A Rage and Love Retrospective
South African schools continue self-destruction
My first book, Rage and Love, remains relevant. The same destruction I described in it continues today, as evidenced by the latest media coverage of a prominent Cape Town school, Diocesan College, or Bishops. More on this below.
Now is a good moment to reflect also on the book as a whole, and the spiritual moment I tried to capture in it.
Whilst predictably ignored by mainstream reviewers, Rage and Love has been reviewed on both Amazon and Goodreads.
On Goodreads, the average rating is 4.8/5. On Amazon, 5/5.
You can add your review on Goodreads here and on Amazon here.
Some excerpts from the written reviews:
Chris weaves his own personal memoir of his life in South Africa with philosophy, religion and current events. Truly an interesting read, connecting ideas that need to be put together but often are not. We have dear friends from SA, which was an initial reason I bought the book, but anyone who has lived through the last twenty years would find it a rewarding book.
My review of this book was censored. I gave it five stars. I contacted Amazon via phone and they kicked it upstairs and said they would send me an email in 24 hours. Still no email. I realize this book is not PC but it is true. So I am not putting back in that review, and hoping this little twerp of a review might pass, but advise to buy ten books and widely share. Maybe the bravery will spread.
I read this compelling book at a single sitting. Why did it compel? Some was familiar ( I am South African, and no matter how long ago we left, we always remain so), but its unapologetic honesty called me, the author's shared love of my country, and his evocation of what we lived in hope of, and watched destroyed. His widely read references made, not sense (there is no sense) but made common cause with others who, in other times and climes, expressed his need for inclusion, for understanding, and to make it almost bearable. It is an erudite philosophy, not derived from study by made personal from suffering and frustration. Wounds are not always visible. White South Africans no longer have the right to complain, but this book complains for them. So, it is both brave, and generous.
A reminder, paid subscribers receive a free copy of this book and The Word and the Flame.
I have been reflecting on one certain chapter of Rage and Love after I read this story about the aforementioned Bishops.
I had previously written about the school in 2022, in A Radical Sexual Agenda Captures Elite Cape Town School.
I received a stinging response from the previous headmaster who claimed he had not endorsed, at his Christian school, things like safe spaces for transgender kids, black-only spaces, etc. (He really had.)
The school seems to have continued down this path of dismantling its heritage, by flying a flag that explicitly celebrates a deadly sin: Pride. (Note also how it has 6 colours always; never 7.) Why people would be proud of their sexual appetites has always escaped me.
This past month they flew the LGBTQ+ flag, again, much to the chagrin of many parents, students, and Old Boys.
In their coverage, Newsday quoted the headmaster’s rationale for beginning this practice in 2021:
In 2019, when we could still travel, my wife and I went to New York on holiday at the end of a conference we attended in Canada.
We arrived in New York, took the underground to our hotel in Times Square and emerged at 10:00 in the morning into the middle of World Pride celebrations!
The cacophony of noise was indescribable, as was the riot of colour, but for us, what was the lasting impression that people were able to feel authentic, to be authentic, if only for a short period of time.
They were in a very big “safe space”. It was a wonderful moment I will remember forever.
Bishops Pride has decided to put up a pride flag for the final days of school this term to show support for Global Pride Month, which signifies the Stonewall riots of June 1969 in the US.
These riots were started by frequenters of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, resisting the harassment and brutality of the police that had plagued the entire community for decades, effectively starting the gay pride movement both in the US and in many other countries around the world.
South Africa also has its own history of an amazing queer pride movement, which worked hand in hand with the anti-apartheid movement, leading to South Africa’s new constitution being possibly the most supportive and protective of queer people in the world.
This proudly South African history will be remembered and celebrated later this year during October to commemorate when the first South African (and African) pride event took place on the 13th of October 1990.
Ultimately, Bishops commemorates these events to show support for the global and South African queer communities, as well as Bishops’ own queer students.
What an ignorant, smug piece of writing.
Does he honestly believe gays only feel safe during Pride Day… in New York?
Pride advocates have long made it their goal to normalize things like bondage, sadomasochism, and all manner of bizarre fetishes at these events. They explicitly do not tone down for the children who are taken to these events, arguing that normalizing their desires is the reason for the event.
(I won’t link to the pictures of such things.)
So, did this headmaster truly find New York Pride uplifting? If so, do parents want such a man around their child?
What does he, educating his community on the Stonewall Riots, really know about them? The Stonewall Inn was in fact targeted by police as a mafia-run centre for heroin-dealing and child prostitution. How many people had their lives ruined by this horror of a place?
This stuff continues to anger me a great deal. As it did when I lived through such culture struggles as a teacher in South Africa some years ago.
Luke 17: Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.
I would say that the chapter from Rage and Love about this revolutionary spirit taking hold in high schools (entitled ‘Demons’) probably best exemplifies the twin emotions of the title.
This chapter can be found attached right at the bottom of this post, as a gift to all my subscribers.
You can also purchase paperback or Kindle copies of both books here.
The Word and the Flame on Amazon
