All the Gods of Greed

On March 11th, I wrote:

"But what I think is that, among this conflagration of aggressive Red and equally-although-not-physically aggressive Orange, this country could be destined for the flames."

, never dreaming that last Sunday morning I would wake up to one grisly confirmation.

Eugene TerreBlanche, sometime leader of the far right wing AWB (the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, although 'stand-together' movement actually sounds better, if you translate the Afrikaans) had been hacked and bludgeoned to death in his bed, on his farm near Ventersdorp.

As I heard the news on the early-morning radio, a mass of conspiracy theories germinated in my brain, not the least of which concerned the man not really being dead at all. Fortunately (for me, anyway) I'm not inclined towards the conspiracy side of the spectrum, so I've been looking at the scenario as if most of what the media has given us is, more or less, true.

Two young men have confessed to the murder. A perfect example of Red rage and egocentricity - one of the men is only 15 years old. And at first, the White reaction was pretty much on a level with the deed: revengeful soundbites were widely broadcast.

Yet this morning, apart from the content of talkshows, social networking sites and newspapers, most of which is surprisingly conciliatory in tone, I have a different idea in mind,and that is that this county's very thin layer of Orange may in fact save this from becoming a war.

The approximately 9% of the population who fall into the White category, and who largely make up the Orange developmental level, are as necessary to the Red masses as anything could be. For 9% of the population actually powers much more than 50% of the economic engine in this country. (That's a thumb-suck. I can't find exact figures, but I'd appreciate some from someone who knows about these things).Without the Orange Skin, the Red would have no income short of looting and crime - which is always an option, I guess, but one which the majority still haven't taken up.

So this unbalanced society may be saved by its very Orange-over-Red -ness, and the brewing of civil/racial/ethnic war may be more wishful thinking in some quarters than an actual possibility. Thanks be to all the gods of greed.