SA Rural Security

June 7, 20171


Politics driving factor behind farm attacks in South Africa

Since the unrest in the Coligny, there has been a notable increase in farm attacks in the North West Province. This increase lends credence to the theory that politics can be/ is the driving factor in these types of incidents.

Perhaps we should consider parts of the population have become “imprinted” negatively towards the “other” through cognitive scripting. See below.

Summarized version:

AN INTRODUCTION: Learned and memorized through an introduction that “the “other” are bad and not like you (An example of this is “white people are murderous, racist, land thieves/ or black people are savage, uneducated, lazy, thieving murderers)

INDOCTRINATION: [Family/ Friends/ Political leaders] Repeating that the “other” are bad and are not like you (i.e., reiterate that the “other” is a racist/ murderer/ land thief/ foreigner, etc.]

PROMPTING: Friends/ family/ Community/ Political Leaders] Calls to kill or hurt the “other that are bad and not like you” (i.e., take their land, kill them, torture them, shoot them, kill their children, etc.)

Scripts of this nature are mostly determined by how the situation affects an individual and once imprinted becomes very resistant to change. Racism is an example of this type of scripting. Once learned it becomes very resistant to change.

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