Pulling off plasters

by Lauren Roodt
It's funny how when one has motivation anything is possible. The Oppidan Press, one of our student newspapers here at Rhodes, hosted a series of workshops this Saturday (27/09/08). The workshops were centered around sensitivity in the media. Now, for me who probably isn't the most committed journalist on the block, the thought of going to this was almost as agonising as the head-ache I had from the night before. But, with the promise of a certificate upon completion I pulled myself out of bed (maybe I should say plopped coz that's the kind of noise I made when I hit the floor) and rolled down the hill to meet my death. (Why would I do that all for a silly certificate? Well, my Journ vacation work got messed up for me so I figured that I had better push for as much extra credit as possible. Go figure- I only do things if there's something in it for me.)

Now usually if you say the word 'workshop' my mind goes to talking to strangers (urghhh!), group work (bigger urghhhh!) and the worst of it all... actually having to do (extra) work on my Saturday (URGHHHH!). However, suprised as I was to hear myself admitting it, the workshops were actually super fun! They were full of confrontation, fresh ideas and they used atypical methods to get their points across. The speakers from Amnesty, GAP, SHARC, and a speakers from the Afrikaans and Xhosa societies were confident, brave (we fired some mean questions at them) and they knew exactly what they were talking about. The main body of the workshop was based on discussion from us (the baby journo's) which lead to some firey looks and loaded words being shot all over the place but all were relevant and worthy issues which need to be raised by more people.

What struck me the most was how all of us Whities shut up when race (that big ugly word) was discussed. All of us were too scared to speak. Quite ironic considering that we were journo's attending a workshop on how to say what we think but in a sensitive way. It just hit me how people are so terrified to say what they think in fear of doing something wrong. I think that this is why nothing seems to be changing in SA. Everyone is too chicken. Nobody wants to say something because race has been made so prominent in SA. I just think that we should deal with it in the same why that you pull off a plaster. Admit you are going to have to deal with it, close your eyes and pull. I really believe that if we just took a deep breath and just did our jobs things would straighten out and would be a whole lot less painful than if we dwell on the issues and go slowly because we are too afraid of what the result might be.