff is happening: I read the following report online at huffingtonpost: “At a fundraiser in Florida last Thursday night, (American Presidential Hopeful) Barack Obama accused anti-immigrant crusaders Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh of “ginning things up” to such an extent that there was a rise in hate crimes against Hispanics last year. Obama said. “A certain segment has basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia. There’s a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year”

So that still leaves us with good old Australia, who themselves have some baggage regarding their Aboriginal population. Aussie does seem like a safe bet though, which is interesting considering that as a country it started off as a sort of floating prison. I was amused by the following anecdote from a South African who moved to Australia, could not adjust and came back home. He said: “Emigrating to Australia is like being invited to the biggest jol of the year, and then spending the whole night dancing with your mother!”

No offence to the Aussies mind you. I am not an Aussie basher. I really think they are an awesome nation with many great qualities and much to be proud of. (Rugby not being one of them!) Good on ya mates!

But getting back to our situation, those of us who do choose to stay here in ZAR have to keep asking ourselves “What can I DO to make things better?” Cause if we are not going to be part of the solution we will remain part of the problem. And please, if any of you feel that some of the ideas I am suggesting below will not work, don’t bother writing to me unless you have another suggestion that will. I’m really tired of people telling me that this and that won’t work and yet are unable to offer any alternative suggestions of their own. Its defeatist thinking and it achieves nothing! Verstaan jy? Kwaai my bru.

So here are some more suggestions to consider:

Join the million man march against crime (in JHB) on 10 June 2008. It should be a huge event.

Read the book “A Country at war with itself” by Antony Altbeker. It really puts our crime wave into perspective and, most importantly, suggests practical steps which can be taken to significantly reduce the crime wave. Three of the many interesting and well researched statistics from the book are:

“Since its peak in the mid 1990’s, the number of murders recorded in SA every year has fallen by 30% from nearly 27 000 to 19 000.”  

“Only a small proportion of murders in SA are committed in the course of a robbery. Most are the result of what analysts have taken to calling “interpersonal violence,” a category of crime that covers everything from domestic violence to road rage, from a barroom brawl to a violent dispute between an employee and his boss.”

And finally: “…the number of cash-in-transit robberies recorded by the SA police in 2006/7, at fewer than 500, is actually quite small…In the United Kingdom, over 700 of raids of this sort are recorded each year. This is in embarrassing contrast with Germany, which had fewer than 20 incidents. In that country though, the largest security company in the field collapsed when its managers were tried for skimming cash off their payloads” Read a book review for this excellent book.

You could take some kind of action to help the victims of Xenophobia. For a list of suggestions on how you could help, visit SARocks.

Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers, whenever you feel that they are over sensationalizing crime and violence or perpetuating negativity. Get your friends to do the same. And don’t hold back – they certainly don’t!

Start a campaign to ban negative newspaper headlines from being displayed on lamp posts. (Thanks for this idea Kareen) We don’t need their version of life shoved down our throats every day.

Visit the blog SARocks and post your comments. Or send your own article to the editor of SARocks, Nic Haramboulis at the following email: editor@sarocks.co.za

Lobby your local MP’s to speak out against crime. This is one of our biggest frustrations in this whole situation. If our president, cabinet ministers and others in positions of power would just take a firm stand, speak up and declare a serious intention to fight crime, violence and lawlessness, things should improve significantly. (That is, if they follow up their words with sustained action)

Also if you have any more practical, positive ideas on what you believe we can do to make things better, please send me your suggestions. I deeply appreciate them.

And don’t forget to keep smiling and of course styling, wherever possible.

Until next time, I remain your passionately pissed off brother from another mother.

Cheers

Mark Berger

email: mark@markberger.co.za

web: www.markberger.co.za

Howzit

I don’t know about you but jislaaik I’m now getting really gatvol of all the bad news. South Africa once again seems to be falling through its own poephol. I think I’m going to puke if I hear any more s#*t about Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe, Crime, Eskom, the Oil Price, Inflation, Soaring Food Costs, Bafana Bafana or even friggin Paris Hilton. I’ve absolutely had it with all this negativity, doom and gloom! I’m really SAT of it ALL ek se!!! How about you?

I mean it’s not like I want to gooi the ostrich vibe and bury my head in the sand. This shit is real and it’s serious and it’s happening all over…but not to me….YET!!! Nevertheless I can’t help but read it, hear about it it, see the headlines, hear the rumours…EVERYWHERE. It’s like they are brainwashing me boet. And the worst part of it is that I feel totally and completely HELPLESS. Useless. Disempowered. Castrated (almost.) Frustrated (completely.) I keep getting this heavy ball of anxious dread filling my guts and it feels really KAK! And the worst part of it all is that I am a motivational speaker who needs to stay positive and optimistic.

To top it all off, winter is coming so I can’t even feel good about the lekker weather any more!

Peter de Villiers, our new Springbok Rugby Coach, was quoted in a Sunday Times interview published on 4^th May as saying: “The local media thrive on negativity. They have nothing good to say about their country. If there is something bad about this country the local media will break a leg to be the first to write about it. They’re a bunch of negative people who live in a world of their own, and are merely there to earn a living and not make SA a better place.”

I agree completely with the ou. I’m think that most of our journalists, reporters and editors are uninspired, negative, disaster focused, sensation seeking, sad sorry scumbags. They find fault in everything and never propose any workable solutions. Many of the ordinary people of South Africa are busy doing wonderful little things every day, but none of it is newsworthy. Here’s the truth: There are roughly 6.6 billion people on planet earth. And according to the World Health Organization, some 56 million deaths occur per year, at the current global average. That works out to about 153 400 per day. That’s right – 153 400 deaths every 24 hours! So it’s not really hard work to find disasters, accidents, catastrophes, murders, muggings and general mayhem to fill the headlines. It’s actually pretty easy.

But during that same 24 hours, about 350 000 babies are born. That’s right, every 24 hours, around 350 000 beautiful, miraculous, perfect, pure, happy, untainted, precious little beings begin their journey on this planet. And what do journalists write about this? F%*k all that’s what! Unless of course a six month old baby is stabbed to death – then we never stop hearing about it!

Every day about 48 million of us get up, take a s*#t, clean our teeth (hopefully) and get on with our life. And many of us perform little acts of respect, compassion, kindness, service, giving, helping and creating. As Cath Jenkin wrote recently in her blog: “There is noise and joy and emotional honesty in the way we live. When we as a nation are happy, we celebrate. When we are sad, we are sad together. Does anything else really matter? At least we are together in the queue for petrol and/or torches.”

But for our media this is not newsworthy. It’s just life.

So I gave it all a lot of thought. Then I did some more real deep thinking. And guess what – buggerall happened! So I stopped thinking for a while, by learning to meditate. Then I stopped reading most of the newspapers. Then I stopped watching the news on TV and listening to the news in my car. And I stopped listening to people with negative chirps and bad energy. And I stopped focusing on what was going wrong in my life.

Then I started to meditate every morning, after doing some simple yoga stretches and synchronized breathing exercises. And I replaced my morning cup of coffee and cigarette with some herbal tea and a dagga joint. (OK – joking about the joint!) And I re- read the Power of Now and Conversations with God and a Short History of Nearly Everything. And I began to visit an awesome positive website called sagoodnews.co.za.  And MAN did I start to feel better. MUCH BETTER. Then I started to watch every sunset possible, ride my bicycle, watch funny video’s on Youtube, work in my garden, walk on the beach – I fu&%#ng started living again BRU! From the inside out! And it finally hit me between the eyes, an epiphany:

You can’t change your thinking in order to improve your behaviour. You need to change your behaviour in order to improve your thinking. It’s taken me many years of searching and many many books, self development courses and personal growth experiences to come to this simple truth.

So if you, like me, are feeling anxious, concerned, depressed or gatvol, why not try changing your behaviour and DOING something differently, from today.

For example:

Greet every SAP policeman you meet with a friendly smile or handshake and thank them for protecting you and your loved ones. Boy do they need some motivation!

Visit www.sagoodnews.co.za. Often.

Read an inspiring book.

Write a poem.

Get into nature (or walk barefoot on your lawn!)

Write down everything you have to be grateful for. Every morning.

Play inspirational music, especially when the news comes on your radio.

Find some way to exercise your body a little more. (Endorphins are lekker!)

Try out one of the 100 available techniques of mediation or relaxation.

Watch the sunrise and/or sunset.

Create a morning ritual to make your day beautiful.

Find out and speak about the good news.

Choose to be happy.

And don’t allow the media to f%&k with your mind.

Most importantly, seek out and speak your own truth and live a whole life.

You deserve it.

And in doing so, you will change your life and make a massive difference to this special place we call home.

PS: To all the media people out there – I’m all for a free press. Really. I’m just sick and tired of your continued obsessive focus with everything negative. When are you going to realize that you are not merely reporting on what is happening – you are CAUSING some of it by your actions. Yes – YOU! You are helping to perpetuate a dangerous cycle of violence and destruction. I accept that bad news sells, but soon there will be nobody left here to buy it! Please cheer up and get a life or piss off and go find another job. Serious. I’ve had it with your sensationalism and scandal. Enough already. Start doing your job and working a little bit harder to creatively seek out and give some headline space to the good stuff going down in SA. Trust me, it’s there!

(Pheeew it feels good to have got that off my chest!!!)

I wish you an awesome day. Choose to make it that way!

Mark Berger.