Death: Many famous people have died this year: the Air France flight that crashed in June, Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze to name a few. All gone before their time. All leaving behind a timeless legacy in one or another.

Deceit: Tiger Woods betraying his family, and letting down his fans and sponsors. Just this year they were celebrating the birth of their second child, their first still a toddler, when Tiger’s lies erupted, spilling down onto his family and friends. A year before, Obama promised to withdraw troops from decade-long wars full of death, yet ends up sending another 30,000, knowing some of those soldiers will never come back.

Destruction: Another reminder of the ‘perfect image’ falling apart. Rihanna and Christopher Brown, coming to blows in a slick car just before what should have been an epic award ceremony. The economy worsening month after month. The effect? People losing their homes, jobs, and some even taking their lives and others around them. Small and medium-sized business shutting their doors for the last time while big and major corporations swallow them whole, reducing the amount of competition one at a time. Banks getting more and more money with no strings attached, while overcharging customers and putting them into an avalanche of debt.

Will 2010 be better?

I looked through some reviews of the blockbuster Avatar. It’s about the ‘civilised’ invading the ‘savage’ to take control of their valuable renewable resources. I went straight for the negative reviews and noticed a common theme.

Every person commented that the film is racist towards white people. It is said that the invades represent Caucasians while the natives are Native American/African.

I don’t get it…

There are countless movies where white people march in and save the day, whether the needy are an uninspired gang in the ghetto or natives faraway from our society. There was no complaint that non-whites were always the weak and defenceless ones. There was no complaint that white people were always the hero, even though slavery and colonialism says otherwise. Now we see the bad side of white history, it’s racist?

If you take the good then you must take the bad. If you want to talk about how your ancestors helped to end horrible practices like the transatlantic slave trade, you must discuss how they started it in the first place. Don’t get defensive when the dark side of your ancestry shows itself.

Reverse racism? It doesn’t exist. If it was anything, it’d be racism, period. There’s no need for the ‘reverse’.