I don’t believe in generalisations when it comes to experience, except in the natural sciences. In fact, philosopher Hans Reichenbach, in The Rise of Scientific Philosophy, goes so far as to claim that “generalisation” is what is distinctive about science – in the language of the philosophy of science, it is science’s “demarcation criterion”. Because […]
crime
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Health, News/Politics
Gogos under siege: Let’s put an end to it
It should be concerning to every individual when a newspaper headline sates: “Dead woman (80) sexually assaulted with a fork”. Actually everyone should be filled with anger. This was the headline in the Sowetan today (December 4 2013). The story tells of the gruesome murder, and possible rape of Gogo Anna Ntsane of Hennenman in […]
Posted inTech
What ordinary people don’t know about the deep web
The November 11 edition of TIME magazine features a cover article on “The Secret (or Deep) Web” (pp20-27), which most regular users of the internet are not even aware of — I, for one, did not know that what I had always regarded as that most splendid of inventions, the internet as “horizontal”, democratising axis […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear President Zuma…
I hope this letter finds you in the best of health and spirits, after a restful evening, sleeping in your heavily guarded homes and state of the art security systems. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my neighbours and I who were left reeling after a burglar scaled my property’s fence last night. On […]
Posted inGeneral
Are we facing an ethical vacuum today?
In Living in the End Times (Verso, 2010, p. 324), the man who has been described as the “most dangerous philosopher in the West” (New Republic), Slavoj Žižek, makes the following remark: “The task [today] is to restore civility, not a new ethical substance. Civility is not the same as custom (in the strong sense […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The death penalty is more anti-black than Malema realises
The recent utterances by EFF leader Julius Malema that should the EFF become the ruling party he will hold a referendum for people to decide whether they want the death penalty reinstated, are reckless. They indicate to me that he has no appreciation for the historical constructs of this country and has not bothered to […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
The white angst of Red October
Singer and aspirant politician Steve Hofmeyr delivered a heart-wrenching ode to the splendours and disappointments of Afrikaner white masculinity at the Red October march in Pretoria. But to get an even better sense of the thinking behind the campaign, just look at the two sponsors of its website: Comfizone and the Pistols Saloon. It’s so […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Living in constant fear
ON Thursday 19 September, South Africans heard why this remains a country where its people are still living in constant fear. Two decades of African National Congress self-interest and bungling have failed to curb crime, despite the asinine claptrap with which SA’s minister of police Nathi Mthethwa insulted the country. Millions of ordinary South Africans […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle, Media
Against PigSpotting
Knowing of both the popularity and following of PigSpotter, in writing this article I feel it necessary to begin with an obligatory disclaimer: this is not an attempt to an indict a single person or project, nor is it a criticism of the good work that PigSpotter has done in ensuring that the Johannesburg Metro […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The Oscar Pistorius case: Time magazine is wrong, Lulu is right
Two mainstream media companies have turned the Oscar Pistorius case into an opportunity to ruminate on the perils of post-white rule. Time magazine and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have both in their recent coverage used Pistorius’s defence to weigh in on the South African “culture of violence”. It is notable that these media companies […]
Posted inGeneral
Actually, we can solve our crime problem
By Niki Moore At 4am on Thursday morning I woke up to find a shadowy stranger standing next to my bed, bending over my bedside table. The figure was silhouetted against the streetlight coming in from my window — an unfamiliar male shape with a rucksack in his back — and I sat up in […]
Posted inLifestyle
Of cheque cards and stag hunts
This weekend my cheque card credentials were stolen and then used to purchase cinema tickets. This was entirely my own fault. I was not a “victim”, I was not hurt, and can think of no excuse other than I was simply not being observant. As such this is not a whinge against crime in South […]