the phoenix
Gulliver’s
Travails
Most people know about the book Gulliver’s Travels written by Jonathan Swift in the early part of the
eighteenth century, and they see it as a children’s book. But this book was strong political satire, and was
basically a satirical look at the state of European governments at the time.
I
n the past few weeks my mind has been
going back to this book, because living
in South Africa is uncannily similar to
what poor old Gulliver had to put up with.
It is because of this that I call this column
Gulliver’s Travails. The problems that Litage
Publishing has experienced with the recent
postal strike, is like being tied down and
imprisoned by and I quote Wikipedia on
this, “a race of tiny people, less than six
inches tall, and inhabitants of the island
country Lilliput.”
Scholars say that this book was also an
inquiry into whether men are inherently
corrupt or whether they become corrupted,
and a restatement of the older “ancients
versus moderns” controversy which Swift
had previously expounded.
It is as if we are in Gulliver’s time warp,
because it is his experiences that harden
his attitudes, and he becomes disgusted
with the behaviour of people, and he
“progresses from a cheery optimist at
the start of the first part to the pompous
misanthrope of the book’s conclusion”,
which is exactly what is happening to me,
as I have to negotiate the catastrophes
visited upon the businessmen of South
Africa, by “a race of tiny people, inhabitants
and rulers of a country that is beyond the
imagination.”
Once again I need to quote from Wikipedia,
“throughout, Gulliver is presented as being
gullible; he believes what he is told, never
perceives deeper meanings, is an honest
man, and expects others to be honest.
This makes for fun and irony; what Gulliver
says can be trusted to be accurate, and he
does not always understand the meaning
of what he perceives.” This once again
describes me in this crazy country called
South Africa, as I am perplexed by the
behaviour of the midgets that run this
country. Midgets definitely not in stature
(you just have to see the derrières of metro
policemen and women, and most politicians
to see what I mean) but in intellect and
ability. As with poor old Gulliver, these
midgets are slowly but surely grinding me
down, and I desperately need a holiday.
And so do most of my readers.
Let us all take a holiday, both
Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!
literally and metaphorically, and let
us come back with our batteries
recharged, and let it be a deep
charge, so that we can tackle
2015 with vigour and purpose, and
hopefully the charge will see us
through to the end of the year.
Whilst this issue of aBr is jam packed with information, our monthly contribution cannot do justice to the wealth of information
available on a daily basis, so don’t forget to get your daily fix on our website. Make sure that you make regular visits to
| words in action
2
www.abrbuzz.co.za
december 2014 / January 2015