Port Elizabeth: MyPE - Are You Guilty of Human Rights Abuse in PE?

www.MyPE.co.za: Today bloggers all around the world are trying to end the silence and inaction of ordinary people by writing about Human Rights Abuse issues. Many will write about China, Burma, Zimbabwe, the Middle East - all hot topics guaranteed to get people's attention for a nanosecond whilst they nod their heads sagely and point out that Human Rights abuse "does not happen in our part of the world".

I would be inclined to disagree.

The ground 'work' that lays the path towards Human Rights abuse starts here in our own backyards, in our own homes, schools, cities and countries.

By allowing small instances of Human Rights abuse to take place we are silently condemning and buying into the greater abuses that take place every day. Slowly, but surely, bit by bit, our acceptance of the myriad tiny forms of abuse manifest and build into acceptance of greater crimes against humanity and our very own morality.

A wise old fellow once said; "Take care of the cents and the rands will take care of themselves".

I say that we need to take care of our little transgressions, treat each other one on one with the respect that we deserve and then the major crimes against humanity will have a lesser chance of shocking us and filling empty column centimetres. Tough for anyone in the media to buy into as it is very hard to write about good stuff, and far easier to write about wars, political tyranny, xenophobia, murder, rape and the like. After all the 'ordinary' man loves to hear about how bad things are in other areas of the world, in some twisted way someone else's misfortune affirms to us that we are 'lucky to be living in XYZ country or town'.

Just for today stop YOUR petty Human Rights abuses and send a clear message to those within your small circle that you are a mature, level headed member of the human race, willing to see the true inner person and not the snapshot outside that is presented to you.

Now, all good (?) writers on the net say that articles headed with lists are the way to go - something like "10 Easy Ways to Combat Human Rights Abuse" or "10 Rules that Bob Mugabe Does Not Live By" or "15 Ordinary Instances of Human Rights Abuse" would be the suggested topic titles to grab the reader and get your message across. Right or wrong, I don't know, but I do know one thing - no amount of clever marketing or tactics to get attention will ever help stem the growing tide of Human Rights abuse without commitment from readers or even practical examples of how people can help:

- the husband or wife who cheats on their spouse: you are abusing not only your partner/s, children and yourself but every other person who becomes aware of your infidelity.
- the person who employs another based on skin colour: do you really think that you are doing the right thing for yourself, company or country?
- the person who ignores the rights of another at a 4 way Stop sign: I am the guy with four fingers up in the air and no, I am not saying; "Choose a finger!" but rather reminding you that it is a four way stop.
- the person who says; "Bloody Kaffir", "Bloody Jew", "Bloody Dutchman", Bloody South African", "Bloody Soutpiel", "Bloody Umlungu", "Bloody Whatever": Your misguided anger and actions have repercussions that resonate with anger and hatred that contribute to our minute acceptance of yet another abuse of human rights and dignity.
- the person who reacts to abuse with more abuse: keep quiet, forgive and try to educate the abuser.

We seem to have lost our moral compass and allowed bigger issues to aid us to commit even more smaller abuses of rights and dignity. You will hear many people say that a pyramid's height is dependant on the width of it's base. At the top of the pyramid we had Apartheid, All Wars, Hitler's Genocide of the Jews, the Hutu's and the Tutsi's and presently we have China, Burma, Zimbabwe, Guantanamo Bay, Darfur the list goes on. Taking the pyramid theory one step further - it is my opinion that we support and allow the 'top' of the pyramid of Human Rights Abuse to exist as a direct result of our 'petty' abuses at the base of the pyramid.

My challenge to you is simple; "Change your attitude and the pyramid will get smaller."