Today, people will be wearing black in some kind of attempt to soothe their consciences about the appalling treatment of women in South Africa on a daily basis, made manifest in the tragic rape and death of Anene Booysens. Like with the rhinos and the POI Bill, today people will express their sort-of pissiness with the…
Category: Train of Thought
The Many Problems with Kony 2012
I distrust social media for a number of reasons, and while it can be used for good, it is also a terribly manipulative platform. My social media feeds have been clogged with retweets and shares of the Kony:2012 video. The good people of this planet are outraged and considering the extremely slick production and delivery…
Why Jessica Ahlquist Is My Hero
This girl did not burn crucifixes in the quad, or pistolwhip nuns; she simply asked for an illegal banner to be removed.
Why White People Don’t Get Affirmative Action
As part of the ‘Cape Town is Racist’ furore (why is this news?), some of the commentators on this article at Daily Maverick are upset that white people are getting denied opportunities to medical school and say that this is racist too. (I really shouldn’t scroll down comment sections, otherwise blog posts like this happen.)…
Writer on Writer Crimes
There’s nothing writers love more than giving each other advice. It is the most irritating thing short of catching ebola from a tax form. But there are hundreds and hundreds of blogs dedicated to writing about writing, because it doesn’t get more tediously meta than writing about writing about writing. Maybe this is why some…
Jou Ma Se Social Network
It is a well-documented fact amongst those that know me that I generally don’t tolerate pointless bleating. And while there is the usual white noise that suffuses the open-plan offices and braai lapas, nothing has hit quite an unnecessary pitch like the petulant whining that comes with each change of a social network. One of the most…
The problem with PETA
As part of this week’s series of organisations that are getting a blog-punch in the face, I am finally posting this article I wrote on Peta a while ago and that I actually remembered to post. So huzzah etc. After the Bullshit! Episode about PETA, July 2011 It is difficult, as someone who does try…
Greenpeace: anti-intellectual, anti-environment, anti-reason
As part of my attempts to be as awesome as Penn and Teller, I would like to point out the problem with Greenpeace. Look at this article here on why South Africa shouldn’t even consider nuclear power, and should instead be looking toward technologies that currently do not work and cannot support industry. Then read…
Pyschology gets a paddling
I know that some of my friends studied psychology, and some of them are in the field, but they know my opinion on the matter and can stop reading henceforth should it make them feel better. But I will not apologise, because I feel my points are valid and psychology is big enough to not…
Love Song for the Internet
I’ll be the first person to say I suffer from Facebook envy and Twitter confusion. I see everyone’s photos of their trips and their parties, their excellent events and adventures and I can’t help feeling just a little pathetic in comparison. And with Twitter, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the information that ticks…
