loveandpolitics's Xanga

Elections

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:05:04 GMT

Sometimes it is easy to get negative about South Africa, but there are times when I am reminded why this country is still worth it. Last week, a few days before the election as I was driving back to Johannesburg I saw many signs that democracy in South Africa is still alive and well. On the radio, various political issues were hotly debated, meanwhile outside every single public space seemed to be covered with political posters, even the occasional car or pedestrian were sporting political slogans! People everywhere from wealthy suburbanites to cleaners and security at the university could be heard discussing political issues: as I drove into campus I could hear two security guards loudly debating the merits of their favoured candidate.

When Wednesday, Election day, finally dawned there was an universal sense of excitement in the air. Voter turnout was extremely high, yet the election process itself went smoothly for the most part, and queues moved quickly. People seemed proud to vote, and I was proud to cast my vote too. When the final results were released today, the ruling party had, as expected won a massive percentage of the vote, despite the many mistakes and scandals of recent years. For the moment however I do not feel negative about it, I may not agree with the results but it is clear that everybody took their vote and their right to free speech very, very seriously. That is not a sign of a democracy in trouble! In a few months the euphoria will have worn off and it will be back to negativity again. But for now I am enjoying the festive spirit that seems to be in the air.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:57:40 GMT

I promised in the previous post I would be back, but I lied and refrained from updating in weeks and weeks. However, I miss Xanga now, so I think I'm back for real now! The past few months have been very busy for me, the Politics courses and French classes are taking up a lot of my free time, as are my responsibilities in church, my family and to the few friends that I have. My habit of procrastinating when I should work takes up the most time though! Still, putting an hour on Xanga once a week shouldn't be too much to ask! And the hard work is paying off, recently I got yet another degree (my second, I'm working on degree number three right now).

I look forwarding to reading and commenting on all your blogs again,
Much love,
François

A Quick Update

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:02:35 GMT

I haven't updated in three months, so after much begging, pleading, and finally threatening by certain individuals I am finally updating my blog again! Hopefully I will be a bit better at this during the New Year.

During December I went on holiday to Cape Town. The experience was amazing, and I am beginning to consider studying at the University of Cape Town for a year or two.

My plan for this year is complete my Honours degree in Political Science to match the Honours degree I already have in Economics. Hopefully tomorrow I will be allowed to register for that course. I am also continuing with French classes this year, and it looks like it is going to be quite hard.

Well, this is just a brief note to let everybody know I am still alive. It's midnight now, so I'm a bit too tired for a long post. I've also put up some holiday pictures I took with my cellphone if anybody is interested.

Until my next post (soon!)
Much love,
François

Election Time

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:43:14 GMT

I can't believe another season of my favourite TV show is about to come to an end. Soon, I will experience that deep empty feeling when the familiar characters and story lines come to an end, and I have to find some new form of daily entertainment. And this season has been truly spectacular indeed! Tomorrow, I'm going to stay up all night to watch the last episode.

I am talking of course, about the US elections. I'm not even an American, but I have followed every event in the finest detail: I've read every quote, followed every scandal, studied every poll and I've read every editorial (and concluded that most editorial writers are morons).

As people soon head to the polls, here are a few concluding thoughts. First of all, I'm sure it was traumatic to have an election that lasted well over a year. But I have to congratulate the American people on taking their elections so seriously. This election has been fiercely (sometimes brutally) contested, and while that is sometimes a little unpleasant it also means that democracy is working. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of flaws in the American electoral system, the candidates, the issues and the policies, but the world's oldest democracy remains an example for the rest, at least so far as how passionately people feel about it.

Secondly, do go and vote and take your vote seriously. American elections are often decided by razor thin margins, and the result *will* have an impact on your (and my) life. Even if you don't live in a swing state, your vote will add to your candidate's victory and the mandate he has to govern is all the stronger. Neither candidate is an idiot or a force of evil, regardless of what many people think. I see some serious merits and flaws in both the personality and policies of both candidates, but both candidates also have some excellent strengths and ideas. More importantly each candidate presents a very different view of what the world should be like, and how that should be implemented. Ultimately you will have to vote for the candidate that best represents your view.

That said, I am firmly of the opinion that Obama is the better candidate, at least as far as non-Americans are concerned. Firstly, Obama is widely adored across the world, especially in Europe and in Africa. Republicans have had nothing but contempt for Obama's international popularity. Seriously guys, how is being popular in other countries a bad thing? Those hundreds of thousands of cheering Germans, and other Obama supporters worldwide are a good thing. It means they are more likely to support American issues and less likely to strap explosives to themselves. The world supports Obama not because he is a celebrity, but because he offers intelligent, well-thought out, moderate foreign policy.

I'm not sure if I agree with Mr.Obama's economic policy (another aspect that has an important impact on the rest of the world). But Mr.McCain is offering tired old Republican economic orthodoxy, which as events of recent months have shown, is rapidly becoming obsolete. Americans and the World need a new way of thinking about economics, and while I don't entirely agree with Mr.Obama, at least he is proposing something different.

On other issues, well, they have no effect on me and so Americans need to make their decisions about that on their own. Good luck!

Much love,
François
(This will be the endorsement that seals the election. Soon world domination will be mine! Mwuahaha!)

The Three Phases of Studying

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:25:35 GMT

Part of the reason why I have not updated is because I am lazy. More recently I have been busy. With the end of the year approaching I have been writing essays and preparing for my final exams. I am only writing two exams, but they will be very tough.

Fortunately, four years of being a student has prepared me for this and I now have all the skills necessary to excel! Not quite. Four years of being a student has made me a master of procrastination, spotting questions, and being all round cynical about both the effort I am going to put in and the marks I am going to get out of it.

Studying for an exam can be divided in three distinct phases:

In the first phase, I am eager to do well in the exam. I promise myself that I will spend weeks studying for the exams and get top marks. This time is mostly spent playing computer games and studying the first part of the work over and over again, mostly because it's easy!

In the second phase (which I am now moving into), I realise that memorising every last letter in my textbook is not a viable option. I start looking at my class notes and exam breakdown and study only the important sections that I know will be in the exam: unimportant "background" sections are now ignored.

In the final phase (the evening before the exam) I realise that I haven't even read through half of the work. The last few hours are a frenzied reading through of the remaining work. I quickly attempt to memorise (if only partially) those sections which I think (or hope, or guess) will be in the final paper. The most productive studying is often done 15 minutes before the exam starts as I walk to class! During this phase sleep is rare, and what sleep you have is troubled. The stress steals days of your life. You wish you didn't need sleep or could study in the shower.

Point is my bad time management makes exams much more stressful than they need to be. But in the end I do fine. I just wish I could skip forward to the end now! Better updates will be coming soon (as soon as I am done with the exams!).

Much love,
François
(I didn't even proofread this post! I wonder if I can study that section on optimal tax rates before I go to bed... or look at funny pictures on the internet. Bleh!)

Spider

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:50:14 GMT

What are your five favorite movies of all time?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:49:08 GMT

Cinema is one of my many part-time obsessions, so I might as well write about a few of my favourites. Here are my top 5:

No.5
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

That's right Star Trek, I've seen all the finest movies of cinema history and I choose Star Trek! I love Science Fiction but I am the first to admit that most SciFi movies are rubbish. I make an exception for this movie. No it's no Citizen Kane but this movie is best a what it does- a grand space based adventure, camp in some places, over the top in others but somehow it manages to pull it off perfectly. Maybe it's the gorgeous visuals- the bright colours and the beautiful special effects. Maybe it's the soundtrack that somehow sounds nautical and space themed at the same time. Or maybe it's the brilliant over the top performance by Ricardo Montalban (who plays the villain Khan). Whatever it is I could watch this movie over and over again and never get bored.

"Khan: I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up. "

Honorary mentions: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Directors Cut), Star Trek: First Contact, Blade Runner, Star Wars Episode IV and V, Alien.

No. 4
Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella) (1997)

This is an Italian film, and no movie has ever stuck in my head like this one did. The first of half of the movie depicts a wild and humorous romance set in pre-war Italy as the protagonist called Guido attempts to seduce the woman of his dreams. The second half of the movie depicts the Guido (who is Jewish) and his son in a concentration camp. He tries to shield his son from the horrors of that camp by convincing him it is all just a game, and the prize for winning is your very own tank! The movie's ending is especially heart-warming, and that's why it's no. 4 on my list.
(Based on a true story)

Honorary Mentions: The Pianist

No.3
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

OK, this one is a cinema great: British officer T.E. Lawrence leads an epic Arab uprising against their Turkish oppressors during World War I. Along the way he develops a messiah complex. This movie is too big for even the big the big screen. No movie before or since has managed quite the epic scope that this one has, which makes sense considering that this one is almost 4 hours long! This movie puts and epic story line against the backdrop of an endless desert and a powerful soundtrack. Peter O'Toole's performance as Lawrence may be the finest bit of acting in cinema history, of course he didn't win the Oscar for this movie (or for the other seven times he was nominated).
(Sort of based on a true story)

Honorary mention: Ben Hur, another powerful epic but with a weak ending.

No.2

All these choices are pretty arbitrary and liable to change with my mood, except for number 1, choosing a number 2 is the most difficult of all. I think I'll go for Apocalypse Now (Redux). This movie is a dark, violent and disturbing retelling of the classic story "Heart of Darkness". Set during the Vietnam war Captain Willard is instructed to "terminate, with extreme prejudice" a certain Colonel Marlow who is holed up in Cambodia with pretensions of godhood. The movie features a band of soldiers who sail up a river to Cambodia. The river itself is clearly a metaphor, and the further they progress in their journey more chaotic and confusing it becomes so that the movie itself is like a journey into madness. What the hell it's all about I have no idea, but this is the kind of movie that you won't forget- if you have the stomach for it.

Honorary mention: Stanely Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.

No.1

*Drum-roll please*

2001: A Space Oddysey (1968)

This isn't really a science fiction movie. I'm not sure what kind of movie this is at all. No movie I have ever seen is quite like this one. I can't give you a plot synopsis because I'm not sure there is a plot. There is hardly any dialogue either. Let me put it this way: anybody who manages to watch this movie to the end (without turning it off in disgust) will be convinced they have seen one of the greatest movies ever made, and experienced something profound (but have no idea what exactly). Either that or they will laugh hysterically and tell people what a stupid movie this was. This movie is different, it is an experience quite unlike any other. And it easily tops my list for best movie of all time. I watch this movie year on the 31st of December, carefully timed so that the "star gate sequence" falls exactly on midnight.
(Since I've never watched it while sober, there's no telling if I might like it then!)

Honorary mentions: none, nothing can compare.

And a few that didn't quite make the list: Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, Pulp Fiction, Fitzcarraldo, The Bridge over the river Kwai, The Great Escape and dozens of others.

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

Beating a dead horse...again.

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:30:28 GMT

I wanted to write a post about racism, but before I knew it a whole Xanga debate erupted around the very same topic, and I thought that writing about about it would be pointless. Sometimes I wonder if public debate has any value at all: It seems to me that for every intelligent, well thought out opinion there are a million inane and stupid rants whose noise quickly drowns out any hope of achieving any progress. Most people are too stuck in their own ways to ever change their opinions anyway, or even bother to consider that the other side of the argument may have at least some merit- even if that argument is incorrect.

I can pretty much say only one thing on this topic with certainty: What incredible arrogance! How is it possible that anybody can be so intelligent, so wise and so learned as to suddenly discover universal, indisputable truth on every possible topic? How can you possibly know the answer to every question, and discover every truth? How can it be the very universe itself conforms in every way to your beliefs? Imagine a mere human can achieve such an amazing thing!

It seems to me that only a god can possess such incredible attributes, so it would seem that there are a great many gods walking among us.

The new Xanga debate that has erupted in only the past few minutes is the old, tired Creationism vs. Evolution debate with contributions by Revelife and TheTheologiansCafe. Expect the usual flame war in the comment section by radicals from both sides who refuse to accept the possibility that any belief other than their own can even have merit.

Here is what I wrote in Revelife's comment section on the topic regarding the failures of science:

No scientist would claim that science is infallible, that science has not made mistakes or that science has achieved all knowledge yet. That does not mean science is flawed. What science is, is a method, a method where all claims of knowledge are scrutinized and compared to evidence and where needed modified or even rejected. That science "gets things wrong" is the most fundamental strength of science, because science does not constitute a dogma of unquestionable truths, but an ever evolving body of knowledge where nothing is held as sacred if it does not conform to evidence.

The great success of those narrow-minded Christians who oppose scientific theories such as evolution has been to claim that science and religion are irrevocably opposed when that is not the case. Many Christians believe in evolution and many scientists believe in God. They do not have to be opposed to each other, and for a great many people they are not.

I have argued above that the science and religion are not contradictory, that this whole "debate" is based on the false premise, the lie that science cannot accept a god, or that believers cannot accept science. I know many people who can accept both.

I do not claim to know the universal truth either way; perhaps religion does have it wrong, or perhaps it is science that is wrong. Or perhaps both, or perhaps neither. Perhaps the truth does not exist or perhaps it cannot be known. I am however suspicious of snake oil sellers and false prophets. I find it hard to believe the claim of religious people that "truth" is so easy that it can be handed to me on a silver platter in the form of a religious text. I find it equally hard to believe scientists who claim that us mere humans, insignificant specks in an infinite universe could possibly be smart enough to understand it all, and could dare to say with certainty that there is no god or truth.

No I don't know all the answers, and neither does anybody else.

Olympics

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:28:43 GMT

With a population that now stands at 1.3 Billion people, China makes up nearly 20% of humanity. Think about it. The Chinese economy is growing at an incredibly rapid speed, and undergoing the kind of industrial transformation that took the Western world centuries. Think about that too. Sadly, when most people look at these facts, they can find only the negative: "China abuses human rights" or "China threatens the world". This all has a certain grain of truth in it of course, but I prefer to dwell on the positive.

Lets go back to the population and economy. If the average Chinese citizen becomes even a little better off, it will unequivocally be the single greatest achievement in all of human history. I think we should all be honoured that we can live in a time when nearly 20% of the world's people stand to be lifted out of poverty and into greater prosperity, and that is not counting the fact that China isn't the only country rapidly developing.

Of course it is perfectly true that this development is not equally spread, and that Chinese citizens are still denied many of the rights that we take for granted: rights that are essential to any real concept of prosperity. But I believe that we are far too eager to see the negative, to criticize and increasingly demonize China, and that is a little bit unfair. China has a long way to go, but they have achieved a great deal already, and they have the right to be proud of that achievement!

Which brings me to the Olympics. The Olympics represent an unprecedented national achievement on the part of the Chinese. Billions of dollars and a massive human effort have made this possible. Unfortunately all that effort has done little to dispel the negativity surrounding these games, primarily on the issue of Tibet. If protesters want to use these Olympics to advertise the illegal and brutal occupation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, good for them! But let us not reject the Olympic games and the achievements of the Chinese people either. They deserve their time in the spot light. We should definitely criticise the Chinese for their abuses, but must also realize that this does not mean we should have to boycott, or ruin the Olympic games or demonize China and all Chinese people.

Lets give these games a chance! They are going to be amazing!

Much love,
François

Yes, Yes, I'm updating already.

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:11:13 GMT

Well, I haven't updated in a very long time. Why do you ask? Well, I have no good reason and no excuse. I guess I just kept telling myself "as soon as I have a good post to write, I will post it" and then when none came, I just stopped posting. So I'm posting now, and hopefully get the ball rolling again!

You would think, that with a whole new month's experiences to draw from I would have something fascinating to say! Well, I don't. Most of the last month was holiday. And also my birthday. Sadly July wasn't a good month for me, with terrible cluster headaches striking me frequently. Fortunatly they have stopped now, and today I was even brave enough to drink red wine. A few weeks ago just two glasses of red wine gave me a headache so bad I thought I was going to die.

Anyway, for my birthday I got myself a new PC, so I've been spending some quality time with it! Sadly, I will soon have to start working hard again on my economics courses. They appear to be challenging, but luckily they look very interesting.

I'm sorry. That's the best I could come up with. I'm very tired, and it's time to go to bed. But I'm confident I will be able to write some good posts soon!

Much love,
François