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.
