subversplat
writer of wrongs
Scary shit, but Louis is fearless 
"Can we go in?" says Louis to two petrified looking vigi-cops
"Can we go in?" says Louis to two petrified looking vigi-cops
Louis Theroux - Law And Disorder In Johannesburg BBC2
- Thread starter themonkeyman
- Start date
jontz01
taking refuge in the loft
Scary shit, but Louis is fearless
"Can we go in?" says Louis to two petrified looking vigi-cops
Yea, he comes across all soft and naive but must have some balls to want to go in there... Either that or he's just daft...
I couldn't belive the bit where 'Bad Boyz' attacked the guy for defending himself, they REALLY layed into him. Especially when that guy took a run up and kicked the guy in the head, every time he tried to move away they tripped him and kicked him back down... Made me feel really uncomforatble watching that...
5t3IIa
Registered User
Yea, he comes across all soft and naive but must have some balls to want to go in there... Either that or he's just daft...
I couldn't belive the bit where 'Bad Boyz' attacked the guy for defending himself, they REALLY layed into him. Especially when that guy took a run up and kicked the guy in the head, every time he tried to move away they tripped him and kicked him back down... Made me feel really uncomforatble watching that...
And pepper spraying directly into someone eyes from one inch away
That's when I started to feel ill.I'd say, all in all that it was an interesting series of programmes but all a bit 'Look at this, innit awful?' than very helpful. Though what could be? :shrug:
Yea, he comes across all soft and naive but must have some balls to want to go in there... Either that or he's just daft...
I couldn't belive the bit where 'Bad Boyz' attacked the guy for defending himself, they REALLY layed into him. Especially when that guy took a run up and kicked the guy in the head, every time he tried to move away they tripped him and kicked him back down... Made me feel really uncomforatble watching that...
It wasn't even him either. It was the guy with the distinctive cancerous looking skin who said on camera 'it was me, I punched him', not the guy screaming 'I didn't do anything' whilst getting leathered and pepper sprayed.
I have to agree Louis is fearless. He gets told that a building without any lights is probably a hideout for armed robbers, 'erm could we go in there, I really want to have a look'.
5t3IIa
Registered User
Thinking further about this I am glad I saw the SA one. I know almost nothing about the place and I'm glad I got a tiny bit of an education.
A friend's bf is white SA and I generally find his views about black SA totally objectionable and avoid them/him as a result. I'm glad I've seen some more about his country. Helps me to understand that he is nothing more then your ordinary priviledged spod who can do whatever he wants and has no intelligence, empathy or understanding of anyone else
A friend's bf is white SA and I generally find his views about black SA totally objectionable and avoid them/him as a result. I'm glad I've seen some more about his country. Helps me to understand that he is nothing more then your ordinary priviledged spod who can do whatever he wants and has no intelligence, empathy or understanding of anyone else
5t3IIa
Registered User
This was by far the best bit of tv i've seen in a while.I honestly thought the most part of it wasn't real right up until the point of hearing the thud of that guy getting kicked in the face.I still can't get my head around the facts of this programme
But the sad thing is that this documentary could of been so much better with a decent reporter
Alarm bells started ringing for me when the badboyz guy said to a group of drug dealers ''send over the commisioner,erm,the tall one'' and even more so when the ''commisioner'' said ''he(badboyz guy) is my boss''.I was kind of expecting Theroux to be all over him after hearing that,but no
Perhaps the reason Theroux can get away with what he does is because he is not controversial enough.Maybe a real reporter would of picked up on something like this and been shunted/killed straight away
Great documentary that could of easily been excellent documentary if not for poor reporting
But the sad thing is that this documentary could of been so much better with a decent reporter
Alarm bells started ringing for me when the badboyz guy said to a group of drug dealers ''send over the commisioner,erm,the tall one'' and even more so when the ''commisioner'' said ''he(badboyz guy) is my boss''.I was kind of expecting Theroux to be all over him after hearing that,but no
Perhaps the reason Theroux can get away with what he does is because he is not controversial enough.Maybe a real reporter would of picked up on something like this and been shunted/killed straight away
Great documentary that could of easily been excellent documentary if not for poor reporting
subversplat
writer of wrongs
I think you're really expecting too much of Louis here - he's not out there to interrogate these guys, just to open up their lives to our settee-ridden arses. If he started getting all in-your-face confrontational then there's no way we would have got, for example, to see that guy having his face kicked in.
It wasn't self defence it was retribution
They said he smashed a glass so they chased him and kicked his head in......badboyz got retribution for knocked out guy
He established clearly that the 'chariman' was paying Badboyz for protection, as well as for all intents and purposes getting them to admit to the revenge killing. They simply can't keep a straight face in response to Theroux's fake docile and naive questions. There is no doubt that if he had taken a more high-handed and interrogating approach they simply would have shut down and kept him at a distance, as you pretty much said there anyway.
It seemed to me they were paying to be protected against and not by the badboyz
Really shocked me.It was like something from an early 90's gangsta film but in modern day
Scary shit, but Louis is fearless
"Can we go in?" says Louis to two petrified looking vigi-cops
Definately. He can get on my nerves, but this was his best in a long while.
I couldn't figure Theroux out.Is he sarcastic or thick or naive or what
But fair play he has balls of steel!!!
zenie
>^^<
Did it? That's not what I got from it!
Interesting and very dark programme wasn't it? Just what went so wrong in SA?
Did it? That's not what I got from it!
Well the ''chairman'' looked like he was shitting his self when badboy man called him over and then ''chairman'' said ''he(badboy man) is my boss''
Quite possibly one of grimmest things i've ever seen. Really made me feel uncomfortable, just the level of casual violence that seems accepted is unreal. One of guys said something like 'An African solution to an African problem' and my first thought was, look around you, has it solved anything?
On Louis and his style, I think it works. He's there to shine a light on these things, if he's confrontational and pushes peoples buttons these people will just ignore him and not give him anything, but he leads people into answering and giving away more than they might otherwise by not being seen as judgemental.
On Louis and his style, I think it works. He's there to shine a light on these things, if he's confrontational and pushes peoples buttons these people will just ignore him and not give him anything, but he leads people into answering and giving away more than they might otherwise by not being seen as judgemental.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Don't worry, our 'ghetto yutes dem' are workin as hard as they can to make uk cities as fucked up and crap as that too, give them time though, it's hard work.
I think the ANC dropped the ball on this one, they were so busy fighting apartheid, they didn't notice the creeping triumph of apartwealth, it's the spirit of apartheid without all the bad PR. Now they have a government that has no real power in terms of economics, regulation and policy.
travellerlife
Well-Known Member
The top echelon spotted a gap to make life that much more comfortable. It is funny to see hard core communists/leninists, like Tokyo Sexwale or Cyril Ramaposa, more capitalist and greedy than Donald Trump. The ANC have not delivered to the man in the street, and although they have woken up to the fact of late, it may just be too late. As they are called the Xhosanostra in the national executive / provincial government. Corruption, nepotism and the complete and abject failure of affirmative action, has merely redistributed to the chosen few, contracts / jobs being circulated amongsts friends and even within families. Jacob Zuma is a classic example of it, although he is not Xhosa, but Zulu.
Another more controversial view, is the SA communist party is in a strong resurgence, not as a joined entity to the ANC or Cosatu but as a separate and power seeking entity. At the last ANC conference,the level of SACP grassroots agitation was very worrying, even for the dyed in the wool ANC supporters. Destabilising the ANC from the inside if you like, with the ultimate aim of a power grab at the national executive level. Not outside the realms of possibility.
cliche guevara
Well-Known Member
This was awesome, a quality bit of telly. I didn't realise how bad it was, or that hijacking buildings even existed. The vigilantes are just organised gangs. The whole situation is fucked up beyond belief. Much respect to Louis Theroux for having the balls to make that documentary.
themonkeyman
WHOOO HOOOO !!!
yeah it was pretty full on
Riklet
procrastinación
I was watching it on iplayer and couldn't bear to make any food, I had to finish it. Fucking hell it was depressing (baby + microwave banter, and that poor beaten bloke not talking, especially), makes you appreciate a lot... and makes me never want to go anywhere near Jo-burg. That really IS how things are though, some of my family are from Zimbabwe/South Africa and a few other places... they largely ended up in S.A. before getting out of there. Some are still there though; the family across the street from one was held hostage (all taped up) and they were about to rape the women to prove a point so they'd cough up more when one of the sons broke free and smacked one of the guys over the head with a fire extinguisher. Fucking sketchy, how can people live like that? I was talking to another relative about her sister who still lives out there and works in media, who has at very least probably had her bag snatched, she doesn't talk about the rest....
So unbelievably depressing really, S.A. has kinda slid downhill gradually, whilst the politicians ignore the problems. Major repz to Theroux for making the program though, I thought it was a really good bit of documentary making, much better than his jaunt into Killadelphia...
So unbelievably depressing really, S.A. has kinda slid downhill gradually, whilst the politicians ignore the problems. Major repz to Theroux for making the program though, I thought it was a really good bit of documentary making, much better than his jaunt into Killadelphia...
Cid
Proper break this time
None of the above... His technique is to appear naive which sets people at there ease and sort of opens them up. It can be a bit annoying sometimes, but it works very well imo.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
What, even from the heady days of yore?
That's bad. I get that there's probably loads of corruption, but the poverty of the 'free-trade' type economy and the governments inability to regulate or put money where it needs to go etc probably has more to do with the incredable levels of violent crime than the corruption.
travellerlife
Well-Known Member
What, even from the heady days of yore?
That's bad. I get that there's probably loads of corruption, but the poverty of the 'free-trade' type economy and the governments inability to regulate or put money where it needs to go etc probably has more to do with the incredable levels of violent crime than the corruption.
Apartheid and racial discrimination was an abomination, but freedom is not all it is cracked up to be in Africa. I am sure the Zimbabweans would rather be living under the yoke of the Ian Smith government currently than the freedom afforded by Robert Mugabes "representative government", the freedom to starve, freedom to die of cholera, freedom to die of anthrax, freedom to be beaten, raped or shot if you vote for the wrong party. Ask the residents of Alexandria in JHB, They lived in a slum under apartheid, and are still living in a slum under the ANC, 15 years later, except now it is a bigger slum with bigger problems because of all the Zimbabweans, Nigerians and other neighbouring countries residents now living there. Much like Hillbrow, but without high rise buildings. To them the colour of the government means nothing, they are still getting shafted. Ask yourself what has changed for them ?
The final insult is the ANC government has replace racial discrimination with... Yup, you guessed it racial discrimination. They are now classifying the population again, ethnic black, non white, white just like the bad old days of apartheid. The non white South Africans "coloured " population get the worst deal, they were not white enough for the National party, but not black enough for the ANC. But as it is not white on black discrimination, the world accepts this bad joke. Where you live and what you can earn is now decided by your connections in government and how much you can bribe to get the job. Sounds oddly familiar to apartheid.
The violence is not the cause, it is the symptom of a country slowly eating itself alive. In one respect, the crime is an indication that colour is no longer an issue. If you have what the criminals want, no matter the colour, you are a target. Equal opportunity for violence, one thing the ANC has succeeded with.
themonkeyman
WHOOO HOOOO !!!
That is a great post, and I think very similar to how Iraq maybe in a few years times. Without opening another debate, but are the Iraqi people in a better place than they were 10 - 15 years ago. I don't know.
As with South Africa, it seems like there is an endemic problem with population migration from other countries i.e. Zimbabwe. Getting out of a country that has turned to hell, and ending up in another country i.e. South Africa and potentially adding to a growing problem there.
Don't get me wrong I am not saying that the Zimbabwean people migration is at fault, but maybe if something was done in SA's neighbouring countries, then maybe the problems in JHB for example may ease ?
