Perceptions of sociaty

Good Monday all.

One of the most popular posts that I wrote on this blog concerns the fifteen years that South Africa has lived through democracy and the fact that as much as things change, they stay the same with regards to race and race relations.

It amazes me how people portray others and assign them certain 'hats'. These 'hats' that I am referring to is a metaphorical term for personality traits.

And we have all heard them before: The men from Cape Town are a bunch of queers. The people from the eastern suburbs of Johannesburg are a bunch of drunk inbreds with three heads. The people from the northern suburbs of Johannesburg are a bunch of rich daddy's kids who cant fight.

These all sound very familiar right? Personally I don't believe in assigning these 'hats' to people because I am not one to judge. However, after watching the FA Cup Semi Final between Manchester United and Manchester City on the weekend in the eastern suburbs of Joburg. I can understand why people participate in this practice.

At the table next to us was a bunch of people in their early to late fourties watching the rugby game between the Stormers and the Lions. They were obviously drinking as if the day of judgment was near because as soon as they put down their shots of Sambuca, the waitress came back to the table with another round. In between all of the noise of people cheering either for the Stormers, Lions or Manchester United, I heard two people at the said table comment: ons gaan onsself fucked up om te drink totdat hulle voer ons uit hierdie plek! For my international audience who cannot speak Afrikaans, basically this means: we are going to drink ourselfs fucked up until they carry us out of this place!

I mean, this just gives fuel to the fire that people think that the Eastern Joburgers can do nothing else but drink, so why make proclamations such as this? Because following from that will be the rumors that they are going to go home and pump their sisters.....and ....and...and.

I don't give a shit about the Lions, in fact I knew that they were in for a hiding, it was just a case of how big it was going to be. But the fact that Manchester United played with absolutely no imagination what so ever pissed me off. And then every time United made a mistake, the table of drinkers would make a loud comment about it hoping to coax the lion in me to come out.

This would have been the case had it not been for their waitress who was also serving our table. She gave me a gentle flirtatious smile and mentioned that I needn't worry they wouldn't be there long. No sooner had the words came our of her mouth then one of the stauncher Manchester United fans actually took up the challenge, which saw the askria burst into the establishment kicking tables and chairs over like S.W.A.T and arresting most of the men from the table of drinker.

No sooner had the askria left then the women at the table of drinkers started challenging anyone they could find to a fight. And almost as if by magic the Manchester United fan's wife picked up an empty bottle and bottled the offending lady over her head.

As the remaining people from the table of drinkers carried the unconscious woman out of the establishment, a friend of mine at our table thought that this was the best thing ever so he invited the couple over to our table. Asking the United girl why she did it she proclaimed: I coome from blooooody Manchester! We like a good scrap we do! Toook me back to the old days at the Cockney Inn!

It wasn't until I was taking my lady friend Kim home that she mentioned to me that its events like this that perpetuate the cycle of providing people with 'hats'

Welcome to the human race!