We used to have to stare around the room uncomfortably in awkward social situations. Now we have the cellphone — an endless tool of distraction and exclusion in any place, at any time, in any situation that demands discomfort. Waiting rooms bloom cellphones like tumours. Even if there’s nothing doing on said phone — no […]
2007
Posted inNews/Politics
Denialism = dissidence = Mbeki = death
Ronald Suresh Roberts again tries to argue that President Thabo Mbeki is neither an Aids denialist nor an Aids dissident, but merely a poor, misunderstood and maligned man with a deep passion for the lives of the vulnerable and the poor living with HIV. This comes in the wake of Mark Gevisser’s comments that Mbeki […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Forget the quality of journalism, let’s talk about the audience
Time and time again I hear it said that the quality of journalism is deteriorating in South Africa. Frankly this is rubbish — what is declining is the quality of the audience. The source of this criticism is a society that has become a carcass of fat and bone with very little meat. The sad […]
Posted inGeneral
Mark Gevisser’s careless writing
Mark Gevisser in his book The Dream Deferred contains gross inaccuracies about me. First on page 738 where he writes: “Charlene Smith would write in the Washington Post that rape was ‘endemic’ in Africa and had become ‘a prime means of transmitting the disease, to young women, as well as children.’” He gives the source […]
Posted inLifestyle
Are we all criminals?
I attended a debate on crime the other night and I was struck by one of the contributions from the floor. It was a clinical psychologist who asked why so many people who complain about crime engage in criminal activity themselves. I thought about this and realised that so many of us are guilty of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Pete Townshend and the missing paedophiles
There’s something uncannily similar in the eyes of the faces that have allowed themselves to be seduced by child pornography. Look, for instance, at the faces of Pete Townshend and the recently convicted British actor Chris Langham. There’s an icy hollowness there that looks like a soul that has erased part of itself. Townshend, the […]
Posted inSport
Reopening old wounds
The subject of Hansie Cronje has been back in the news recently after reports detailing the progress of a film based on his life. This has once again thrust debate over the fallen idol’s actions on and off the field under the spotlight.
Posted inBusiness
Sustainability: From noun to verb
Corporate South Africa has long been riding the market value of buzzwords quite irresponsibly, along with the rest of a seemingly logically challenged world of commerce. Sustainability is one of these words. It exists in the minds of the economically driven community as a noun, something that pertains to a state of being towards which […]
Posted inMedia
I love that damn meerkat, Croc sandals and Ronald Suresh Roberts
The world of social media and social networking likes nothing better than an underdog. No, not to rise to its defence, but to gang up against it. One of the most successful special interest groups on Facebook is called “I Dont care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like A Dumbass”. It has no less […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Is there a doctor in the house?
Who says that modern technology and a customer-focused outlook can’t improve the services such as a doctor provides to his patients? This story about a Doctor 2.0, sent to me via my emailed Springwise trends update, is a refreshing take on the traditional profession of medicine. Here’s a doc moving with the times. Dr Jay […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
Blogging the road to international design success
Blogging has opened up a remarkable new vista of opportunity for designers, artists and crafters to tap into overseas trends and market their work internationally, but it seems that few South Africans are taking notice. One exception is Heather Moore, a self-taught illustrator and fabric designer. Working out of her studio in Long Street, Cape […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
2008: The year that changed telecoms in South Africa
Next year will be one of the most significant in the history of the South African telecoms market — possibly on par with 1994 when the two initial mobile operators surfaced. And it can’t get here fast enough. So, what are we in for (I think)? Let’s start with Telkom. It’s fairly widely known that […]