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Isn't this just incredible? These same red-necks rant and rave at the behaviour of so-called 'Islamic extremists', but when push comes to shove, they're happy to adopt the same techniques and follow suit. God, what an indictment of so-called 'human' beings. Article from Business Day's The Weekender newspaper of 22nd/23rd July 2006.
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The late Alan Paton’s book Cry the Beloved Country narrowly preceded Apartheid South Africa but its lesson is that suffering may lead to an epiphany of sorts. Paton, along with the Wise Ones of the Universe must be mourning the present state of global anarchy and cruelty – and our continued and inexplicable inability to learn from it.
I’m not an orthodox Christian but I am beginning to understand why certain people think there’s an element of the ‘Anti-Christ’ in George Bush. Here is a man who has just vetoed (on ‘moral’ grounds!) the bill on foetal stem-cell research in the USA, but is (he may not be by the time this hits the media) intentionally sitting by watching the Middle East go up in flames.
I’m not interested in taking ‘sides’ except to take the side of peace and civilised behaviour. Inadvertently caught by a live microphone at a recent G8 summit conference luncheon, the swashbuckling prez refers offstage to Hezbollah’s activity as ‘this shit’. He chews food with his mouth open and continues talking to Tony Blair while doing so. Not a pretty sight. It’s terrifying to consider that this unsophisticated bigot-hick is virtual conductor of a global political orchestra whose members right now are playing off anything but the same song sheet. Maybe it’s time for the Europeans (sans Blair) to take an independent and principled stand. But that’s another article.
Meantime, whatever happened to dialogue? Whatever happened to diplomacy? Where have the genuine leaders of yesteryear, who enjoyed at least a smidgen of moral and ethical fibre, gone? Or are we into some ghastly self-serving dispensation in which money, power, privilege and influence are exclusively what it’s about - and Leona Helmsley-like, the ‘little people’ of all persuasions no longer matter?
If we are indeed at an all-time technological, medical, infrastructural and communications peak as a civilization (a misnomer if ever there was one), then that clearly isn’t a very helpful place to be. With the most sophisticated mechanisms at our disposal, we’re at an all-time low in terms of our scorecard on peaceful co-existence, respect for diversity, compassion and caring about our environment.
Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu monk who brought the concept of Universality to the World Parliament of Religions stage in Chicago in 1893, said this: Where you see compassion, you are seeing spirituality. Where you see great compassion you are seeing great spirituality. Where you see unstinting, relentless compassion, you are seeing God in action. The behaviour of ‘leaders’ on the planet today tells us explicitly that there isn’t even a hint of God in the overwhelming majority of them.
There is a saying in Eastern philosophy: ‘You get the teacher you deserve’. This same maxim seems to apply to the ‘leaders’ we have orchestrating our dubious futures around the world. Why are we letting this happen? Maybe it’s time for some serious introspection.
Was guest speaker at the Symantec Partner Summit at Summer Place on 13th July. Great audience. Thanks Premlan, thanks Gareth. Here's the slide a few folk asked for.
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A while back, I wrote an article criticising what I regarded as the less than optimal launch of Business Day's The Weekender newspaper. I still think my observations at the time were valid. But heck, have the editorial and marketing team got their act together on this new entrant or what?
The simplest benchmark for me of the readability-desirability-subscribability continuum is when I start to clip articles or items from a publication. It's then 'speaking' to me and adding to my information and database. A few weeks back I started doing so with The Weekender. It has become a read which you 'nibble on', not just during the weekend, but throughout the ensuing week. There's an excellent mix of articles in a clean and easy-on-the-eye layout and this combination puts the paper in a league of its own. As a compliment, I compare it to the Sunday Chronicle that existed many years back and filled a similar vacuum in the weekend literary line-up. Well done to the team involved. I sent off my subscription request this last week. I shall also let my subscription to the deathly-dull Saturday Star lapse when it comes up for renewal. It has been superseded by a worthy opponent. Discerning advertisers take note!
Whilst talking about The Weekender, this weekend's edition contains a well-reasoned article by Vukani Mde. Having just endured a verbal and written 'aanval' of note as a result of my recently expressed viewpoints and an attempt to get a debate going on the topic of Afrikaans within the education system, this article's timing couldn't have been better. Here it is, courtesy of The Weekender.
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