Litigium

They say it’s changing slowly, however, for all the technology and multimedia at the disposal of educators today, I still see them producing people with knowledge that is so compartmentalised that in spite of all their certificates and diplomas, they struggle to think “outside the box”, even at the highest level. A few weeks ago, during a coffee break at a seminar at a Dutch university, I was standing listening to a senior professor and two associates discussing the sociological dynamics of today's interconnected world. Predictably, the current proliferation of social media and business networking channels was raised. Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg Karmeliterplatz / Christofsgässchen,  Mainz, Germany. By  Karlheinz Oswald    2001 When breathing the rarefied atmosphere of academia, it’s nice to be able to relax the bullshit filter a bit but that doesn’t mean that I check it in with my coat at the porter’s lodge. So I was mildly surpri...

Terminology is all-important; not just because of its intrinsic meaning but often because of its loading. Thus if you peel away the layers of a term you use every day, you sometimes find a slightly unsavoury and prejudicial core. As with 'illegal immigrants'. To start with, I have a fundamental philosophical problem with the term 'illegal' when it’s applied to human beings. Yes, it’s a matter of subtle semantics, but that’s what philosophers do. I simply believe that it is beneath the dignity of any human being to call them 'illegal'. Only a deed can be illegal, for which civilized society has a system of justice, trial and punishment. Someone might knowingly enter a country illegally or overstay a ligitimate visa and thereby make themselves guilty de jure of 'illegal immigration', but even if they are convicted of that offence in a Court of Law, do we have the right to label them an 'illegal immigrant'? The very term is loaded w...

The lamentable passage through the South African Parliament today of the controversial (yet obviously not controversial enough) “Secrecy Bill” flies in the face of any mandate that the “struggle against apartheid” ticket gave the ANC to rule. I won’t re-hash the details here (see The Guardian and the BBC ), but it doesn’t take a PhD in political science to see that this is a clear step backwards - in the dubious direction of the “big brother” days of Botha’s security police. Indeed a sad day in South African history. And it has the right-wingers rubbing their hands in “I told you so” glee. Freedom of speech, expression and the press have been hobbled. It’s not by far the first crack to appear in the pristine visage of the “new” South African Government, (see Breytenbach: Mandela’s Smile ) nor will it be the last. But maybe this one will prove structural. It’s a matter of historic record that when the ANC was formed in 1912, it was essentially an alliance between a...

The boffins of the Dutch Mycological Society say that the relatively warm and dry autumn has been “far from ideal” for mushrooms, which prefer cool, damp conditions. Well, they should come to the Breestraat, the main shopping street of Beverwijk! Here’s a clump of mushrooms (I wouldn’t even hazard a guess at the type) that are clearly flourishing in the sandy soil between the leg of a city bench and the paving. I’d wager their “parents” were sold at the weekly market. Talk about resilience.  – AMB Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, all text and photographic material used in posts to this blog are the property of the Author, used at his sole discretion, and while they may be freely shared online in their entirety via Facebook, Twitter etc. may not be published elsewhere without express permission. The Author takes no responsibility for the nature and content of the adverts placed on the page (in exchange for free blog space) by the blo...

Sunrise over Westzaan It froze on the ground in the night and I could feel it in my bones. Not that it was all that cold, but rather because I slept in a t-shirt rather than winter pyjamas. Even after 12 years in (and countless prior visits to) Western Europe, I haven’t quite developed the knee-jerk reflexes of the natives to the climate. I suppose it’s comparable to what happens when Europeans travel to Africa. While the locals do it instinctively (or they wouldn’t have survived to adulthood), Northerners must consciously run through the checklist of hat, water, and appropriate clothing before going outdoors. By contrast, while I checked the pressure in my spare wheel every time I filled-up, and always had a 5-litre jerry can of water in my car in South Africa, I now leave it to the garage to check every six months – you are seldom far from a service station in Europe. I learned the hard way during my first winter here. I’d acquired an ...