I can’t say the precise moment it hit me, but I do know that it was on Friday morning while I was listening to SAfm anchor Jeremy Maggs interview a panel on the issue of racism at the University of Free State. That’s when it became loud and clear to me that the wise guys […]
2008
Posted inGeneral
The times, dreams and cinema
Freud called dreams “wish-fulfilments”, inviting the obvious objection, that this would fail to account for nightmares. Except … if we think of nightmares as negative wish-fulfilments — whatever it is that haunts you in your dreams, is precisely what we wish to avoid. The father of psychoanalysis also pointed out that dreams unfold in the […]
Posted inTech
What business can learn from the open-source movement
When was the last time you thought “I love the company I work for?” Google came out tops in a recent Fortune magazine “Best Companies to work for in the US” survey. They were lauded for their generous employee benefits and facilities. These types of tangible benefits are easy to see, measure and appreciate. It’s […]
Posted inLifestyle
Las Vegas unplugged (part 1)
Here are some snapshots live from Las Vegas, the city I’ve been in for the last week. This post may be a bit disorderly, but I’ve got the ring of slot machines in my ears. It’s a sound that follows you everywhere in this city. Every hotel and its resident casino has a gimmick to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I’m sorry, but if 1994 wasn’t an apology for apartheid, I’m a blue Martian
If actions speak louder than words, the relinquishing of power by white South Africa in 1994 was worth far more than the mere mouthing of an apology by “whites” in 2008. Knee-jerk responses should always be regarded with cynicism, and the call this week for whites to say sorry for apartheid — in the wake […]
Posted inGeneral
The uncivilised state
Examine carefully the history of any state and one is soon waist-deep in blood. Consider just the permanent members of the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Or the two most recent states — East Timor, and, since February 17 2008, Kosovo? Consider five centuries of colonialism. Five centuries! Consider Auschwitz. […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
High fidelity
Embroiled as I am in an argument with a furious member of the artistic community, I’m feeling the need to clear up some issues about art in this country. And before anyone starts saddling up the old high horse preparatory to riding me out of Dullsville, let me point out that just about the only […]
Posted inLifestyle
The closest I’ll ever come to a threesome …
I had a four-handed massage yesterday. Yip, four hands. That’s two people. It was absolutely incredible, and nearly put me into a coma (of happiness). I popped into the Ubuntu Wellness Centre in Kloof Street (Cape Town) for an Ayurvedic massage, and was lucky enough to get upgraded to the four-hander. If anyone is ever […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
On being banal about evil and human tragedies (in fiction)
Les bienveillantes is such a huge and, apparently, dense book that even most book lovers are likely to go out of their way to avoid it. The original version is in French and more than 900 pages long; the Spanish-language translation has 973 pages. The English-language translations — one in the US, one in Britain […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Racist South Africans retreat to apart-hate
South Africans are racist as naturally as roses bloom. A struggle in which thousands were murdered, tortured, detained and persecuted to ensure a non-racial, non-sexist country appears meaningless to those who now preach the politics of exclusion, whether in right-wing journalist fora, universities or the workplace. More disturbing is seeing young people, the children of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Low-level discourse
For just about all of my life — from about the age of three — I have had to deal on a daily basis with personal comments aimed at something I have no control over. I am tall (six foot two, to be precise) and for some reason a certain kind of person feels the […]
Posted inSport
Ref ‘unsportsmanlike and unprofessional’ to Schalk?
Schalk Burger’s behaviour on Saturday was unacceptable. And if it were my decision, I’d give him another two weeks for the press statement he made on Thursday — or at least insist he fire his copywriter. The sentence was somewhat surprising given that some reports stated that he could be suspended for a month or […]