Common Ignorance.

Reader, I trust you have found my blog informative wherever you may be on this planet. Afterall, this is a blog written by a 36-year-old, black male from South Africa & as such would have the bias of such an individual. 

I'm a big advocate for comprehensive & specialised education but at the same time, we seem to forget that we need a sort of neglected knowledge - education of commonsense, general knowledge & civil nature. Now, these three concepts are often characteristics of the "developed world" & the select many peaceful, civilised societies worldwide. However, we should expect that they may not be common so we should expect turmoil & ignorance to be more common - even in a world as informed & educated such as the one we live in. 

I do not believe that I am ignorant or lack commonsense, lack an above-average general knowledge or lack an acceptable amount of civil behaviour but I am willing to improve if I lack in any of the aforementioned traits. And, as much as information & education is commonplace today, we do find voids where ignorance & unrest has festered in some societies. It is unfortunate that the people living in such societies believe such an existence to be the norm, often with hilarious & embarrassing consequences. A disfunctional society often suffers from something as simple as ignorance. 

I grew up in a world full of sports & sports people. My whole world was filled with football, athletics & other sports... so it is bizarre to me that football (aka soccer) is "otherised" in South Africa in favour of less common sports. Know this, football is the most common sport in South Africa, so if you do not know at least SOME football - you're not part of the majority. And football is a very enjoyable sport, it is the most common sport in the world perhaps only second to common running events. But despite all this, football gets less funding in South Africa than rugby & cricket which is more than I can say for my beloved, grotesquely neglected basketball. I first got interested in basketball watching NBA highlights with my father on some odd night in the 1990s & jumped to play it the first opportunity I got. Even though I stopped playing all sport except a little football around 2007, I stopped doing a lot of things & started doing other things in 2007. But due to my fundamental knowledge of the game, I remain interested in watching how it is played today & still play on occasion. Intro & background done. Today I believe basketball to be underfunded in South Africa as well, with netball (an offshoot of basketball) being more favoured. Look, I believe in "doing things by the book" & some might believe netball to be "pure basketball" as Naismith intended but it was not netball he endorsed & seemed to favour the more common worldwide game of basketball. While basketball is an American game; football, cricket & rugby are British games - we are neither British or American. But that doesn't mean that we need to focus on just our indigenous tribal games but I just wanted to put into context any anti-American sentiments. We "otherise" & alienate basketball in South Africa the same way the Boer community otherises & alienates football (aka sokker). And as a result, they become extremely ignorant of these two sports & try to forcefully extend their ignorance & disdain for these sports to the black community resulting in football & basketball being underfunded in South Africa because the rich oligarchs of South Africa are often whites of Germanic descent who like rugby more than either "sokker" or basketball. 

I can understand people not knowing much about basketball in South Africa but not football, football is part of our upbringing, it is not possible for it to be considered foreign to black South African culture. You can dislike football in your personal capacity but it is the people's game. We do not play basketball because we want to be exclusive. In fact, I've gone out of my way to translate basketball rules as well as a few drills into my vernacular on some online platforms. I believe anyone who wants to learn & play basketball should learn it & learn how to play it the right way. I believe in embracing a unique South African basketball identity that is distinct from American basketball & understand that it can be difficult because to many in South Africa, basketball is still only played in the USA despite Spain, Germany, Argentina & Brazil being former FIBA Basketball World Cup Champions. While many might not be interested in basketball or any sport at all in South Africa, many likely still like the game. I'd even argue that basketball is as popular as cricket, at least, in South Africa. 

Sometimes ignorance is unforgivable, because you can't be oblivious to the fact that people can't be at all places at once or the fact that you need to go to someone to say something to them. 

These three concepts should be taught in schools under Life Orientation; 

• Commonsense, 

• General knowledge & 

• Civil behaviour 

because I do not understand how you do not know how to play football & that you should not vandalise homes. You'd expect that kind of behaviour from an extinct hominid species. 

Postscript:

For context, I find Gridiron Football to be as foreign to black South African culture as rugby. We are more a people of technicality & finesse not so much of brute strength, flying bodies & dangerous collisions. I wouldn't mind a nationwide project at introducing baseball to common South Africans, it is a fun game & South Africa may have something to add to global baseball. We could gain something by creating an indigenous baseball culture & creating a local baseball league as long as our ignorance (or xenophobia) is not hidden cowardice. 

IDEALLY...

Simple national sports structure.

Ideally, for efficiency, national sports programmes could revolve around events people do in daily life so focus could be put on: 1) running, 2) powerlifting, 3) combat sports [i. e. wrestling & kickboxing], 4) swimming & 5) climbing.

As well as sports requiring hand-eye coordination & foot-eye coordination as well sports involving, striking a target with precision, dodging moving objects & striking an object with a stick with precision: 1) football, 2) volleyball/basketball, 3) javelin/dodgeball & 5) baseball/cricket/badminton/tennis. 

Then one or two indigenous games for national cultural preservation, solely. 

So should I be a sports administrator or minister - these would be the sports I would identify as essential for national health & wellbeing. 

This is an update of the previous blog An ideal national sports structure.

Opinion on V. R. & A. R. smart glasses.

Virtual Reality is only good for things like Google Earth (& perhaps Google Mars in future), some games & motor vehicle, watercraft or aircraft simulations. Augmented Reality would only be good if integrated with a GPS or a mapping system of sorts or maybe Google Images & Google Translate, I can't imagine it being used for communication while driving any vehicle or aircraft - other than a large ship - without it being a huge inconvenience if it's used for messages or other unimportant cellphone notifications. 

Personally, the only eyewear tech that could be of great use would be of some geolocation use e. g. to isolate & highlight items in the real world. I can imagine AR devices that could locate a person, vehicle, location like those Rekkie smart snow goggles. AR devices linked to Google Maps where you could stalk down & hunt your stolen motor vehicle with some micro GPS trackers. I imagine if your smart glasses have a very high-resolution camera, you could hyper-zoom & see objects that are very, very far away including celestial or extraterrestrial objects. Perhaps even add x-ray vision because it can be done with modern technology. 

Other than internet searching images, translating text & geolocation, some night vision or heat vision could come in useful in AR glasses... just not the nightmare of recieving messages or calls in your direct view while driving. 

In any case; unless you're driving, cycling or doing military operations - these are all features that could be better put in a smartwatch than uncomfortable, heavy eyewear including the nightvision, hyper-zooming, x-ray vision, heat vision & geolocating. 

Black faces, white mannerisms.

I was just watching a British guy documenting the history of South African television. And we never mention this even though we unanimously know it, but we have a class of quasi-European black people in South Africa & nobody is addressing this issue decisively. It's not always the people who went to white schools who act white but it's people who have simply embraced the South African system & somehow become quasi-European. We often call them Uncle Toms, Uncle Ruckuses & Aunt Jemimas but we never go in-depth at addressing this problem other than just ridiculing it.

There is a SERIOUS problem with black people embracing foreign/un-African systems & having genuine hatred towards their own kind. 

We can see it in our xenophobic sentiments towards black African immigrants but not so much towards white European immigrants. I know of black people who genuinely dislike black tendencies in South Africa despite over 80% of the country being black. 

This then begs to question, the South African system that these quasi-European black people are embracing has to be non-African at the very least for them to have such a manner towards other black people to uphold this system. 

I mean, I've seen enough media from the African continent to understand that South Africa has too many barriers to entry in some places. There are some things that are still subconsciously reserved for certain races in South Africa even though it is a "liberated" country. 

These quasi-European black people then become gatekeepers of certain activities which are reserved for certain racial groups. For example, there are very few black franchises & banks in South Africa in comparison to white franchises & banks. So 9% of the population has more than six banks while the over 80% black majority has less than three - if that. Yet there are black people actively working at stifling black banks. The richest & most powerful black people in South Africa are often ridiculed while the richest & most powerful white people in South Africa are left untouched from character criticism or ridicule. 

I felt that I had to blog this because we have black people who have never set foot in Europe acting European in South Africa & perhaps other places in Africa also have this type of person. These quasi-European Africans have genuine hatred for other black people for the mere reason that they are opulent or mildly well-off while not being white. 

I imagine there are such black people in other African countries but to a lesser extent than in South Africa. And in South Africa it comes off extra bad because we kept our colonizers, so it ends up looking like some black people are willing to be slaves of South Africa's quasi-European system & actively attacking other black people to uphold a system that is not theirs. This is what I see among many black Americans also, especially from the USA. These black people see themselves as so apart from Africa & Africans that they go as far as threatening death to Africans who reject USA's imperialism. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that such people are really "Not Like Us" even though we have a common origin. They have had Africa, literally, beaten out of them. The language & cultural systems they had while in Africa are completely forgotten to them & southern USA culture has replaced everything they knew from Africa. Virtually making their ancestry British. 

As for me, I did pick up quasi-European mannerisms in some places during the course of my life but I would only hate another black person if they themselves took it upon themselves to be my enemy & not because they are simply black. 

We have a serious problem in black society & we're just laughing it off as "coconuts", "Oreos" & Uncle Ruckuses while the root of the problem is very ominous & destructive towards black people in general. It's funny but it is no laughing matter. 

A decolonised African diet.

In Africa, our diet before colonisation consisted of: 

Meats: Fish, beef, Guinea fowl, goat 

Grains: Ensete & noog (i. e. Ethiopian banana & niger seeds), Teff (a grain/cereal of Ethiopia), Sorghum, Pearl/Bulrush millet, Finger millet

Herbs: Amaranth (Zulu: imbhuya), Devil's claw

Fruits, vegetables & legumes: Fonio & black fonio (a type of rice), Guinea rice, Yam, Groundnuts, Baobab

Drinks: Milk (cattle or goat), sour milk, coffee, rooibos tea, sorghum beer, Coffee 

Artificial Intelligence input: 

Fruits Indigenous to Africa

- *Baobab Fruit: Known for its powdery pulp rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, baobab fruit has been a staple in African diets for centuries. The pulp can be used to make smoothies, beverages, and desserts.

- *Marula Fruit*: A medium-sized fruit with a tart flavor, marula is native to southern Africa and has been consumed for centuries. It's often eaten raw or used to make jams and liqueurs.

- *Horned Melon (Kiwano)*: This spiky, orange fruit has a jelly-like interior with a mildly sweet flavor. It's native to southern and central Africa.

- *African Star Apple*: A vibrant orange fruit with a star-shaped seed pattern, African star apple is native to West Africa. It's sweetest when left to fall off the tree before consumption.

- *Tamarind*: Native to tropical Africa, tamarind has been used for centuries in cooking, beverages, and traditional medicine. Its tangy pulp adds flavor to sauces, soups, and stews.

- *Matoke*: A variety of green bananas indigenous to Uganda, matoke is often cooked and mashed as a staple dish.

- *African Mango (Irvingia gabonensis)*: While not the same as the common mango, African mango bears a mango-like fruit that's green when raw and red when ripe.

- *Monkey Orange*: Found in various parts of Africa, monkey orange has a citrusy flavor and is used in jams and beverages.

- *Mabolo*: Native to West Africa, mabolo has a sweet, custard-like flavor and is often used in desserts.

Vegetables Indigenous to Africa

- *Cowpeas*: A leaf and pulse crop native to Africa, cowpeas are rich in protein and carbohydrates. The leaves and seeds are eaten as vegetables.

- *Amadumbe (Taro)*: A root vegetable known as the "potato of the tropics," amadumbe is widely cultivated in southern Africa. Its starchy roots are cooked similarly to potatoes.

- *Amaranth*: A traditional leafy vegetable crop rich in calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C. It's commonly used in soups and stews.

- *Spider Plant*: A leafy vegetable with high nutritional value, spider plant is often used in traditional African cuisine.

- *Nightshade*: A herbaceous plant with small, shiny fruit, nightshade leaves and young shoots are cooked as a vegetable.

- *Pumpkin Leaves*: Used as a leafy vegetable in African cuisine, pumpkin leaves are rich in nutrients and often cooked with other ingredients.

- *Corchorus (Jute Plant)*: A vegetable with a slightly bitter taste, corchorus is rich in nutrients and used in traditional African dishes ¹ ². 

Some Zulu foods which were planted/eaten before the 1800s.

N.B.: Sugarcane was also imported into South Africa & didn't exist before 1848. So there was no sugar in the entirety of South Africa before the 19th century. 

This blog is a repost of a previous blog called "African diet in 1500 BC". 

Lynn Ngugi describing African foods 

AFRICAN RENAISSANCE