Ode to Zapiro, a great South African who teaches us to laugh at ourselves

by Fred Roed on 19/02/08 at 7:00 am
5 comments

I think we need to laugh at ourselves more.

I heard somewhere that our future president recently got a little prickly when questioned about his ‘crook’ status on international television. I see our leaders getting defensive over little things on a daily basis. I see road rage (a lot, especially on the N2 in the morning). I see family and friends getting grumpy when pushed just a little bit off course. Hell, I even got a security guard riled up the other day when I asked whether she was having an ‘off’ day.

This all seems to stem back to playground days when we’re you’re being trying to out-cool everyone else on a daily basis. I was never any good at this, but that goes without saying. I wear Hawaiian shirts and a suit to meetings.

I think it’s time we took our finger off the serrrrious button. Imagine if he said to the guy, ‘You know what? I’m not untouchable. I’ve done things wrong in my life, and here we sit. Know what else? I masturbated 7 days a week when I was a teenager. I stole money from my dad’s wallet. I punched my sister once when she teased me. I even inhaled when someone passed a reefer around at a party.’

Maybe it’s just me, but I’d stand up and applaud. I’d dig the guy for taking the piss out of the ’system’. You know what I mean: where the media surrounds someone with spotlights, disseminates what he says and then feeds soundbites to an anxious public. Go back to school days, and you can replace it with that feeling… say, when you’re asked an awkward question in class, and a wrong answer could mean you’re sentenced to hang with the nerd-herd for the rest of your scholarly career.

There are a few who transcend the system. Pieter Dirk Uys is one. Madiba is another (you can see it in the sparkle in his eye). Desmond Tutu is another. Steve Hofmeyer is also up there… although he doesn’t really have a choice.

Another person who forces people to take a long hard look at themselves is our very own Jonathan Shapiro, aka Zapiro. I’m sure that anyone who’s been the target of his lethal pen will agree. The sad thing is, I’ve noticed that he’s been a little ‘absent’ lately. The Cape Times reports that he’s on leave, but – and this may be stating the obvious – it may be because he’s involved in some kind of legal battle somewhere (someone enlighten me please!).

In any case, Zapiro, you rock. I stumbled upon a gallery of your work and it’s dammmn funny. Love your work.

Ideate readers, go make a cup of coffee, put your feet up and click here.

Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.

5 Responses to “Ode to Zapiro, a great South African who teaches us to laugh at ourselves”

Shane

Feb 19th, 2008

Maybe Zapiro has immigrated to Australia!?
Andrew

Feb 19th, 2008

I heard that in Barack Obama’s book, “Dreams from My Father”, he is pretty honest about his upbringing and mistakes he made.

I may have heard wrong, but I thought this was a good strategy for a potential presidential runner – tell all your secrets before the media does.

Of course, that applies more in a country where having an affair with an intern can nearly get you impeached. In Africa the conditions for being chucked out or kept out of political office seem a bit more lenient.
Chris Roper

Feb 20th, 2008

We’re doing a video interview with Zapiro on Friday, coincidentally. When it’s up I’ll send you the link.
Fred

Feb 20th, 2008

Cool – please ask him what’s up with the absence, whether he’s been sued by a collective 300 people who he’s peed off in the past while? If so, I’ll start a ‘Legal fund for Zapiro’ group on Facebook.

Although, I see he’s back now, so maybe it’s all been sorted already.
Very Good Web Marketing Programs » Blog Archive » Ode to Zapiro, a great South African who teaches us to laugh at ourselves

Mar 2nd, 2008

[...] Ode to Zapiro, a great South African who teaches us to laugh at ourselves I think we need to laugh at ourselves more. I heard somewhere that our future president recently got a little prickly when questioned about his crook status on international television. I see our leaders getting defensive over little things on a daily basis. I see road rage (a lot, especially on the N2 in the morning). I see family and friends getting grumpy when pushed just a little bit off course. Hell, I even got a security guard riled up the other day when I asked whether she was having [...]

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