JONATHAN JANSEN: The difference between sight and insight
'Insight tells you that if they wanted to restore the land to the dispossessed they would have done it over the past 24 years of democracy'
EXTRACT
Sight means witnessing the vicious fights in parliament about taking land from the whites without compensation. Insight understands this has nothing to do with the important land question and everything to do with political parties jostling for advantage ahead of the 2019 elections. Insight tells you that if they wanted to restore the land to the dispossessed they would have done it over the past 24 years of democracy.
Sight means noticing the increasingly violent protests on campuses as small groups of militant students demand fee free higher education. Insight grasps that however noble the cause, the now chronic violence and disruptions on some campuses destroys something much more central to the very existence of the modern university – a place where reason, exchange, debate and thought replace violent action. Insight therefore conveys a sense not only of the here and now but of what the conflagration of the present means for the future of democratic institutions.
My grandfather became blind. His daughter said he refused to see. This happened after his Montagu property, the family home, was taken away and given to whites. As a grandchild, I only knew him as blind. But there was something special about Pa Johnson – he was the wisest man I knew. People sought his counsel. He understood difficult things despite his lack of advanced education. He would sit on a cool drink box in the yard and direct his grandchild to the part of a fence that needed fixing. He had something schooling cannot provide. Insight. And so I want to discuss with you the difference between sight and insight. Sight means seeing an old woman with heavy shopping bags trying to cross the busy road. Insight means rushing to help her. In other words, sight fixates on the obvious while insight moves the seer to action. Sight is neutral observation, the restatement of what is already known. Insight desires to change the status quo.Sight means witnessing the vicious fights in parlia...
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