By Mario Meyer Aristotle, in The Nicomachean Ethics, makes the following assertion: “The life of money-making is one undertaken by compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.” One of the intractable questions of moral philosophy is the question of […]
General
Posted inGeneral
Reflecting on Lance Armstrong’s flaws
By Melo Magolego I think Lance should hang up his racing shorts and head for the world of national politics. Truly this man’s other talents are lying in waste. Watching him in his interview with Oprah I thought him to be very intelligent: he gives measured responses, effortlessly tames negative questions and then masterfully spins […]
Posted inGeneral
Centre for Blackness
Exactly 100 years after Africans were dispossessed of their land and stripped of their identity and heritage, the ANC government has subsidised the opening of the new headquarters for blackness. This comes in the form of a legacy project worth more than R120 million to promote, protect and preserve the legacy of Black Consciousness visionary leader […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
A sci-fi novel that shaped a generation
When William Gibson’s science-fiction, “cyberpunk” novel Neuromancer, was published in 1984, ultimately winning the three most sought-after awards in the science-fiction world (The Nebula Award, The Philip K Dick Award and the Hugo Award) few people could prognosticate that it represented an imaginative projection of such magnitude that it would shape the way an entire […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
There simply is no space
I find it odd that people today will log into various platforms of social networking to ”consume” new music yet you ask them what their favourite band is and they draw a blank. Look at your twitter timeline or go onto Facebook and just study for a day or so the amount of new music […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Being a straight white male silently cushions Armstrong’s plunge
“Armstrong ‘still a hero’ ” read the Independent on Saturday headline. Lance Armstrong’s scandalous admission of guilt has got fans scratching their heads wondering how to feel about this anti-hero. The tour-de-farce of lies and denial has climaxed in a tacky American-style made-for-daytime-TV confessionary. Oprah tweeted; the world waited; and now it’s confirmed — cycling’s […]
Posted inGeneral
Rethinking the police
From the infamous LAPD to London’s notorious Special Patrol Group and even further back — two centuries ago to the first ever newspaper reports of “police brutality” — all police forces exist along a continuum of violence. Leaving corruption aside South Africa’s police tend towards the direst part. We may not have the death penalty […]
Posted inGeneral
If you love Africa so much why are you leaving?
By Nicola Soekoe It’s not only in South Africa that news of a Yale acceptance letter travels quickly. Soon after I was accepted my whole community knew and my parents and I received many congratulatory remarks. While some were congratulating the fact that I got into one of the greatest academic institutions in the world […]
Posted inGeneral
Korea – an amazing country
During our recent visit to Korea — “South” Korea, that is, although Koreans simply refer to their country as “Korea” — we were astonished by many things, probably too many to discuss here, but I shall try to give a reasonably representative account of the things about the country and its people that we found […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Libraries and violence
You know that sensation when you mistakenly walk into the other sex’s dressing room and there is that sudden fluster and flurry of clothing being pulled back up and stifled or not stifled squeals? Of course you do. Well, for the purposes of description, entering a decent library can be the exact opposite, especially when […]
Posted inGeneral
A surprise honeymoon for the president
President Jacob Zuma is basking in a second honeymoon. To the much-married polygamist, such hedonism will be nothing unusual, but to Zuma the politician – widely excoriated for his failings – it brings welcome relief. For it is the political commentators and analysts, not his line-up of winsome women, who are metaphorically cradling the president’s […]
Posted inGeneral
We need to get over apartheid
This past week I have been confronted once more with the debate as to whether we should ‘’talk’’ about apartheid and by extension race relations. First I tuned into Eusebius McKaiser’s talk show on 702 where a gentleman called in to ask whether ‘’we can stop talking about race every day’’ and McKaiser responded by […]