Can we just be sensible for a moment?

Oy vey. Now that the last piece I wrote is up on the Slog, I'm already having nightmares that people will use my writing as a reason not to travel anywhere in Africa.

If people decide to augment their study abroad plans and not go to South Africa because of something I write on the Slog, then those people are fucking retarded (scuse my french) for taking a (slightly) humorous first-person narrative piece from a satirical alt-weekly and using that writing to not do something.

The point of art is to expose a society to itself, not to sugar coat things, not to placate and soothe scared people. If this kind of writing provokes people, perhaps they should understand the difficult emotions that rise to the surface when they read this and look at themselves with compassion rather than blame or shame the message sender. That is just stupid. Puh-lease. You’re reading the Slog, not a South African guidebook. Get over yourself.

I hope that the people who read my writing will come here, experience the country for themselves, and decide what they think....