Can it be that Jacob Zuma — unlike many millions of other South Africans — never watches SABC TV news bulletins, or that he never listens to the many radio stations broadcasting in all South Africa’s official languages every day to more than 26-million South Africans? Has he ever heard of and does he sometimes […]
2008
Posted inNews/Politics
Clinton found her own voice in New Hampshire and now it’s speaking about Lewinsky
Ten years after the Monica Lewinsky scandal rocked the White House, Hillary Clinton is again finding her voice. This time it’s not an off-the-cuff admission in a coffee shop in New Hampshire, but rather a calculated move on Fox Television. The Senator from New York described the pain and embarrassment she suffered as a result […]
Posted inGeneral
Naomi Klein on disaster capitalism
Naomi Klein’s recently published book The Shock Doctrine is itself a shocking revelation of the cynicism underpinning the relentless manner in which what she calls “disaster capitalism” opportunistically (mis-)uses various kinds of collective disorientation to establish new “markets”. Behind all of this lurk the economic theories of Milton Friedman — once discredited in the US, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Selfish parents breed violent young
Are young people with increasingly violent, self-destructive behaviour out of control — or is this the most self-centred, negligent generation of parents yet? Globally, young people in newly affluent societies are playing up — they stagger drunk from parties, consume an array of drugs, have sex at increasingly young ages and are disturbingly violent. Last […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Tiger Brands, give us our daily bread!
The past week, I have been busy taking electricity-evading classes from my township mates in preparation for the 14,2% electricity price increase. Just as I was beginning to learn the basics of electricity evasion, an announcement arrived that said bread would increase in price too. In this blog I was going to talk about electricity, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No, Mr Zuma, the media are not out of touch with reality …
“A decade and four years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Vindication for the racists
It’s not funny. It’s actually pretty scary. But all the white racists who voted “no” in the 1992 referendum, which asked white voters whether they’d be okay with “power sharing” with the ANC, are vindicated. Turns out there’s not enough power to share.
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Using MXit to learn
MXit, the very cheap, very popular mobile instant messaging (MIM) application (that is actually a lot more), is coming of age. To clear the way for the rest of the discussion, I am aware of the dangers and risks of MXit: addicts — teens and working people — who spend hours a day tap-tapping their […]
Posted inLifestyle
The Magnificent Seven and one survivor
Apology: This is quite a long blog. Please bear with me. There are seven facets to each person’s being for the duration he or she is on this planet and in this common dimension. These facets are in a constant state of flux and change; something like a lava lamp, except they’re all connected — […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Tired of this shit
Like many other South Africans this morning, I am pissed off about the electricity thing. Irritated by traffic lights being down. Annoyed about having to eat cold left-overs by the light of my head-torch. Inconvenienced by delayed meetings. Flabbier for missed squash games due to closed gyms. And poorer in ways I haven’t had the […]
Posted inLifestyle
A few of my favourite realisations
It’s not so much good luck or bad luck; it’s more the way you choose to see things. Any situation has both good and bad elements, and an opportunity for growth. Nobody can force you to feel anything — it’s your own decision whether to be swayed by their attempts. Who cares if people think […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Call a racist a racist
It has been interesting to see how the media have been pussy-footing around whether the killings in Skielik informal settlement in Swartruggens in North West province earlier this week were racially motivated. An 18-year-old white man, Johan Nel, has been arrested on charges of murdering three people in a shooting spree that has left many […]