Quote of the week
[T]he moral point of the matter is never reached by calling what happened by the name of ‘genocide’ or by counting the many millions of victims: extermination of whole peoples had happened before in antiquity, as well as in modern colonization. It is reached only when we realize this happened within the frame of a legal order and that the cornerstone of this ‘new law’ consisted of the command ‘Thou shall kill,’ not thy enemy but innocent people who were not even potentially dangerous, and not for any reason of necessity but, on the contrary, even against all military and other utilitarian calculations. … And these deeds were not committed by outlaws, monsters, or raving sadists, but by the most respected members of respectable society.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil
Rather Bloemfontein than Braamfontein….
Bloemfontein, with only 20 burglaries per 10 000 residents, was voted the best city in South Africa for men. Pietermaritzburg was rated second, Johannesburg third, Pretoria fourth, Cape Town fifth, East London sixth and Durban seventh.
It is not clear from the news reports whether cities were also judged on the intellectual stimulation available and the commitment of its inhabitants to constitutional transformation. Given the fact that Bloemfontein came out tops, I would be surprised if they were.
To be fair, using the latter criteria I am not sure that Cape Town would have done better than its 5th position either. O well, at least we have the mountian and the ocean while Bloemfontein has the Vrouemonument.
