It's been more than a month, so maybe it's safe to talk about it now. On Feb. 9, The Cavalier Daily published "June Bug," a story Life columnist Julia Sharpe wrote about her trip to South Africa. She noted poverty contrasting with wealth, Western style upscale life beside Third World struggles for survival. She spoke of her uneasiness. And she ended the story with the following lines. I ask you to read them carefully.
"African Magic was the answer, or so said my friend's mother, with whom we were staying. Do not question it; just let it be. And so African Magic became the answer to my previous uneasiness. The paradoxes, the dualistic nature of Cape Town's European style inside of Africa's poverty. It was African Magic that forced everything into harmony; it was African Magic that came from the paradox. Apartheid's shadow was so obvious from the settlement townships, and yet it was also a thing of the past and any modern-day consequences of such must be overcome. The exploitation amid the natural beauty seemed to come together to form African Magic - which was essentially that things were different here. The way of life was different. Things had to be taken as they were and slowly pushed toward betterment instead of being forced. Thus, I came to realize that South Africa is about relaxing into the state of things while striving to become better. South Africa is a paradox: It's magic."
The preponderance of people who wrote in response seemed to be convinced that Sharpe is an overly sheltered ignorant Euro-centrist elitist racist colonialist with a weak grasp on economics. I've never met Julia Sharpe, but I'm betting that's a little bit over the top.
Sharpe's piece was meant to be a fluffy little travelogue. If she knew the history of these things, Sharpe may have begged off the assignment.
You don't have to look at travel writing about other continents to find trouble. Late 19th-century travelers to Appalachia - some of whom seemed never to have bothered to step off a train in the region - wrote of "A Strange Land and a Peculiar People" among the mountains. There wasn't much truth in local color writing, but its stereotypes persist.
Ben Franklin wrote of preparations for cod fishing and whaling in the Great Lakes. "Ignorant People may object that the Upper Lakes are fresh, and that Cod and Whale are Salt-water Fish: But let them know, Sir, that Cod, like other Fish, when attacked by their Enemies, fly into any Water where they think they can be safest; that Whales, when they have a Mind to eat Cod, pursue them wherever they fly; and that the grand Leap of the Whale in that Chace up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed by all who have seen it, as one of the finest Spectacles in Nature!"
Not everyone knew he was joking.
Any time a person takes on a subject they're unfamiliar with, they're liable to expose themselves to the prospect of looking foolish. But they also expose themselves and others to the prospect of learning something. Even comments that look foolish in retrospect can open up conversations. Conversations can lead to knowledge, even wisdom, and action. Too much of the conversation that followed "June Bug" seemed to be about punishing Sharpe and proving her attackers' moral superiority over her. I'm not sure how that advanced the cause of equality or understanding or cultural literacy or improved the plight of suffering people anywhere.
Here's what I think. I think Sharpe is sheltered and na
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