Tag: south africa
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Coloniser or Egophrenic?
Just as South Africans are ambivalent about Jan van Riebeeck, so Christopher Columbus is an enigma for America. For some, both are heroic explorers who brought civilisation to benighted continents. But for the native inhabitants of Africa and America these “civilisations” also brought a form of disease that turned us into cannibals. That is the…
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We’ll do anything to appear normal
It’s called homeostasis and describes the process of living organisms to balance their physical and chemical environments to maintain life. It is homeostasis that maintains the hydration of the cells in our bodies, our blood pressure and even the rate at which we perspire. The concept was described by French physiologist Claude Bernard in 1865…
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Food or Shopping? Black Friday blues.
If Black Friday’s shopping frenzy leaves you as frazzled as it does me every year, you may be interested in its counterpoint called, “Buy Nothing Day”? Founded by artist Ted Dave in Vancouver Canada in 1992, Buy Nothing Day or BND is an international day of protest against consumerism. In North America, Britain and Sweden…
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We can never go back to paradise
We all want to live in paradise. Americans have just voted to go back there. Something in every human heart wants to return to the wholeness of the Garden of Eden. We long for a place where everything is perfect. A utopian kingdom where everyone is at peace and our daily evils are gone. Englishman…
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Diabolical definitions
During the 1870’s, French novelist Gustave Flaubert had a custom of creating humorous definitions for words. These were eventually published as a “Dictionary of Received Ideas”. Here are some examples: Absinthe – Exceptionally violent poison: one glass and you’re a dead man. Journalists drink it while writing their articles. Has killed more soldiers than the…
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There is nothing wrong with me. I’m just different.
“What is wrong with you?” It’s a question usually asked with exasperation when we just can’t understand another person, their behaviour, their attitude, or their beliefs. Asked of an adult the question is damaging enough, but when a parent uses the phrase as an expression of frustration a child grows up believing there is something…
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The origins of “Decolonise the University”
It is said, “Some people change because they see the light, but most people change because they feel the heat.” Fascinated by words, I have been intrigued by a phrase being used in student protests currently taking place across the country. “Decolonize the University” is a provocative statement that first appeared in the #RhodesMustFall movement…
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Reform in the ANC is scientifically impossible.
I keep reading calls for the ANC to change or die. Sadly the science of change suggests that the ANC will find that impossible. A Harvard physicist gives me reason for this position. “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” by Thomas S Kuhn was published by University of Chicago Press in 1962 and for decades was…
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Palming off the Donkey King
Luke 19:28-40 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there…
The Listening Hermit 