A new study, reported on yesterday by the M&G, looks at the nature of violent crime in South Africa. Although the report attributes our high levels of violence to a number of factors, the core problem being a “subculture of violence and criminality”, it seems to have missed what I would argue is the most […]
Mike Baillie
Mike is a young environmentalist. He is also very interested in issues relating to consumerism, consumption, and the capitalist system in Africa.
Mike also has his a worm farm, rides a bike to work, and doesn't own a television. He loves reading, going for long runs, and is humbly learning to surf.
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Is your lifestyle really worth it?
Last week I watched a documentary type film called Oceans. The whole film was spectacular, but for me one piece was particularly striking. Shot underwater, looking up towards the surface, we slowly panned over what looked like a bright red satin sari. It was gliding through the water, soft yellow lines rippling across the red […]
Posted inLifestyle
Of monsters and men RE: Rapists are men
The most important point I need to make is that understanding something is very different from condoning it. Attempting to explain why men rape, and understanding their motivations for raping, is fundamentally different to condoning the act, or trying to ‘explain it away’. Condoning rape would be to play it down, or even to endorse it. Seeking to understand rape on the other hand, is about investigating why it happens. Understanding is not the same as excusing rape or rapists.
Posted inLifestyle
Rapists are not monsters, they are men
Discussions about rape and rapists often seem to end up in the declaration that rapists are monsters. They are evil beasts who prey on women and children. Often they are spoken about as sub-human, or not human at all, they are animals. I disagree. For starters the discourse of rapists as monsters has the effect […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, General, Lifestyle
More tax, please!
If you ask me, the new carbon tax is a sloppy piece of green-wash. It’s a quick way for the government to raise an extra R450 million a year. At best it’s a token gesture that makes us look a little more green-minded when decisions are made about where to hold climate conferences and summits. And […]
Posted inLifestyle
Our happy (sp)ending
I’m interested in the story we tell about ourselves in 2010 South Africa – because I don’t think it has a happy ending.
It’s a story like many of the fairytales we’ve heard before. It tells us that we are all special individuals capable of achieving anything we can imagine if we just work hard enough. Yes, regardless of where you come from or what your background, you can have a happy ending — a Tuscan-like villa, flat-screen TVs, a flashy car, and lots of branded goodies.
Posted inEnvironment, Lifestyle
When will Woolies and Pick n Pay see the light?
*Correction: Since posting this blog, it has been brought to my attention that Woolworths does not in fact sell incandescent lightbulbs. As I understand it they decided a while back to remove these from their shelves and now only sell energy savers. I say big up to you Woolies (!), and my apologies for the […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, General, Lifestyle
Weigh-Less for carbon addicts
If you are fat, most people would say you should probably go on diet. Cut down on what’s causing your love handles and that bloated beer belly. The same thinking, it seems, applies to climate change: having gorged ourselves on the bad stuff — fossils fuels and carbon emissions — while skimping on the greens, […]
Posted inEnvironment, General, Lifestyle, Media
The hypocrisy of ‘greenies’ — a fair charge?
Here’s the question: can we rightfully critique oil companies for their environmental impacts while we continue to fill up on their oil? Does our reliance on their products mean that we have no space to critique the manner in which that production occurs? It’s the type of question I often come up against when writing […]
Posted inGeneral
An anatomy of anger
On Sunday my girlfriend and I were racing back to Cape Town, hoping to make it in time to watch the final at the Grand Parade. Unfortunately our car broke down about an hour away, and we only made it back to town well after the fan park was closed. I was absolutely fuming. First […]
Posted inLifestyle
Getting it on in public
My experience of white middle-class South Africans is that we tend to be very wary of others. Whether tucked away in gated communities, encapsulated in our cars, or running in the gym with headphones on, we like to keep at a distance from others. Even when in public, at the shops for example, we are […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Man enough to change?
What does it actually mean to be a man? My job in the publishing industry often bumps up against this question since a lot of what we do is about creating content for men. What I find most interesting is how so much of what we create is informed by a particular idea of masculinity […]