Hooray for Illinois - NOT

[Rammy]

Wow.

 

[NH Homesteader]

That's terrible. What's sad is that all I've heard about South Africa is apartheid is over, everything's fixed yay! I mean, without seeking out the information anyway. It's very sad and not a good place to grow up it sounds. People in fortunate countries like the US should spend more time looking into what the majority of the world lives like on a daily basis. It sure makes me feel bad for complaining that I need new shocks on my car and we had a 2 hour power outage this week.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

X2 - everything!

 

[sumi]

That's terrible. What's sad is that all I've heard about South Africa is apartheid is over, everything's fixed yay! I mean, without seeking out the information anyway. It's very sad and not a good place to grow up it sounds. People in fortunate countries like the US should spend more time looking into what the majority of the world lives like on a daily basis. It sure makes me feel bad for complaining that I need new shocks on my car and we had a 2 hour power outage this week.

I don't want to "down" this thread, but things have gone from bad to terrible in S.A. since apartheid ended. The country is falling to pieces. Google "Eskom & load shedding" for an example. Keeping in mind the cost of electricity (to consumers) went up by nearly 400% over the last 10 years...

DO NOT Google anything related to violent crime, farm murders etc. (There is a lot of extremely graphic and upsetting stuff posted and shared about that online, so I'd suggest just avoid it completely) Just take it from me, whites are being murdered daily, especially farmers and their families. I personally survived two attempts on my life, the second one nearly succeeded.

Things are BAD down there.

 

[sumi]

I'm sorry if this goes too political. I did Google farm murders in SA, not because I like gory things but because if someone's living it i feel like I should educate myself about it.

Donald Trump commented that white farmers in SA are being murdered, the Washington Post claims this is not true and is a myth spread by white supremacists. Well, that goes to show you how much faith we should have in journalism.

Oh... I hope you didn't dig too deep into the facts. The truth and reality of what's going on down there is not pretty.

The Washington Post should do their homework before being so eager to contradict things they clearly know nothing about. Perhaps do a Google search for YT videos of S.A. politicians singing "Kill the boer! Kill the farmer!" to the masses would make it more real for them?

Journalism is a slippery slope and I'm careful to take anything I read in news articles too seriously, as you've clearly stated now, they often put their own spin or agenda on reporting.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I have always been curious how accurate (or not) the media's representation of what's happening in other countries is. I usually don't know anyone with firsthand knowledge.

No I only read a few articles and no pictures popped up!

 

[sumi]

Thanks @Britesea I checked to see if I can have my brother come over and found I need to earn enough monthly to show I can fully support him here, before they'd consider it. Sadly I don't, though I'm working on finding ways to increase my income. Our only option now is waiting for me to get my citizenship, which will allow him to apply for a different visa that will give him permission to work here, which is what he prefers anyway. It's horribly frustrating, having to wait and worry and pray he'll be safe for another 2 years, but what can I do? I simply don't have the means to "sponsor" him at the moment.

Oh, the world was up in arms over apartheid and now things are way worse? Some are turning a blind eye, or saying it's lies. That makes me so mad. I met and spoke with a family from S.A. that moved here after surviving a farm attack. It's very real and very awful and scary for those having to live through it and the daily fear. It took me awhile to relax here and stop fretting over every bump in the night, being nervous about going out in the evenings and looking over my shoulder all the time.

I heard about the media attacking Trump all the time over there. We get the odd report here about his doings and other news from the States that is interesting enough to take our minds off the ongoing Brexit circus, but no-one seems to have a good or bad opinion about the man here. In fact, the only negativity I heard here from the Irish about the States was disbelief and horror at the shootings and violence over there.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Funny, the media likes to tell us how much the rest of the world hates Trump...

 

[NH Homesteader]

I really hope you're able to get some of your family members there soon. How long have you been in Ireland?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

We only hear what they want us to hear.