2016 is the year political correctness lost the popular vote and conservative, borderline racist perspectives took centre stage, says Carvin H. Goldstone.
It’s been a strange year. One of those we’ve-regressed-more-than-we-progressed kind of years.
The year 2016 kicked off with a racial storm as estate agent Penny Sparrow now infamously compared black beach-goers to monkeys.
It never quite settled down from there, from calls for all white people to be killed to racist rants caught on camera.
It has been incident after incident as if some South Africans just decided 2016 was the year we would tell each other what we thought of the next person.
It was as if racial dinner-table discussions now came to the fore on social media pages.
Just when it went quiet, something else popped up.
Black South African rugby player Siya Kolisi’s marriage to his white partner of four years was the latest trigger for a racial outburst based purely on the colour of a person’s skin.
But it wasn’t just race which got us talking this year.
Bizarre religious practices in the name of Christianity have become a regular feature on TV and social media pages in recent years.
From eating snakes and grass to drinking petrol. But none generated a meme frenzy quite like the Limpopo pastor who just recently rose to nationwide fame for spraying his congregants with Doom.
Yes, the insect repellent. He was spraying Doom in the face of his followers, claiming God could use anything and the faith, rather than the methodology, was the most important.
And how right he is. Faith is such a powerful force even a plea from Doom manufacturer Tiger Brands, trying to discourage the use of Doom, could not stop it.
But there have also been some amazing moments.
Undoubtedly the biggest sporting moment of 2016 was Wayde Van Niekerk’s world record 400m race.
Special mentions to Caster Semenya and Chad le Clos for their consistency in achieving greatness in their sporting field.
Le Clos in particular has continued dominating in the water at the Fina World Champs, with some world records of his own last week.
In politics, it’s been a year to ponder for South Africans, as politicians just kept dishing out the comedy material in the build-up to and after the local government elections.
Somehow, we are ending 2016 with Jacob Zuma still president of South Africa.
Despite a barrage of criticism, Zuma has once again shown his ability to mobilise support and stay in charge.
Zuma rose to power as an underdog, a victim. All these years later and he is still playing the victim card to good effect.The SABC, the Guptas and Oscar Pistorius all made us appreciate the simplicity of a life away from the public eye.
Internationally, there have also been some big shifts - Britons voting to exit the EU signalled the rise of the sleeping right.
And 2016 is the year political correctness lost the popular vote and conservative, borderline racist perspectives took centre stage in world politics.
It’s as if the US said to Britain: “I’ll see your Brexit and I raise you our Trump card.”
The vagina-grabbing capitalist ascended to the highest, and arguably most powerful, office on earth. Orange is the new black, as Donald Trump proved that fear and hate are still what win elections.
In Hollywood, one of my favourite artists lost his mind in 2016.
I’ve watched it over and over and still can’t make sense of Kanye West’s meltdown on stage at his concert in Sacramento, which included an attack on Jay Z and Beyonce.
His hospitalisation for an apparent mental breakdown added to the drama of the Kardashian/West world.
However, the last time Kanye West was in hospital he came out with a smash album, College Dropout.
I’m sure next year will bring with it its own unique madness, but 2016 will definitely be a year to remember.
* Carvin Goldstone is a comedian.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.