In the same week that the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict is to visit Britain, the Roman Catholic Church continues to be embroiled in scandal. In a provocative gesture, the Vatican lashed out that sex abuse is rife in other religions as it seeks to contain a paedophilia scandal which has cost the American church […]
2009
Posted inGeneral
Africans must confront prejudice and stereotypes
There are many things that Africans do which give Africa and Africans a bad name or rather there are things that folks with black skin do which tarnish the image of those with black skin. However, as one of the greatest pan-Africanists ever alive — Marcus Garvey — once argued: “The black skin is not […]
Posted inGeneral
7de Laan and other matters of grave concern to Afrikaner supremacists
I don’t read much, I am black after all, but I found myself perusing the sacred pages of the weekly Sunday Times yesterday evening. You see, my housemate buys the paper, I think out of habit more than anything else because he constantly complains about the content now carried on the pages. And since there […]
Posted inGeneral
Revisiting the Aryan racial superiority cult
Towards the end of the 19th century, a belief in the innate superiority of the Nordic, or “Aryan”, races — specifically of the Germanic and Anglo-Saxon variety, but by implication including others — started to become fashionable. This way of thinking would reach its gruesome culmination in the catastrophe of Nazism, with its cult of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Why, oh why, do we like to be abused?
What is it about human nature that when people treat us bad we like them more? That when we get abused, we go back slavishly looking for seconds? It seems we have been hardwired to like the hand that beats us. To run after the thing that rejects us. It’s like that old Groucho Marx […]
Posted inGeneral
‘Snotklap’ insults as art: Thought Leader commentators and giving offence
So there were Frank and Danny, just moseying along on the front of their wagon, thinkin’ about nothin’ in per-tick-u-ler, their two hosses ridin’ up front, wagon clattering over the stones through the plains of Tennessee. It came to Danny’s attention there was a whole bunch of flies around Frank’s horse’s posterior. He realised another […]
Posted inNews/Politics
War in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be lost in Geneva
While US President Barack Obama and his advisers, along with Congress, are deliberating over their response to the request made by General McChrystal for additional troops to be sent to Afghanistan, things may well be overtaking them on the ground. Indeed their decision on whether to switch focus to Pakistan, give the general what he […]
Posted inGeneral
Who needs Carte Blanche when you have the Proteas?
The foundation stone of a person’s character and belief system is the culmination of not just one moment, but most likely hundreds or even thousands of moments. Everything we do, and every experience we go through is comparable to an ever-changing ball of putty. As a South African cricket fan, we have gone through some […]
Posted inMedia
What women want
We are living in a material world, and though I wouldn’t call myself a material girl I’m not going to lie and pretend that I’d love to live a comfortable life in a home that has furniture, with access to some good wine every now and then. Reading through any women’s magazine you will begin […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Iran, Russia, US, Europe and Israel: Why Mugabe is irrelevant
I honestly don’t think I can stomach another indignant person imploring “the West” to “do something about Zimbabwe”. This gem is usually delivered on the back of some hack thesis about the hypocritical invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to free them from dictatorships whilst leaving poor old Zimbabwe languishing under Mugabe. Next is generally the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The pot calling the kettle black!
President Zuma was interviewed on CNN yesterday and has been cited as criticising former president Mbeki’s standpoint on HIV and Aids. He said that Mbeki’s choices and actions were “not government policy”. The Times Online article argues that this was criticism of the previous regime, but to me it seems like simple defensiveness. So what […]
Posted inGeneral
Hands up: Are Americans naive or not?
“I don’t know why you should think I have a Chinese girlfriend,” seethed Malcolm, a young American teacher speaking to me in an office we once shared together in Shanghai. “She is a Canadian.” His beard bristled around his clenched teeth. “I think you should have just let that information come out naturally in conversation.” […]