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The chameleon strikes again!
FOR all the Crash! Boom!
Bang! which is our popular image in many quarters...we at the Suns seek to
follow, in fact, the Way of the Chameleon...
I've discoursed on the chameleon in this, here column before.
I tell the troops here: We do not charge like the buffalo, tempting though that
may often be ... we do not pounce like the lion, deeply satisfying though that
may often be...we do not swoop like the eagle, spectacular though that always
is...
No!
We advance like...the chameleon.
That sly fellow rolls his eyes through 360 degrees before committing
himself...he tests each branch with a cautious claw before transferring his
weight...he moves with exquisite care as he stalks...and then, of course, he
STRIKES!
And that, of course, means the end result is the same as if he'd charged or
swooped or pounced...
To remind SunPeople of this desirable phenomenon I have a large, colourful
wire chameleon on my desk...complete with beady little eyes.
He's waved around a lot when there are tough calls to be made around here.
This week was no exception...
The issue at hand was the story of the schoolgirl who was - allegedly - raped in
her school's playground - while other schoolkids looked on without helping. They
made cellphone movies of the nasty event instead!
We took the view of the chameleon...
Easy now, we said. Let's test the branches...
There were claims from a single source who happened to be the teenage victim...
Moreover, the details sounded as if they were made to order in Tabloid Heaven...
None of this appeared to stop the competition.
"My school rape horror" yelled The Star...
(see picture >>)
"Teachers say she deserved it - mom" grated Sowetan fiercely.
And then came the official version...there was not enough evidence to take
the two schoolboys who had been arrested to court, said prosecutors.
(see picture >>)
And another source at the Jo'burg court told us that, even worse, there now
seemed to be serious discrepancies in the accounts of what actually happened.
For us it was a triumphant vindication of the chameleon...
For our gung-ho comrades at other papers it was something of an agony of
back-pedalling...front pages desperately going Yes-But...
No doubt about it...once again the chameleon saved us from diving into the pit.
This is not, of course, to say the Suns are shrinking violets...
This week we also had a story about a night watchman in the Eastern Cape who
spotted a jackal late at night.
He slew the creature with an axe and started cooking up its entrails.
Next day he skinned the dead jackal, cooked the rest of the meat and invited his
neighbours for a feast.
Then his kid - only 10 years old - came back from Sunday School...saw the skin
and head hanging on a fence ...and let out a terrible cry..."That's my DOG
you're eating..!"
The strange and terrible story became an inside page lead...and what must surely
be the unchallenged Daily Sun street poster of the month: "DAD COOKED MY
DOG!"
(see picture >>)
about 4 hours ago from SunPublisher, Deon du Plessis
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