What is the “tipping point” which sees the media deliberately shift from passive reporter to active crusader? What pushes the media into pro-active campaign mode deliberately making the news and not merely the quasi-objective spectator telling the world what’s happening, when, where, to who, why and how? Precedents, great and small, exist galore. When I […]
Llewellyn Kriel
Posted inMedia
Let the sunshine in
This week is national Sunshine Week in the US. It has nothing to do with the weather (though after the past weekend, some ultraviolet rays would be lekker), nor does it have anything to do with the Mordoresque financial climate (except indirectly). It has everything to do with opening the closed doors of secrecy everywhere […]
Posted inGeneral
I am my neighbour’s keeper!
I read somewhere recently that doodles are now being touted as the latest insight into the psyche. I didn’t have time to read further (note to self — then do so soon!), which is a pity because I’m an exceptional doodler. Doodlers, real doodlers, are probably a marginal class of nut, schizophrenically able to synchronise […]
Posted inGeneral
For the people, by the people? Bah, humbug!
For a country that claims to be “for the people, by the people”, South Africa has a despicable disregard for the individual in society. Adverts in every format bombard us with “We care” tripe. Government departments have Batho Pele messages plastered in every nook and cranny. Banks festoon their sterile halls with merry posters of […]
Posted inGeneral
‘Follow the evidence’, Grissom said, ‘follow the evidence’
Three seemingly divergent articles found their ways on to my screen within the last 24 hours. I’m not sure if some supernatural puppeteer planned it that way or whether my innate penchant for irony simply sees connections where there aren’t really any. The first was Time‘s Friday 13 article by John Cloud, “Is Genius Born […]
Posted inGeneral
Chuck Norris, where are you when we need you?
Walk the talk. Chat is cheap, money buys whisky. Meer bek as binnegoed. Don’t tell me — show me. These are threadbare cliches. And deservedly so because it is a helluva lot easier and cosier and neater and ultimately innocent to fill the good air with carbon dioxide through rhetoric and oratory than it is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The 2010 World Cup — nadir rather than zenith for SA
Last night was enlightening but also saddening in underscoring so many of our doubts. We had some of my son and daughter-in-law’s friends and associates over at our place in Alexandria, US. A small but varied and egalitarian group ranging in ages from 55 to 28: British, American, from New Zealand, Chinese and South African. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What ‘Yes we can’ must learn from the Miracle of ’94
There is a reason why 15th century explorers conveniently divided Earth into the “New World” (including North America) and the “Old World” (including Africa). They might not have intended it in this sense, but there is much the New World can, nay, must, learn from the Old World. After all, age implies experience and experience […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What “Yes We Can” means for SA
The one word that permeated President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech like a thunderclap n Washington DC yesterday was “Unity”. It and numerous synonyms created the touchstone in what authoritative pundits have called the “most important inaugural speech in American history”. And Barack touched it many, many times. He directly linked unity of purpose, of national […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The Unbearable Lightness of Listlessness
Many of us, fellow Thought Leader blogger Bert Olivier included, were quite amazed at the list of the 12 Biggest Questions he quoted from the German magazine Wissenschaft in a recent blog posting. They were * What is reality? * Why are we not immortal? * Is there a world formula? * What happens, or […]
Posted inGeneral
From here to there and back again
My best friend, a man of great wisdom, extraordinary intellect and awesome talent, in asking about my plans for the months I will be spending in the United States soon, said, “Well, Kriel, just make sure you don’t go over there and trash this country”. He went on to explain how so many ordinary South […]
Posted inNews/Politics
An Oscar for the Dark Knight, Zuma Ledger
Having watched The Dark Knight five times now I would definitely give Heath Ledger the nod for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Batman’s iconic archvillain, The Joker. Batman is something I know a helluva lot about having studied the Caped Crusader since I was about six or seven years old. In the field […]