Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
The hysterical concerns Miami Cubans vented about a simple handshake detracted far too much from the rapturous tribute President Obama paid to Nelson Mandela at last week’s memorial service in South Africa. Unsurprisingly, the selfie, tweets, freak show-obsessed media were all too happy to oblige by devoting almost as much coverage to the Miami Cubans’ sideshow as… Read more.
I am fond of saying that I have as much love and admiration for Mandela as any non-South African could. But my record of political activism and published commentaries (dating back decades) bears this out. This is why I am so seized with contempt for those who appear to have acquired more love and admiration… Read more.
His family finally let him go…. Condolences to my friends and comrades in South Africa; although, it speaks volumes about what a beloved and influential man Nelson Mandela was that people all around the world are grieving his loss just as much. In fact, so inspiring was Mandela that, in his tribute just moments ago,… Read more.
His mind is probably still in hospital, and his soul, I pray, long gone…. This is why I was so bemused by the way South Africans rejoiced when Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital on Monday. Hell, the euphoria was such that one newspaper, The New Age, led its readers to believe that this joy was… Read more.
I have no doubt that when the time finally comes, South Africans will put on a state funeral for Nelson Mandela that will make those Catholics put on for dead popes seem modest and irreverent. And the least of it will be the who’s who among world leaders queuing up to pay their last respects.… Read more.
With all due respect to my comrades in South Africa, “Breaking News” about Nelson Mandela being rushed to hospital is taking on the spectacle of breaking news about Lindsay Lohan being arrested. Let me hasten to declare that I have as much respect, admiration, and affection for Mandela as any non-South African can possibly have.… Read more.
It has become de rigueur for celebrities from around the world to make pilgrimages to South Africa just for self-indulgent photo ops with Nelson Mandela. Nobody has lamented this trend more than I: He’s treated more as a tourist attraction these days (like the Statue of Liberty or, perhaps more to the point, a Carnival… Read more.
In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. (Andy Warhol, 1968) There is no denying that the Kardashians have made a mockery of Warhol’s well-known aphorism by extending their 15 minutes of vacuous fame for many years, and counting. But from the time Anna Nicole Smith did so over a decade ago, I have… Read more.
I am acutely mindful that my commentaries on the growing pains of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are taking on the specter of flogging a dead horse. This is why I am loath to write yet another one on the following regressive phenomenon that is now unfolding there: African leaders once personified unbridled despotism. Now they’re… Read more.
The World Cup Today, the soccer World Cup kicks off in South Africa. But you do not have to be a fan of this “beautiful game” to be interested. Indeed, the historical, political, and economic significance of this event is almost beyond measure. Compared with the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, it is at least tenfold. That’s why the matches… Read more.
