Not “kiff’ at all

The (un)”Kiffness” of Boer Zionism in SA: Israel, Trump, and White Christian Evangelicals on ‘X’

“Kiff,” which means “cool” or is used affectionately to acknowledge agreement with something, is one of those perfect South African slang words. It was just as cool when it was officially included in the Oxford Dictionary around 2019.

I don’t believe anyone objected when David Scott, a local musician, appropriated the word for his stage name, The Kiffness. He was a nice guy who made musical parodies, usually about South African social issues, and I became a fan (unsurprisingly, no longer). However, somewhere along the line, he defected to the dark side and, in the words of a local research scholar, Dr Tristán Kapp:

… he has irrevocably found himself part of a growing digital religious culture featuring dangerous polemicism (in the Foucaultian sense), Christian Zionism, and white supremacy in South Africa today.

You can read all about him and a few others who are now part of the fabric of South African bigotry in the attached reblogged essay. Kapp does an exceptional and fascinating job of exposing these new flag bearers for disgruntled South African racists who seemingly are still nostalgic for our revolting apartheid past.

I’m also particularly chuffed at learning a new term, Boer Zionist, which perfectly describes my many South African detractors on social media who are such vulgar opponents of my pro-Palestinian stance.