Finally, Something the Swiss are Really Bad at

It looks like my wife and I will not be honeymooning in Switzerland. I bought Pimsleur’s German course and started listening to Youtube French conversation videos for nothing. “Ich mochte bier trinken.” That cost me fifteen bucks.

The Swiss are allowing visitors to come in from all over the world, but they have made the visa process very hard for Africans. Citizens of countries that don’t have Swiss embassies have to apply through embassies in countries that do. In Rhodah’s case, that means South Africa.

Switzerland belongs to the Schengen group of nations. More or less, this means mainland Europe. These countries cooperate on immigration matters. If Rhodah had ever had a Schengen-area visa, she would be able to apply to the Swiss embassy in Pretoria by email. Because she hasn’t had a Schengen visa, she has to go in person and have her fingerprints recorded.

She lives over 700 miles from Pretoria, which is near Johannesburg. She doesn’t want to travel alone, so she would have to have a friend go with her. Each of them would need two coronavirus tests in order to enter South Africa and re-enter Zambia. A coronavirus test takes 24 hours, so they would have to spend at least two nights in South Africa.

If either of them tested positive on the way home, she would have to stay in South Africa until she tested negative. During this time, I would be paying for her food, lodging, and repeat testing. If only one tested positive, the other would be left alone in South Africa, because the healthy one would have to get out as quickly as possible in order to avoid testing negative and being trapped.

Best-case scenario: I’m out something over $2000, and we get a visa in a little over two weeks. Worst-case scenario: Rhodah and/or her friend get trapped in South Africa, and one or both of them could be there for a month or more.

We could take a chance and try it, and I could forget about the money. Things would probably go well. There’s another problem, however: South Africa is disintegrating. Racial and political violence have resulted in nationwide looting and arson over the last two weeks. Pretoria has been hit. I can’t send two women there while the nation is falling apart. Black women are safer there than Indians and whites right now, but what kind of man sends his wife to a riot zone?

If you don’t know what’s happening in South Africa, I have two possible explanations for your uninformed status: 1. our leftist press doesn’t want to show you anything negative involving the post-Mandela rainbow paradise, and it isn’t anxious to show hordes of looters and arsonists who are all black, and 2. American journalists aren’t all that interested in what happens in other countries unless it somehow reflects poorly on Donald Trump, conservatives, or Jesus.

For a long time, I’ve watched videos from a South African Youtuber. He calls himself Serpentza. He moved to China in his mid-twenties, and he lived there for 14 years. He married a Chinese woman and moved to the US. I started watching his videos because it was interesting to see what was happening in China. He didn’t mention South Africa often.

Early last year, he started putting up ominous videos about coronavirus. This was before Americans had any idea what it was. He said it was a big problem in China and that the CCP was covering it up. He turned out to be completely correct. Now he’s putting up videos about South Africa. He put up a two-hour video this week, and he made some surprising claims.

He said the looters were organized. In some cases, they show up in convoys, including buses. One group showed up in armored cars, armed with machine guns. They confronted 30 armed guards protecting a property and told them to leave or die. He said the looters use common strategies suggesting organization. They remove their car tags, and when they are confronted, they recite the same excuse. They claim they need food.

There are many Indians in South Africa, and, along with whites, they are being targeted. Militias are forming. The Indians are using rifles to drive looters away, on a grand scale.

He says looters are also destroying black businesses and burning down food stores and other businesses that are essential to the distribution of food. Obviously, these behaviors harm black people. They can’t snap their fingers and make groceries appear to feed their families. It’s not a big surprise to anyone who knows that looters are not protestors. They’re all about hate and free merchandise.

The problems arose because a former president named Zuma was charged with over 700 counts of corruption. Zuma is popular among Zulus and the poor. He repeatedly refused to show up for trial, so he was sentenced to 15 months for contempt of court. When he turned himself in, the violence and destruction started.

I watched some of the video last night, and I kept thinking about the tribulation. Three spirits resembling horsemen will go out, and they will cause murder, shortages, and disease. The spirit of the Antichrist–the Beast–will go out and cause people to yield to peer pressure, not reason or the Holy Spirit. They will behave like beasts in a herd. We’ve seen it in BLM and Antifa, and now we see it among Zuma supporters.

Under the influence of the Antichrist spirit, people act like sharks in a feeding frenzy. They don’t think. They let hate and other iniquities possess them. They give up human status.

This is the world’s future, and I think it will be the near future. More and more, we will be ruled and tormented by crowds of vicious, demon-controlled berserkers who pretend to be victims.

Serpentza interrupted his video with some footage of his half-Chinese daughter playing with American kids. Various races were represented. They played together in harmony, as kids of different races generally do in America. He scolded all the liars who pretend America is a racist country. He said they had never seen real racism. In South Africa, rural whites are being beaten, cut up, raped, and killed by black Africans so frequently, it looks like a movement. In America, unhinged snowflakes say our country is racist because we have Thomas Jefferson on the nickel or because Barbie has blue eyes and a flat butt.

There is a huge gulf between “country with limited racism problems” and “racist country.” America is not a racist country, even if racism has not been completely eradicated.

Watch the video if you want, but it’s full of profanity.

He came to America to get away from hatred spawned by identity politics. He will be disappointed. It’s much better than South Africa, but it’s deteriorating quickly. Overt racism toward whites, Asians, and Jews is now mainstream on the left, and the Antichrist’s white children are starting to look for the answers in secession, rifles, and racism directed at non-whites.

No one is going to win in the Antichrist’s future. Everyone who gets caught up in the hatred and false victimhood will lose.

Rhodah and I are now stuck with honeymoon alternatives like Iceland, Sweden, and Mexico. There is no way I’m going to Mexico. A friend of mine goes there for dental work, and he says it’s like a crummy neighborhood in Miami, only worse. That leaves Iceland and Sweden, unless we want to visit a depressing Muslim country or a European country known primarily for vampires and werewolves.

Iceland has astounding natural beauty. Not as good as Switzerland’s, of course, and no alps. The food picture doesn’t look good: pickled things, rhubarb jelly, rotten shark meat, and high-end hamburgers. The people are supposed to be great. Nothing has ever happened there, however. In Iceland, you’re not going to get a tour involving Roman buildings, Renaissance art, a world war, a famous composer, or anything else. Because nothing has ever happened there.

My guess:

Nature: A
Food: C
People: A
Relevance to my existence as a Westerner: F

Sweden has SOME natural beauty, but overall, it appears to be flat and not rich in landscape features. The food sounds somewhat better than Iceland’s. They really do eat meatballs. I could probably eat those twice in 10 days without feeling oppressed. I don’t know if the burgers are any good. Sweden is reasonably close to the rest of Europe, though, so maybe there are some decent non-Scandinavian restaurants. A few things have happened in Sweden, but offhand, I can’t think of any. I would have to say that culturally and historically, it’s probably only marginally ahead of Iceland. The people are known for a total lack of reluctance to engage in any type of sexual activity. My understanding is that getting a one-night-stand there is about has hard as hailing a cab. This national characteristic would not have much relevance to two Christians enjoying their honeymoon.

I haven’t known many Swedes, but they seem somewhat rigid and stuffy, except when it comes to sex with strangers.

Score:

Nature: B
Food: B
People: B
Relevance to my existence as a Westerner: C

Iceland gets a 2.5 GPA, and Sweden gets a 2.75.

Let’s do Switzerland, for a giggle.

Nature: A+ (rough draft for heaven)
Food: A
People: A
Relevance to my existence as a Westerner: B

I get 3.825. That will get you into a good state university. With a 2.75, you’re probably looking at community college.

Now Mexico:

Nature: B
Food: A-
People: C (hello, robbery)
Relevance to my existence as a Westerner: B

I get 2.925. That’s surprising, since, to get me to go there, you would literally have to drug me. The food really pumped up the score. Truthfully, though, American Mexican food is way better than authentic Mexican food.

I only gave it a B for nature because it has nice beaches and good fishing. If you ever see me on a beach, it means my ship sank. I can’t understand people who like beaches. It seems like mental illness to me. You lie on a lounge chair and sweat under the broiling sun, doing nothing, or you swim in water than stings your eyes. It’s okay for walks, but that’s about it. I sort of suspect there is an upper intelligence limit for beach people. Intelligence correlates with susceptibility to boredom.

If lying in intense sun is so wonderful, why do all cultures love air conditioning and shade? A beach is like a sauna that gives you skin cancer. And the Japanese used saunas to torture POW’s.

Next, Egypt:

Nature: D (hot sand, 3 trees)
Food: C
People: A
Relevance to my existence as a Westerner: A

The land of the pharaohs gets a 2.75.

The only place that tops Switzerland on my list is Israel. I’ll score it even though I can’t go, due to the fact that my brief presence might cause a coronavirus wave in a country where even the dogs and cats are vaccinated. Way to commit economic suicide, guys.

Israel makes so many bad decisions, it makes me wonder if anti-Semitism is even necessary.

Nature: B
Food: B
People: B
Relevance to my existence as a Westerner: A

I get 2.6. Maybe my scale should be weighted. The food in Israel was not great when I lived there, but I give it a B because surely it has gotten better by now. The people get a B because a lot of people there can be annoying, even if you love and support them. Just keeping it real. Not comparable to the French, though. As for nature, it’s nice in some parts and the rest is desert.

My scoring system appears to be useless, because here is my actual list, in descending order of preference:

Israel
Switzerland
Sweden
Iceland
Egypt
Mexico
Random Turkish Prison
Whale’s posterior
New York City
Miami
Hell

The drop from Egypt to Mexico is bigger than it looks. I think Egypt is probably a decent destination in the winter. I had a great time there in the summer, but the smells and the weather were problems.

Rhodah is going to talk to the Swedish embassy on Monday. They do both Iceland and Sweden, so they can give us guidance.

I’m very disappointed. I was hoping to share a magnificent destination with my bride, but now I suppose we’ll spend a lot of time trying to build a second-choice country up, saying things that start with, “Of course, it’s not Switzerland, but…”

“Check out the breakfast buffet! Free rotten shark!” “Hey, look who’s buying a Big Mac! Stellan Skarsgård!” “Mmm…who wants Swiss chocolate when you can have boiled whale!”

As I said above, once Rhodah has been given a visa to one Schengen country, Switzerland will let her apply for a Swiss visa by email. I wish we had known this in June. We could have applied for a bogus Swedish visa. As it is, the earliest we could hope to be in Switzerland is late September, after the polar ice re-forms. Brown leaves, fog, and grey skies.

Wish I had better news.

On the whole, though, I can’t complain. I have a wonderful wife and nothing but first world problems.