I don't know who he was because I only caught a moment or fifteen on the !Xolani [! =click i believe] show last Thursday morning. I don't often listen to the !Xolani show on SAFM for the same reason that I always avoided Current Affairs in the old days -the reek of 'realgoose' fills the air-.but on this occasion I heard what sounded like a formerly disempowered person, talking. I was confused because I though I was hearing Leon Louw except it was a different voice. He sounded like a Leon Louw clone-and what a glorious clone. He was so amazingly correct with what Mr Gore would call '-inconvenient truths-'
For those who don't know Leon Louw is the long standing spokesperson for the Free Market Foundation in the Southern end of the African Union. He has valiantly pointed out the benefits of a society in which all citizens are free to do their own thing for ages now and has had to endure all the usual 'slings and arrows' of outraged lefties desperate to promote their failed vision of collectivism notwithstanding its monumental global failure-catastrophic failure really for many regions of the world.
The ongoing difficulty that the Foundation has had over the past dozen years has been that those who support totalitarian social agendas have carefully smeared the inherently rational and sensible economic position taken by Libertarian economists with regard to economic life in our country.
Liberated economic theory is associated with so called 'western values' and the rising populist tide represented by the COSATU communist party alliance eschews free markets. At their recent congress the evil N word came up again after years in the doldrums with strident calls to emulate Bolivia, Venezuela and other proponents of the new Left and Nationalise Mines and Banks.
So it was amazing to hear the voice of reason coming from a member of the newly liberated class and what was even more cool was that the man's presentation was so obviously unscripted-[if there is one truly boring thing about the new SAFM set up it is the obvious use of prescripted so-called "live interview" material laboriously plodded over with amateurish earnestness by partially articulate presenters -.At least the amateurs on UJFM happily confess to being the station that is 'young enough to bend the rules' as they struggle with their own daily litany of mispronounced language.]
In a month that has contained a great deal of bleak economic news-carefully tucked away on the back pages of our day to day existence it was refreshing to note that the edge of sanity is beginning to manifest amongst those who hold the destiny of this country in their hands-and that the fellow can so obviously hold his own in a hostile environment. Now we need a hundred thousand more like him as we advance inexorably toward the coming era of the 'Privatised State'.
Democracy is only worth what it can defend; and the free market system is battling to hold its own against the natural trend towards monopoly that dominates all human behaviour. The Chinese neo-communist model of an economy produces rising material joy with few rights in areas of thought freedom. Counterbalancing this are the remarkably resurgent democratic India, and the ruling oligopolies of Japan and Korea. [ come to think of it all 'free world' democracies are really ruled by oligopolies].
Next door, Vladimir Putin has turned Russia into a corporate State which is bullying western interests in a new covert war of attrition against what was always called the free world. Assymetric corporate warfare some commentators are calling it. There are thought police at workt there too. Counterbalancing that is the chaotic democracy of Brazil. According to a recent edition of the Economist these four countries collective known as BRICs [Brazil, Russia, India, China] collectively control 75% of the total GDP of the 27 countries that make up their 'second' division table in world economies.
According to the anonymous speaker: The Free world comprises those countries that largely subscribe to market based theories of how a State should be run while Social based societies are frequently subject to interventions in the way markets run in order to confirm with specific agendas. The Libertarian speaker drew attention to the fact that during [an early] stage in the 1950's the average income per head of population in South Africa and Japan were the same, even more so when measured on the increasingly fashionable Purchasing Power Parity [PPP] scale [a fancy name for the Mc Donald's theory about how much a Mc Donald's costs in US dollars all over the Mc Donald's world.
He continued to suggest that as South Africa became more and more embroiled in its socialist style agenda politics [the politics of race]the country became comparatively poorer; until today it languishes in 26th position in the second division of world economies. Now as far as I know he didn't actually say the last part of that statement, I arrived where I was going and had to stop listening and I couldn't continue listening on my cellphone because I was in a meeting with humans. I checked it out later in the Economist. We rank 26 on their list and that is today's reality.
I would suggest too that the situation is is about to get worse as the Reserve Bank's Mr Mboweni starts tightening the turnique on interest rates. Oh dear.
The dilemma faced by the free world tinterviewee said, in this new era of asymmetrical onslaught is that the 'system' can only endure in a climate of competition and respect for common law: the common law that has enabled the free world to create a standard of living never experienced [to our best knowledge] by the human race in the 180,000 years since we allegedly climbed out of the trees.
We must understand how fragile this system is and how rare that speaker whoever he was [ and perhaps some kind bloggist will inform us ] is who actually understands that the world with which we play so carelessly is a mirage-a delicately contrived mirage but nonetheless like the glorious Matrix images it is ephemeral and can only survive when all parties play to an agreed sset of rules-Those
who seek to overthrow the 'system' cannot replicate it because their societies are founded on flawed principles of human interaction that mitagate against the creativity necessary to sustain this illusion.
We've had an amazing run for 500 years as this market based system free marketers have invented has gradually become so ascendant that all over the planet people are fleeing their horror filled lives to live the free world dream. Five hundred years since the period called 'the enlightenment'-this is a fraguile experience hard fought and compromised. Five hundred years? That is like we've had one good day in a year in hell, and it rained hailstones even most of that day.
So he's right and I welcome his voice of sanity whoever he was.May he continue to present his case.
Free world politicians are so compromised by a range of position shifts over the past couple of decades that
Saturday, September 30, 2006
More on the "HIV is an illusion" debate
Why he asks do I need shit in my life
It is better that you just disappear?
He thought that was the plan
For those who have been following the debate about whether HIV is, or is not, an illusion on my "Manto1 de Lille 0" blog I make the following announcement-
I understand from now now returned informant that the entire HIV oriented laboratory at the Wits Medical School has been reading the material supplied by the apparent 'denialist' Johan Beuraine in refutation of the world in which they conduct day to day research. You are confused he is telling them-that which you believe you see is not what you see - It is an illusion. They are amused I'm told.
I am also told they wish to enter the fray themselves and blog their response in this debate - It is possible that they may be constrained by the normal workings of mindless bureaucracy seeking only to protect its fiduciary obligations- in which case their response shall be relayed by me-soon-hee hee hee.
So stand bye for the next thrilling episode in the saga: 'IS HIV an illusion and all those coffins we see lowered to the earth mere conjectures? '
It is better that you just disappear?
He thought that was the plan
For those who have been following the debate about whether HIV is, or is not, an illusion on my "Manto1 de Lille 0" blog I make the following announcement-
I understand from now now returned informant that the entire HIV oriented laboratory at the Wits Medical School has been reading the material supplied by the apparent 'denialist' Johan Beuraine in refutation of the world in which they conduct day to day research. You are confused he is telling them-that which you believe you see is not what you see - It is an illusion. They are amused I'm told.
I am also told they wish to enter the fray themselves and blog their response in this debate - It is possible that they may be constrained by the normal workings of mindless bureaucracy seeking only to protect its fiduciary obligations- in which case their response shall be relayed by me-soon-hee hee hee.
So stand bye for the next thrilling episode in the saga: 'IS HIV an illusion and all those coffins we see lowered to the earth mere conjectures? '
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
The strange case of the homeless man
What is a week in the world if not a time of constant change. My favourite constant change moment came On Thursday morning last week. The world that morning was awakened with a dramatic story about a homeless man who liked to peek into motor cars and watch amorous couples and who claimed about a year after the event to have witnessed the late 'fat man,' 'sing'. For those whose memories are as random as the soon to be late unknown anonymous so-called 'homeless' man-A well known mining man and general raconteur, playboy and allegedly corrupt human was found shot to death in his luxury car in an upmarket Jozi suburb last November. The case has been stalled since the beginning.
As I rode across town in my rusty steed I heard the inimitable Gareth Cliffe [sic] confirm that the 'police were on their way to the SABC premises to interview the alleged so-called 'homeless man' [from the Ethel and Frank Grey Park where the murder occurred.]
That was at eight o clock and then I went into a meeting for a couple of hours. Later, at ten thirty I was again driving but north this time and the voice on the radio, Classic that time I think, told me that the police had been and met with the man and then arrested him on charges of alleged housebreaking in the central city of Mangwane (again sic)in the more remote central rural hinterlands of the fair South. He had already set off in transport for that city. The radio then played a recording of the anonymous homeless man advising that he feared for his life now having been arrested.
By evening he was being denounced by a branch of the ruling Party structures implicated by the alleged homeless man [now alleged housebreaker and thief ] in the 'bumping off of 'the Fat Man'. The homeless man was now insane as well as a thief and alleged housebreaker and there the matter rested. Maybe I missed the bulletin that said he was alive and well and appeared in court this morning or on Friday morning and was duly arraigned with as much respect to the man's 'due process' rights as befitted the almost blinding speed with which the Police acted in some two and a half hours-a time, it is frequently reported, that it more often takes the police to respond to a call in many parts of the country, never mind investigate, arrest, process, and dispatch a general miscreant of to a holding cell somewhere in the hinterland..
We know that the police are capable of acting with superb speed and were impressed at how much they could achieve in two and a half hours. Will the homeless and ultimately nameless man [does one lose one's name when one loses one's home?] ever be heard of again? Will we, one month from now, remember that a surprisingly well spoken, alleged homeless man, claimed for reasons of his own to have witnessed a murder deluxe... and for whatever reasons had decided to come forwards about nine months later -was he committing suicide? Did we imagine it?
Had you not been overly alert to the nuances of our daily spin and drivel outpourings on mundane inconsequential matters dear to the hearts of the chattering classes then you heard no broadcast and saw no articles and therefore as with the koan about the tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it does it make a noise-did he ever exist or was it a piece of performance theatre.
If the homeless man has no name and has been removed to a place far away who is say say who he is and will he pop up later? Is he in protective custody or is he to be on trial for housebreaking, something for which he could get bail: and then vanish forever into the mists of history?
We shall see -we hope this is not another circumstance like that strange matter of Mr Rashid. Two is a trend.
As I rode across town in my rusty steed I heard the inimitable Gareth Cliffe [sic] confirm that the 'police were on their way to the SABC premises to interview the alleged so-called 'homeless man' [from the Ethel and Frank Grey Park where the murder occurred.]
That was at eight o clock and then I went into a meeting for a couple of hours. Later, at ten thirty I was again driving but north this time and the voice on the radio, Classic that time I think, told me that the police had been and met with the man and then arrested him on charges of alleged housebreaking in the central city of Mangwane (again sic)in the more remote central rural hinterlands of the fair South. He had already set off in transport for that city. The radio then played a recording of the anonymous homeless man advising that he feared for his life now having been arrested.
By evening he was being denounced by a branch of the ruling Party structures implicated by the alleged homeless man [now alleged housebreaker and thief ] in the 'bumping off of 'the Fat Man'. The homeless man was now insane as well as a thief and alleged housebreaker and there the matter rested. Maybe I missed the bulletin that said he was alive and well and appeared in court this morning or on Friday morning and was duly arraigned with as much respect to the man's 'due process' rights as befitted the almost blinding speed with which the Police acted in some two and a half hours-a time, it is frequently reported, that it more often takes the police to respond to a call in many parts of the country, never mind investigate, arrest, process, and dispatch a general miscreant of to a holding cell somewhere in the hinterland..
We know that the police are capable of acting with superb speed and were impressed at how much they could achieve in two and a half hours. Will the homeless and ultimately nameless man [does one lose one's name when one loses one's home?] ever be heard of again? Will we, one month from now, remember that a surprisingly well spoken, alleged homeless man, claimed for reasons of his own to have witnessed a murder deluxe... and for whatever reasons had decided to come forwards about nine months later -was he committing suicide? Did we imagine it?
Had you not been overly alert to the nuances of our daily spin and drivel outpourings on mundane inconsequential matters dear to the hearts of the chattering classes then you heard no broadcast and saw no articles and therefore as with the koan about the tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it does it make a noise-did he ever exist or was it a piece of performance theatre.
If the homeless man has no name and has been removed to a place far away who is say say who he is and will he pop up later? Is he in protective custody or is he to be on trial for housebreaking, something for which he could get bail: and then vanish forever into the mists of history?
We shall see -we hope this is not another circumstance like that strange matter of Mr Rashid. Two is a trend.
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