September 09 – 15 2005

A society of moral dwarves

I am amazed at the apparent weaknesses of the world’s only superpower. I always thought that, since the United States can deploy hundreds of thousands of troops in far-flung corners of the globe within days, it would at least be able to deal with a disaster at home.

Through the desperate situation in New Orleans one sees that, despite its military and economic might, the country has serious moral shortcomings.

What is striking is the despicable behaviour of some of the victims and their rescuers. I never expected such criminal conduct in a ”developed” country. When a poor African country, Mozambique, was hit by floods, we never witnessed that kind of savagery.

However, it is clear that the American form of development breeds a society of moral and cultural dwarves.

America should be ashamed that it cannot act swiftly to rescue its own citizens in distress, while spending billions of dollars fighting wars all over the world. — Luthando Nogcinisa, Khayelitsha

I have to laugh at the M&G‘s naivety in stating that ”it will be particularly galling [to George W Bush] that the man voicing those thoughts, echoed on Friday by many across the United States and around the world, was Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela”.

The sad truth is that the Bush administration does nothing half so well as disregarding criticism, much less the views of an enemy.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we are relying on the world to dig deep — not so much into your pockets, but into the facts. Our press cannot be trusted to alienate the establishment with hard questions. It took days of being exposed to dead bodies for the first real questioning of the powers-that-be since Bush was elected.

Thank you to everyone around the world for not retracting your help after that first ignorant, macho rebuttal by our president, and for realising that the US is much more than its current leadership. — Steve Lamb, Washington DC

In Katrina’s wake, the soaring cost of gasoline is hitting American consumers hard. Yet nobody has the courage to mention two words: global warming.

As the Bush administration continues to deny the effect of America’s massive carbon emissions on global climate change, the world looks on with growing disbelief.

As long as Bush continues to pursue his aggressive energy policy, increasingly extreme weather phenomena will destroy property and lives.

Will Americans wait until crude tops $100 a barrel before pressure is put on their president to invest much more in alternative energy sources? — Rupert Eden, Madrid, Spain

The myth of a democratic, just, upwardly mobile people that care for one another equally was exposed as a fraud by this tragedy. — Sibusiso Xaba, Pan Africanist Youth Congres

A sparkling exchange of wit

Grace Musila’s comment and Shaun de Waal’s reply on Zulu Love Letter (September 2) provided a sparkling exchange of wit and repartee. Their razor sharp intellect was exceeded only by the brilliance of their language.

These two artists brought a touch of class to a scintillating tête-à-tête, which reminded me of the struggle years, when people sat up till dawn debating the future of our beloved South Africa. Bravo M&G! You remain my favourite read. — MF (Mac) Carim

De Waal did not fully seize the opportunity to engage with the cultural baggage that informs criticism. Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism usually trace ideas, values and practices to its origins. To use this approach does not necessarily mean that one essentialises or even racialises interpretations. Rather, it invites us to consider the intellectual territory from which the critique originates.

While it is true that there is your interpretation and my interpretation, the crucial question is: When does criticism become a denial of difference that maintains marginalisation? Only a critical dialogue can find answers to this question. — Thomas Blaser, department of political studies, Wits University

Musila helped clear up something that has been tormenting me for a long time about art. I now know that if I don’t appreciate something that a black person creates, it is because I am white. Thank God. I thought it was because I was stupid or uneducated, or the work was pathetic.– Anthony Bizos

I don’t read Shaun de Waal’s film reviews any more — they’re too one-dimensional. I prefer Barry Ronge, whose work is more balanced and includes appreciation of different viewpoints and styles. — Franzette

Not just a snip

The belief (”More safety at a snip”, September 2) that circumcision prevents HIV is problematic. Many studies have been conducted and the results vary. Cochrane found ”insufficient evidence to support an interventional effect of male circumcision on HIV acquisition in heterosexual men”. In any event, it does not prevent HIV transmission, it merely lowers the rate of transmission; and male circumcision can only reduce female-to-male transmission, not the other way round.

A mass circumcision campaign would be more expensive than other proven prevention methods. And HIV-negative men would undergo a painful and sexually crippling procedure for no reason. Circumcision decreases penile sensitivity.

Circumcision is a radical, invasive procedure that should be performed only for a genuine medical reason, not as a preventive measure. — Alex Myers, Newlands

Zuma camp creating a monster

President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to fire Jacob Zuma made a lot of us in Zimbabwe proud because it sent a very strong message about the future of African governance.

It is unfortunate that in South Africa a certain lobby wants to hijack Mbeki’s decision and use it to create an icon around Zuma’s personality. Zwelinzima Vavi of Cosatu, the ANC Youth League and the Young Communist League are trying to rob South Africa of a rare opportunity which has presented itself — to show to the greater world that corruption has no place in South Africa.

In Zimbabwe we have learnt the hard way how creating an icon of a single man is dangerous. When he arrived back in 1979, Robert Mugabe was met by a million-strong crowd. This was when we started creating the monster that is eating us today.

I am afraid that in South Africa the above-mentioned organisations have started building the monster that will one day feed on the nation. — Busani Moyo, Zimbabwe Open University

A quasi-legal investigation, such as that urged by Mbeki, will not help address the ideological differences in the alliance — it will only entrench divisions and misunderstandings.

Whose interests will a commission serve if it concludes that there is a political conspiracy by Mbeki? Who will benefit if it is dismissed? It will start another vicious cycle of accusations and counter-accusations. — Nyiko Floyd Shivambu, Wits University

Your editorial of September 2 argues for Mbeki and Zuma to draw back from the leadership race to allow for the emergence of a suitable compromise candidate.

Let Mbeki, Zuma and any other South African stand for election, and let the people choose their president. — Tuntufye S Mwamwenda, University of KwaZulu-Natal

If a compromise between pro- and anti-Zuma camps was feasible, Zuma would not have become such a polarising issue to begin with. He would have been dumped months ago by both sides, in favour of a cleaner candidate with similar ”moderate” views. — Phil Eidelberg, University of South Africa

Gloomy culture of death

Your Comment & Analysis page of September 2 reproduces from The Guardian’s a tired piece of regurgitated dogmatism by George Monbiot (”Evolution + life with no purpose”).

While Monbiot rightly believes that the Christian right is wrong to propound ”intelligent design” as a scientific truth, he recklessly re-interprets Darwinian evolution to mean that life is without purpose. His conclusion that we are nothing more than ”incipient compost” is not a scientific truth. It is a metaphysical postulate, embraced neither by Darwin nor by thousands of respected contemporary scientists across the globe. It is an old reductionist, pseudo-scientific doctrine in support of a militant atheism that dates back about 100 years.

The contemporary high priest of this rather old-fashioned faith is Richard Dawkins, who is better known for his attempts at metaphysical argumentation than for his scientific discoveries.

Journalists such as Monbiot are the acolytes of this faith, doggedly presenting it as if it were some new scientific insight whose truth is accessible only to those of superior intellectual courage and perception.

In terms of this atheistic faith, life is essentially meaningless, since we are nothing more than the atoms of which we are composed. I grant that from his point of view Monbiot is consistent in regarding eternal death as preferable to eternal life — everyone will concede that the prospect of an eternity of meaninglessness is not very attractive.

However, starting from his principle that it is better to be dead forever than to be alive forever, does it not then follow — as a matter of coherence and consistency if not as a matter of logical deduction — that it is better to have less of life rather than to have more of life? Why drag out this meaningless life? Why engage in the meaningless act of writing columns about how meaningless things are for meaningless beings like the rest of us to read?

After all, even the sporadic moments of joy he derives from propagating his faith are meaningless chemical responses. Why does Monbiot not follow his gloomy and grisly culture of death to its logical conclusion?

Perhaps he lacks faith in his own dogma. If so, then I invite him to challenge his faith and to courageously explore philosophies that produce a culture of life, in which eternal life is indeed a joyous and attractive prospect. — Derrick Kourie, department of computer science, University of Pretoria

High risk

Eddy Khosa, Johannesburg Tourism Company CEO, claims the risk of tourists becoming crime victims in Johannesburg is minimal (M&G Online, August 15). I live in central Johannesburg, and the risk is high and permanent.

Smal Street is not safe. Two friends lost cellphones there this year.

A hawker friend says a gang that targets whites and tourists is permanently camped at the Wanderers and Noord street corner. In May, they choked a white man while emptying his pockets. His eyes were popping out like tennis balls and he wet his pants.

Khosa won’t sell Jo’burg by pretending there are no problems. — Norman Chadzimura, Johannesburg

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