Evening News
Good evening everyone.
I'd like to thank everyone again who has made a comment and also those who have offered to help with hosting and maintenance et cetera. I woke up this morning irritated with crimexposouthafrica.co.za and I am now glad to say that I am not the only one.
I'd also like to thank Tinus de Jager at SABC news for his email. It is the SABCs viewpoint that "any such coverage would give credence to something that, at the time of writing this, had no credence at all". I agree totally and appreciate their stance.
However, I have already started the ball rolling on this blog, and I am happy to say that the number of positive comments today is much larger than the '113 tourists' Mr Watson claims he has turned away from South Africa. Hopefully, those 113 will see that there are many more South Africans who will give any tourist a warm welcome.
I am not through all of the comments yet, but I am getting there. I am also pleased to note that there are people as far away as Japan and New Zealand who support what this blog is doing.
If any of you are tourists who have changed your mind, let me know. Comments are WELCOME. Also, please check out the links on the right hand side of the main page. Here are the real South African web sites with credible information. There is also a site for you to contact if you want to really DO something.
Cheers
Addy
Challenge from Anon
Hi again everyone
I was looking through the comments and I found this from another Anonymous.
"I challenge every person who has posted to this blog to do the following:"Go find a family with no income and find them some form of employment. Even if it is temporary. With over 100 comments, that's 100 families, x4 people per family = 400 less people who have a reason to look to crime."We all here can afford internet connections- at Telkom rates, that means we can afford to help out. Translate your hot air into action."Well... go on.
Unexpected EXPOSURE
Firstly, I'd like to thank IOL for the exposure so far. I went out after posting the blog this morning and I already have 400 comments.
As you can imagine I haven't had time to read all of the comments so far, but I have browsed through and found out that there are a few people who, like me, disagree with the new web site. There are also others who are against what I am doing. I expected that.
Firstly, yes I am young. People seem to think I know nothing. They say I'm just a kid, or, to quote "Ignorant kids like you are the first to leave the country when crime hits you ONCE."
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have been a victim of crime. I was mugged in Cape Town at knife point. I'm still here. I was also mugged in Swaziland. Now, I know what the Neil Watson's amongst you are thinking. "Dark Africa, terrible. Australia is our only answer." I may be twenty, but I have felt threatened on the Metro in Rome and the Underground in London. Who goes on the underground half an hour before it is closing? It's dangerous. I'm not here to diss other countries. South Africa has problems, but a web site devoted to gore is not the way forward, and furthermore, marketing the website to international news agencies is suicide for tourism in South Africa. I mean, crimexposouthafrica.co.za has a cemetery. What is that all about?
I need to try and read some comments so I'll close this post now. Thank you to everyone who has made a comment, good or bad. It's all good in my opinion. I'd also like to thank the people who have offered me free domain hosting. I'm not sure how this all works, but I'll be in contact.
This site is Positively South African
Welcome to The Unbroken Barometer
South Africa is Moving. But in which direction? I'm not here to dictate or to scare you. I'm not here to paint a rosy picture. I'm here to add some perspective to what is happening in my country.
I'll start by saying that I am a proud young South African. I've started this Blog because of a website which has recently started in South Africa. It is a 'crime barometer', but it appears to me that the barometer is broken. Fortunately, this one isn't.
I have tried to be heard on the website in question, but my comments have been refused. There are probably many other people who have experienced the same discrimination from the website. Put your comments here. Bad or good. I live in a democracy.
This is the full reply I received from Neil Watson after trying to submit a comment to his web site.
"You are living a dream! 20000 people got killed the past 12 months. The entire world is laughing at you!"We managed to stop 113 tourists the past 24 hours. True South Africans without a (PLAN B) British passport had enough of murder!"Have a great day!Neil Watson"If the entire world is laughing at me because I am positive and believe there is an alternative to moaning about life on a website, please let me know. My comments are open to everyone.
For people who want to see the web site in question, it is
www.crimexposouthafrica.co.zaI don't have the money to spend on a domain name, so mine is a little more complicated:
southafricamoving.blogspot.comI will post the first email I sent to the web site later, but for now, in a democratic country, I think it is important that people have the choice to say what they want.
PLEASE REFRAIN FROM COMMENTING ON THIS POST. I AM TRYING TO CAP IT AT 400 MAX. IT IS GETTING TOO LARGE TO READ AND LOAD QUICKLY. PLEASE COMMENT ON ANY OTHER POST ABOVE. COMMENTS HERE ARE STILL AVAILABLE TO READ. - ADDY
