Journalism,much like advertising and politics, is full of people who try to appear important while doing stupid things. Life, on the other hand, is full of people who appear stupid while doing important things.
Your newspaper has built up a solid reputation as a first class award-winning pedlar of conceit. Mention a topic and the M&G has an opinion, just like the charlatan who leads this government. The intellectual circus you have become, in which assorted frenzied contortionists and jugglers of the mind perform to equally opinionated gawking groupies, reminds me that we have become, or are becoming, a society saturated with information but devoid of knowledge.
What used to be true of only sycophantic speechwriters, copywriters and self-important journalists now seems to be equally true of much of our society: at our disposal, we have more data than we actually need.
To outdo your ostentation, the editor of South Africa’s leading black daily styles himself editor-in-chief. Echoes of president for life. His pseudosagacious babble would see shebeen patrons look for alternative watering holes. More and more I realise that politics, journalism and advertising are driven by passion for illusion, talent for obfuscation and predisposition to ostentation. What Zbigniew Herbert called the black foam of newspapers and the babble of the speaker’s platform have become the vernacular of everyday discourse. Your role in this epic act of desecration deserves recognition. Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi, Pretoria