THE attachment to the ANC by most people in this country defies reason. A quasi-religious faith in the liberation movement that delivered a negotiated solution is the order of the day. Benjamin Franklin once said: “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” Centuries before him, Sophocles had the same idea. In Oedipus at Colonus he demonstrates that antirationalism — as exemplified by Oedipus — is contradictory and self-destructive. Sophocles advocates a sober and cautious political rationalism that recognises the dangers of religious passion to political life.This is as true of America in the 18th century and Greece in the 3rd century BC as it is of SA today. Support for the ANC continues despite the dictates of reason.Never mind that the events which led to SA’s successful negotiation were extraneous (the fall of communism) and that internal mass movements which challenged a beleaguered state were separate from the ANC: blind faith still rules.Even among the intelligen...
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