Wagging the Dog
Wagging the dog is a term often used in politics. What it essentially means is that, while a situation may look like one thing, something else entirely is affecting the outcome. When you look at South African politics and culture, it would appear that it’s often a case of the tail wagging the dog.
Take our criminals. South Africa is
currently suffering through some of the most violent
crime ever seen in any other country and, undoubtedly,
our criminals are vicious and bloodthirsty.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t make them any easier to
predict.
Yesterday a group of gangsters tried to hijack a bus. The driver tried to protect his passengers gut got shot by the crazed gunmen. Fortunately the driver wasn’t wounded badly and his passengers are all okay. What would have happened if this driver and all his passengers were armed?
I would imagine quite a different scenario. But, therein lies the crux of the matter, doesn’t it? Our criminals are vicious and bloodthirsty.
They attack their victims because
they believe that their victims won’t fight back. But
what if they did, for a change? With every potential
victim armed, criminals in South Africa will run out of
options sooner than they’ll run out of victims.
