I take great exception to larceny. It is something that just irritates me. Then again sarcasm also irritates me, and for what its worth I don’t think that highly of narcissism either. Notice that all three of these words: larceny, sarcasm and narcissism have the letters ~arc~ in the middle of them. That must mean […]
General
Posted inGeneral, Health, Media, Tech
How (virtual) ‘speed’ has changed our way of life
Paul Virilio is a very important, if unusual, thinker. An architect and philosopher, his work has transformed the way people think about the relationship between speed (or acceleration), visuality (or visual culture), technology, the military, and the distinctive mode of existence of people in the early 21st century. This is how Virilio expresses the links […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, General, News/Politics
Why Americans should vote Democratic in the mid-term elections tomorrow
The American midterm elections – halfway through the American president’s term, where voters decide on their representatives in the two houses of American ‘democratic’ government, Congress and the Senate (as well as on some state governors) – take place tomorrow, on 6 November 2018, and all indications are that these will be the most significant […]
Posted inEquality, General, Health, Lifestyle
Does Philosophy have a function in society?
A doctoral student in philosophy at the University of the Free State, Mark Amaridakis, recently reminded me of the important contribution made to philosophy — specifically the Critical Theory of the so-called Frankfurt School — by Max Horkheimer, one of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research’s early directors. This made me pick up one of […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, General, Health
Dutch Reformed Church leader misrepresents paedophilic disorder as same-sex sexual orientation: An open statement by PsySSA
Introduction The Psychological Society of South Africa’s (PsySSA) Sexuality and Gender Division (SGD[1]) welcomed the Dutch Reformed Church Synod’s decision in 2015 to embrace gay and lesbian ministers/reverends, ordain them in their calling as ministers/reverends, and acknowledge and bless gay and lesbian congregants’ unions by conducting and officiating their marriages under the Civil Union Act. […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, General, Tech
How to bring South Africa’s fuel prices down – Use Sasol!
Just a quick thought: I have noticed that, quite apart from the large percentage of the debilitating fuel prices in South Africa being due to government taxes, our fuel is much more expensive than in the African countries surrounding us. (Check out these comparisons). What strikes one when you look at these comparisons, is that […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, News/Politics
The battle for America’s soul is also the battle for the world’s soul
Watching the tragicomedy playing itself out in America around the determined attempt on the part of Trump and the Republicans on the Senate, to appoint Brett Kavanaugh as lifetime judge on the panel of judges of the US Supreme Court, I had the uncanny feeling that this showdown between the forces of retrogressive neoconservatism and […]
Posted inEnvironment, General, News/Politics
Avidity
Avidity defined as: keen interest, enthusiasm or “a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something”. Now that we’ve got that out the way I can focus on what it is that has conjured this feeling that I have. It is not just the freedom of a new keyboard, typing hasn’t been this comfortable […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media
Sense8 – The full spectrum of life and love
Although I have done work on the astonishing Netflix television series, Sense8 (a play on ‘sensate’) before, it was restricted to the first season. Since then, I have viewed the Christmas Special, the second season, as well as the two-and-a-half hour conclusion-substitute for a third season (which was ‘inexplicably’ cancelled by Netflix), Love Conquers All, […]
Posted inEquality, General, Health, Media, News/Politics
The American fascist, the Canadian activist and the French poststructuralist
In the Preface to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s major work, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (University of Minnesota Press, 1983, p. xii) Michel Foucault — another formidable post-structuralist thinker — makes the following observation in his brilliant characterisation of the book, where he lists the hostile forces targeted by Deleuze and Guattari: Last but not […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
Don’t call me “kaffir”
Don’t call me “kaffir” I’m not your prison Bitch Don’t blame me for the sociopathology I’m not the architect of this wrongful state You rant and rave like a lunatic Yet you claim to be fighting for the oppressed Your presentation and demeanour tells us for whom you work That tells us you’re not independent […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
Minara
Recently, in Johannesburg, I caught up with Shaheen Hoosen, from the Minara Chamber of Commerce, and was pleasantly surprised to find a chamber of commerce guided by Islamic principles for the Muslim community, involved with both business development and trade development. Intrigued by the idea of such a specialised chamber of commerce, I prodded the […]