I know the New Testament passage singles out “rich men”, but the condemnation is levelled in the context of hypocrites. Jesus scandalises a gathering by saying: “It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a (hypocrite) to enter the kingdom of God”. Irrespective of whether he […]
Llewellyn Kriel
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Buyology — how we’re brainwashed into buying stuff
We’ve always suspected those tawdry health warnings on a packet of fags were rather dumb, but never knew why. Well, it seems that, contrary to discouraging smoking, they actually encourage lighting up by stimulating the nucleus accumbens — the craving spot — in the brain. This recent research finding in what’s called “buy*ology” is a […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Media, News/Politics
More than freedom of expression is under threat in South Africa
Thought Leader blogger Anja Merret recently mused about whether we were being brainwashed into panic. She asked, with considerable justification, whether our media and their international news networks were pumping so much doom and gloom into the already murky and polluted waters of South Africa’s national psyche that we were becoming the proudly SA Borg […]
Posted inGeneral
Past & future — and the spaces in between
Much exhortation is doing the rounds at present to look back on 2008 and list the things for which one is grateful. This is a noble and laudable call, for in considering moments of radiance, we may see beauty, splendour and wonderment. At watershed moments such as the onset of a new calendar year, one’s […]
Posted inBusiness
Telkom: SA’s ugly underbelly
For years nations have been, rightly or wrongly, judged by their products. Coca-Cola and Big Macs have been iconic of the USA. Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin symbolised the UK. Exquisite wines, Yves Saint Laurent and grand cuisine epitomise France. Precision engineering and the finest quality are hallmarks of German products such as Mercedes-Benz. The reverse […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The floccinaucinihilipilification song of South Africa
I AM MORE than mildly perplexed by Achmat Dangor’s lashback at Breyten Breytenbach’s “attack” on Nelson Mandela. Firstly, I confess I haven’t read Breytenbach’s article and would dearly love to do so. A subscription to Harper’s magazine, though perfectly justified at the price — it is one of the 10 best English magazines in the […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
Beware the power de-rangers
YOU KNOW that feeling when suddenly, though subtly, events around you seem to coalesce as if life, fate, God — call it what you will — is trying to tell you something? At a time when my self-confidence and faith in my own judgment are at a nadir, I seem to be watching TV programmes, […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Tech
Is the new news news to you?
NO ONE could hold it against you if you hadn’t noticed the extent to which our news media are in crisis. After all, the traditional media are no longer the source of your really important news any more. And by “really important” I mean really important to YOU. Of course, the headlines of the day […]
Posted inMedia
Sunday Times: Could it be the real ‘Train o’ Hope’?
It’s been a dismal December so far for our news media, hasn’t it? The paucity of strong local news stories has been reflected in generally pedestrian media content, presentation, insight and originality. The movie circuit has been pretty similar. The most riveting regional news reports we’ve had have been the spread of cholera, rather half-hearted […]
Posted inGeneral
Have a nice day!
WE FLING these four words about like they were just so much confetti at someone else’s wedding. Yet they are four words that can cut deeper than a Samurai blade and be as deadly as a 9mm right between the eyes. Everyone sips a little from the cup of melancholy around this time of year. […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Dealing with www.dodgydudes.co.za
EVER heard the lament: there’s never a cop when you need one? In our, er … well, nation, it’s the second verse of the national anthem. Most of us whiteys don’t know this because we only get as far as the first verse before our tongues look like some old rope in the knot-tying event […]
Posted inGeneral
Have yourself a merry little Xmas!
Man, oh man, is it ever Xmas time again! Not Christ-mas. Crass, crumby, commercial, crappy credit-crunching Xmas. Today’s Sunday Times is the most eloquent reflection of the sordid, sleazy, gimme-gimme world we have become. And I, for one, am deeply ashamed to confess that my ears and eyes and taste-buds and olfactory sensors are electric […]