Call it religious chauvinism, or perhaps just good taste, but I’ve always preferred cut. Granted, I lost my foreskin more than 40 years ago, presumably at a catered function where I cried (as did my mother) and everyone else chased mouthfuls of chopped liver with cola tonic and lemonade. Since then, I have not spent […]
2007
Posted inGeneral
Chief rabbi and premier seek engagement while realpolitik dictates intervention
I was delighted to read a Sunday Times article containing extracts of the speeches made by Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool at the “Sharing Ideas for the Future public forum”. There is no doubting their sincerity in calling on Jews and Muslims to rejoice in their own identity, while seeking […]
Posted inLifestyle
Wet in Plett
When my family went camping there were two cardinal rules: don’t squat to poop in a hornets’ nest (which I did once and was forever after ragged by my brothers) and always sweep out the tent before you fold it up. What to tell my eager, newly matriculated 17-year-old off to a flooded Plett with […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Could my wife replace me as president, please?
Two leading international magazines, the New Yorker and the Economist, ran articles in September on political dynasties. Unsurprisingly, both centred on the Bushes and Clintons who will have jointly governed the world’s most powerful country uninterrupted for 24 years if Hillary Clinton is elected US president next year and subsequently completes her term. The interesting […]
Posted inBusiness
Neo-what?
I was quite surprised that so many commentators on my previous piece “A shift of emphasis?” focused, to a large extent, not on my argument concerning the likely reasons for the ostensible shift away from support for Mbeki towards favouring Zuma, but on the meaning of the concept “neoliberal economics”, for the use of which […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
‘Naive and irresponsible,’ says former don
By Adam Kurtz The case of Llewellyn Kriel poses some intriguing questions for South Africa. Kriel (54), a fixed-term contractor to the Sowetan working as senior revise sub-editor (one of two end-of-the-line quality controllers), was found guilty of “gross misconduct” by an internal disciplinary hearing for “bringing Sowetan into disrepute” by criticising its management and […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Interviewing the avatar
It may not be a new form of journalism, but it is quickly becoming apparent that interviews with avatars in virtual worlds are going to require a new set of guidelines for journalists. This is one of the first learnings to emerge from an experimental initiative in The Big Change blog. We are conducting business […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No independence for Kosovo
The imminent independence of the province of Kosovo from Serbia is at present the topic of hot debate and flaring tempers up north. The United States and many European nations are solidly backing the call for an independent Kosovo, while Serbia and her long-time ally Russia are vociferously against such a move. The pro-independence faction […]
Posted inGeneral
Violence in South Africa: A psychoanalytical perspective
Violence and crime are ubiquitous in South Africa today. Nevertheless, few of the many discussion programmes or media commentaries succeed in providing an illuminating perspective on it. By contrast, Johann Rossouw’s use of the three structuring societal spheres — the religious, political and economic — that occupy different positions of dominance and subordination in different […]
Posted inGeneral
Robert Brand on The Golden Compass
Check out Robert’s post on Christian fundamentalists getting their SMS fingers twitching over The Golden Compass. Yeeeeeesh! Nice little comment thread developing. I’ve just found these two YouTube videos. Every side needs its propaganda :) “Atheists Are Fools” and “We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot”. The second one is an amateur reworking of a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mohammed: Bad News Bear
Oi! My fortnightly column, A Quiet Riot, runs again in this week’s Mail & Guardian, on sale from today (Friday, 7 December 2007). Here are the first 156 words: Does anybody know if Hindu fanatics have ever started a protest over Yogi Bear? It might surprise you that I’m on the side of the Sudanese […]
Posted inMedia
There is no such thing as Truth, only degrees of culpability
The reason social theorists that could be classified as postmodernists have failed to deal with the changes brought about by the newer trends in digital media usage is simple — these changes represent, materially, what they have been thinking about for close to 40 years. Proclaiming the advent of postmodernism is no longer radical, but […]