So what are universities for?
Universities are best situated to produce ground-breaking research, thereby sometimes playing a significant role in promoting the welfare of a country and its people. But in developing countries like ours – especially ones with dysfunctional education systems – they also end up playing a remedial role.
Mantashe wants to help you “Know your DA”
The Democratic Alliance has launched its 2014 Election campaign with “Know your DA”, highlighting the role that DA members – or members of the DA’s earlier incarnations – played in the struggle against apartheid. According to Gwede Mantashe’s desperate propaganda, “Know your DA” is desperate propaganda.
Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone!
South Africa has an education policy which goes a long way towards separating church and state, while also allowing for expression of diverse religious and non-religious viewpoints. A pity, then, that the policy is routinely ignored in favour of Christian proselytising.
UCT, race, and the seductive moral outrage machine
The UCT student newspaper, Varsity, ran a story that included a graphic showing how “UCT” voted on the “most attractive race”. This time, it wasn’t only Marius Fransman who let hysteria triumph over common sense in reacting to this graphic.
The sound and fury of sanctimony
Making progress in resolving disagreements with regard to culture, values and religious beliefs is difficult enough, given the emotive nature of the beliefs in question. We could perhaps make the task slightly easier through paying attention to not misrepresenting each other, and also sometimes through getting our own houses in order.
Burn the witch!
An “Anti-Harmful Religious Practices strategy” was recently launched by Gauteng education MEC Barbara Creecy. But the strategy seems to be biased against some religions in favour of others, and also seems complacent with regard to two issues: the possibility of religious belief, rather than practice, being a source of harm; and the possibility that some practices have little or nothing to do with religion.
Not even Madiba can turn anecdotes into data
In my previous column, I explained why I’d be presenting to the Icasa hearings in support of TopTV’s planned adult content channels. Based on what I heard that day, any ruling against TopTV would be ample evidence that Icasa need lessons in basic logic and statistics, as well as a reminder that anecdotes don’t count as data.
Pornography is coming to eat your children!
TopTV’s strategy for rescuing itself from financial ruin includes a second application to Icasa for the right to screen pornography channels. As with the previous application, religious lobby groups are up in arms. But with there being no good reasons to believe that pornography is harmful, Icasa will hopefully remember that their mandate does not include the enforcement of religious moralising.
Do you know what’s good for you?
Choice architecture (or “nudges”, as in the 2008 book by that name) is an example of what has been called “libertarian paternalism”, in that it is an attempt to get people to do what’s best for them. But if we know that people aren’t always the best judges of their own interests, is there perhaps room for even stronger interventions?
