Freedom of (Multi)choice

By Jacques | Posted: March 9, 2010

DStv’s plans to introduce a pay-view porn channel continue to attract protest from groups such as the Christian Action Network, and now Errol Naidoo has also joined the lynch-mob. A companion-piece to my earlier treatment of the issue can be found at The Daily Maverick.

Posted in Morality | Tagged Daily Maverick, DSTV, Errol Naidoo, freedom of speech, Multichoice, porn, rights, Taryn Hodgson | Leave a comment

On JZ’s call for a national dialogue on “our moral code”

By Jacques | Posted: March 4, 2010

Many South Africans would support the recent call by President Jacob Zuma for a national dialogue on our moral code. While quips about foxes guarding henhouses may be the first thing to come to mind, two serious and separate issues are raised by this call: the desirability of such a dialogue, and the practical issue of who should take part.

Read more at The Daily Maverick.

Posted in Morality, Politics | Tagged Daily Maverick, Jacob Zuma, moral code, Ray McCauley | 1 Comment

Addicted to victimhood

By Jacques | Posted: March 3, 2010

Being married to someone who is obsessed with food has its upsides, in that the cooking of regular and delicious meals is something the Doctor enjoys doing (or so she claims, after years of doing so). I can apparently cook too, but this is a hypothesis that I’d rather not subject to much testing, in that I fear the loss of a potentially undeserved reputation. But it has its downsides too, in that her time spent thinking about food, and reading in the discipline of “Food Studies”, involves having to listen to and read an awful amount of utter tosh. Being a naturally inquisitive sort of fellow, I sometimes get caught in the crossfire, which led to us recently having a conversation about the evils of high-fructose corn syrup, which is apparently in everything. … continue reading “Addicted to victimhood”

Posted in External World, Politics | Tagged Food Rules, Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan, responsibility, victimhood | 5 Comments

Taryn Hodgson’s pornography problem

By Jacques | Posted: February 25, 2010

The Christian Action Network’s (CAN) “international coordinator”, Taryn Hodgson, seems to be on some sort of PR offensive. Last month, she was accusing the Cape Times and Argus of denying the “hidden holocaust” of abortion, and more recently, she took time out from being upset at things to offer an apology for the lies told by CAN around an aborted debate between Peter Hammond, myself and Tauriq Moosa. This apology has now resulted in the editing of some text on the reports of that debate – it’s still deeply misleading (you can read the document trail here, if you like), but it’s at least something, and even a recognition of some wrongdoing is at least progress towards becoming a decent and honest human being. But in her most recent foray into the scary territory of making arguments, we can unfortunately detect no improvement in her reasoning abilities since that time she pretended to be a student, back in March 2009. This time the subject of her disapproval is DSTV, who are currently trying to gauge public interest in the addition of a pornography channel to their offerings. … continue reading “Taryn Hodgson’s pornography problem”

Posted in Morality, Religion | Tagged DSTV, Morality, pornography, rights, science, Taryn Hodgson | 22 Comments

More on Maxwele and freedom of speech

By Jacques | Posted: February 23, 2010

A follow-up article on the Chumani Maxwele incident, and the implications it has for free speech in South Africa, appeared in the Durban Mercury (22/02/10) and the Cape Times (23/02/10). My original text can be found here.

Posted in Politics | Tagged Chumani Maxwele, Free Society Institute, freedom of speech, Jacob Zuma, police | Leave a comment
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