Thomas Sowell once wrote: ‘People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right – especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong’.
This quote perfectly sums up why Prof Pretorius, his brainless minions, and the deranged and fanatical online Defenders of the Myth, were all so rattled when my books first burst onto the scene – and why I continue to be their Bogey Man.[1] Of course, if I was wrong, they would simply prove that, and move on… but the fact that I am correct in my (fully referenced) statements and conclusions is what really gets them panicking. Basically, someone has finally dared to point out that the Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes, and the True Believers can see their self-serving myths and much-loved National Party lies shattering before them.
For years, the Prof and his fawning gaggle got away with peddling their fantasies of Boer victimhood by pretending that there were ‘British troops, massing on the borders of the republics’, for example – until I showed that this is a complete lie.[2] Similarly, they had previously managed to convince slack-jawed fools that the Boer invasions of British territory were only done ‘to take up defensive positions’ – something else which I comprehensively proved to be a lie.[3] And they simply have no way to explain away any of the other inconvenient facts I dared to raise: the Bogus Conspiracy[4], the pre-war gun running and rabble-rousing in British territory[5], Kruger’s attempts to persuade the Orange Free State to join him in an Offensive Alliance[6] against the British, the fact that the Boers mobilised first[7], etc etc. Instead, they are left in an undignified flap, with no option left but to attempt to dismiss and discredit me – for the heinous crime of being right.
This is why the best the panicking Prof could come up with in his ‘review’ of ‘Kruger, Kommandos & Kak’ was to point out a spelling mistake, and fantasize about what I wear under my kilt – I suppose we all have our weaknesses. His sycophantic sidekick, John Boje, was no better: indeed, so rattled was he by my writing, that he had no choice but to resort to blatant lies in his ‘review’[8] – I still await your public apology, Mr Boje. Emboldened by these frantic utterances from the Grand High Wizards of the Cult, some morons threatened to kill me if I didn’t withdraw the book, while others questioned by parentage, accused me of plagiarism, or attempted to insult me with comments about my race, religion, politics etc. Anything, indeed, rather than pointing out actual errors.
How much easier life would be for the fanatical defenders of the Boer War Myths if I have been wrong. Instead, they can never forgive me for being right.
NOTES:
[1] https://www.chrisash.co.za/2025/04/01/10-years-on-kkk-still-gets-the-true-believers-in-a-panic/
[2] https://www.chrisash.co.za/2024/09/11/massing-on-the-border-more-maps/ and https://www.chrisash.co.za/2024/04/09/the-garrison-the-reinforcements-and-massing-on-the-border/
[3] https://www.chrisash.co.za/2018/05/01/taking-offence/ and http://www.chrisash.co.za/2017/12/16/a-war-of-aggression-portrayed-as-a-war-of-necessity/
[4] Amery, The Times History of the War in South Africa, Vol.1, p.302
[5] Frere, Letters from an Uitlander, p.21, and Warwick, Black People and the South African War, 1899-1902, p.65, and Conan Doyle, The Great Boer War, p.61
[6] Cook, The Rights and Wrongs of the Transvaal War, p.92
[7] Cook, The Rights and Wrongs of the Transvaal War, p.241, and Farrelly, The Settlement After the War, p.213
[8] https://www.chrisash.co.za/2018/09/17/frantically-trying-to-defend-the-myth/
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