In societies as unequal as the US and South Africa, crime is going to pay. When you add guns to that, crime is going to kill as well. While it does, there will be crime at crisis proportions in South Africa and that crime will gain a particular element of cruelty from South Africa’s vast aquifer of historical pain.
Niagara Falls lit up blue or red, depending on whether George III’s latest descendant is male or female. Is this the land of the Free?
This brings me to the subject of America’s niceness. I have been quite startled by the manners my American friends and their parents and everyone in the service industry shows me. People are bright, quick, efficient and very polite, but the wattage of their smiles can begin to be unsettling.
One of the best old things about the US, however, is the postal service. Unlike post offices in the UK and SA, the Post Office actually just does post.
