Dial one for perspective

I had an epiphany at work the other day. Yes, right there at my desk. My colleagues remained blissfully unaware, but I did Skype a colleague in another room to share the joy, if not all of the details.

The source of all this pleasure was the sudden realisation that the cause of any negativity I might ever feel about SA isn't just the crime rate; it's actually something a lot less sinister. It's the persistent whine coming from the plentiful supply of people criticising the telecommunications set-up in this country. But before anyone pulls me up for peeing inside the tent from which I earn my living, let me clarify a little...

Where I come from, words like "draconian", "poisonous", and "authoritarian", where they are aimed at governments at all, usually refer to someone of the ilk of a certain Mr Mugabe; at the very least, they're reserved for genuine outrage attached to something "serious", like a shoddy health service or poverty. These are strong words; a bit like the one beginning with "f" and ending with "uck", and if you overuse them, they lose their power and meaning. (And maybe even make you sound a little like you've run out of better options.)

Because, while I am fully aware of the shortcomings of our government when it comes to opening up and advancing the telecommunications infrastructure in this country, I'm at a loss to know why I have to suffer a sense of impending doom every time anyone discusses it.

This country has to grow up rather more quickly than those we seek to emulate had to.

Pamela Weaver, ITWeb contributor

Ladies and gentlemen, the sky has been falling down every day for the five years that I've lived and worked in this country. And Foxy Loxy is, no doubt, delighted that we're all focusing on the same enemy, because, at that rate, any half-assed plan or titbit he throws our way will be greeted with standing ovations or lapped up like manna from heaven.

Judging by the things some people have been saying recently, many commentators would actively welcome the emergence of a lone, completely dominant telco in this country... as long as it's not Telkom and it arrived in that position as a consequence of free market economics. Am I in bedlam or is everyone else?

Yes, the pace of change in this important area has been slow. But the way some people talk about it, you'd honestly think that nothing had changed at all since 1994. The red tape that so many point to as a hindrance can be looked at in a variety of ways, not least as a consequence of the completely undemocratic political system this country lived with for decades.

What is so wrong with us that we have come to view anything from the length of a queue to the recent debacle that was eNatis as cast-iron evidence that "they" are making a right royal pig's ear out of running the country? If I have to endure any more loudly-enunciated rhetorical questions as to how "they think they can do 2010" next time I'm waiting in line for my luggage at the airport, I'm going to smack someone.

Ask any European how long they waited for their driving test appointment or how long it took them to check in at the airport and you might hear complaints, but they won't be talking about "tinpot dictatorships" or "banana republics".

My parents live less than 10km from Cork city centre in Ireland, but you'd be wrong if you assumed they've got broadband Internet - want it they may, but it's not available to them. I waited a full 18 months for a date for my driving test in Ireland, then failed it and had to wait another year to do it again. When state monopoly telco, Telecom Eireann (now known as "Eircom"), deregulated, then minister Mary O'Rourke was roundly criticised for over-valuing the shares the Irish public nonetheless lapped up, only to turn on her months later when the proverbial hit the fan.

A tribunal of enquiry in Ireland has been strolling along for years trying to get to the bottom of, among other things, what some are alleging to have been corruption in the awarding of the second cellular operator's licence.

The same enquiry is spewing out a mind-boggling array of evidence that some corrupt politicians were hand-in-glove with the building industry, awarding lucrative planning permission to those with the deepest pockets and the lowest morals.

A multimillion-euro computer system for the Irish police force has staggered from one scandal to another as critics variously point to its slowness, the cost of maintaining and upgrading it and its general uselessness. And all of this in a country that, throughout the 90s, boasted an economy that most other countries would give their left nate for.

Let's get some perspective, people. As James Joyce said, "history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake". Change may come slowly, but it's worth remembering that this country has to grow up rather more quickly than those we seek to emulate had to.

Sure, be critical, but if we want our ministers to take a reality check, maybe we also need a dose of our own medicine. If we express concern at how potential foreign investors view the actions of our government, we must also take on board the fact that these same investors also ingest our invective and announcements of impending doom every 20 seconds.

I'm not calling for rose-tinted glasses, just a little perspective. Things are not so bad that the critics here can't indulge in some seriously personalised attacks on politicians with whom they disagree. Now THAT would be something to worry about.