Quote of the week
This is how genocide denial functions now. It rarely arrives as a blunt denial of death, but rather cloaked in concern for truth, in the language of skepticism, media literacy, and even professional ethics. It does not claim that Palestinians aren’t dying. It simply asks, “how do we know they’re dying like this?” It casts doubt on the camera, the angle, and the sequence. It suggests that even if the suffering is real, the image has already ruined it—by being legible, by being replicated, by being seen too many times.
Africa is a Country
Surprise! Paul Ngobeni is a liar
I took part in a debate with Paul Ngobeni this morning on SAFM about whether Judge President John Hlophe should be appointed to the Constitutional Court. My dear friend Paul said in his opening remarks that I had written on this Blog that I “hate” Hlophe. I was rather taken aback by this as I have never written on this Blog (or anywhere else, for that matter) that I hate anyone. Ngobeni was, in fact, telling a scurrilous lie. What I actually said was EXACTLY the opposite, and I quote:
Really, it deeply angers me that those who are charged by the Constitution to uphold the Constitution and the law could steep so low. They should be ashamed of themselves. This does not make me a person who hates the Judge President (or his lawyers). It does make me a person who is very, very angry with the Judge President. It makes me a person who is beginning to wonder whether the Judge President has the requisite moral compass required to continue serving as a judge in our beautiful democracy – regardless any finding of the JSC in the CC case against him.
Mr Ngobeni has shown a propsensity to distort both facts and the law to suit his purpose and this morning was no exception. If I was Hlophe I would feel ashamed to be associated with such blatant dishonesty. As Judge Hlophe himself has been caught telling lies, I suppose it is par for the course though.
