HOW WE SHOULD ALL LIVE IN THIS WONDERFUL PLACE
What do philosophy lecturers in Grahamstown do in the long months between festivals? In the case of Samantha Vice, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Rhodes University, they are wracked with guilt, shame and regret about being white and about enjoying ‘whitely' privileges. Ms Vice expressed her views in this regard in a recent article in the Journal for Social Philosophy titled "How do I Live in This Strange Place?"
Ms Vice's point of departure is that white South Africans, whether directly implicated in apartheid or not, should be consumed with guilt and shame because of their continuing and conspicuous ‘whitely privileges'.
"In this country it is difficult to avoid thinking of oneself as guilty just by being white, irrespective of directly racist actions, and irrespective of whether one was responsible for acquiring whitely habits. One is - even if unavoidably - a continuing product of white privilege and benefiting from it, implicated in and enacting injustice in many subtle ways; it seems to me that feelings of guilt are appropriate."
She asks what it would take for whites to be good people. She states that whites cannot unproblematically see themselves fitting into, or contributing to, the post-Apartheid narrative. She argues that guilt, regret and shame are appropriate emotions for whites and that to be morally successful, they should manifest humble and silent restraint. According to Vice, whites - recognizing their damaging presence -
"... would try, in a significantly different way to the normal workings of whiteliness, to make themselves invisible and unheard, concentrating rather on those damaged selves... One would live as quietly and decently as possible, refraining from airing one's view on the political situation in the public realm, realizing that it is not one's place to offer diagnoses and analyses, that blacks must be left to remake the country in their own way. Whites have too long had influence and a public voice; now they should in humility step back from expressing their thoughts or managing others."