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Raison d’etre

Silly Socks on Friday started in Africa in the early 90’s. The blog followed in the early years of the 21st century

We stand for quirks and whimsy, and intend to take serious looks at silliness and silly looks at seriousness.

The rant is a favoured mode when things get my goat.

Our first campaign was a global war against that yoke of uniformity, the neck tie, now largely won. There can be no logical explanation why people continue to tightly tie strips of cloth round their throats and then dangle them on their chests.

Next on our list is a twin campaign to attack the plague of plastic and promote the global revival of hemp.

If this tickles your fancy, sign up as a follower and get an e-mail notifying you of new posts.

Please comment on what is written, especially if you disagree. Outrage is a validation of effect!

Awake!

The Bondi Beach massacre gave rise to a number of raw thoughts.

Can indiscriminate massacre in a peaceful community be justified by the claim of retaliation for people killed in retaliatory attacks on soldiers within a community?
Will the hero, who may well be a Moslem, be safe in Australia?
How long before vigilantism rears its ugly head?
Surely this will see a swing to the right, with more following Barnaby Joyce’s direction?
Will the right to keep and bear arms become of political moment?
I thought Netanyahu’s accusation against the Australian government was spot-on!

“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today.”

On a slightly different theme, I was irritated to see the soberly dressed morning show talking heads at the murder scene. Somehow, vultures came to mind. Virtue signalling and looking for gobbets of human pathos are not really what journalists should do.

Not a word yet from Coalition or right wing pollies: too afraid to grasp the nettle.

This is their opportunity to show up the woke, weak Albaanese government for the weak and ineffective leaders they are!

I can almost hear their twittering: “you go first, no it should be you,…. but what shall we say…..”

AAaaarghhh!!

We need someone to speak clearly and simply:

no more refugees or immigrants from Palestine and Sudan, no more potential supporters of radical Islam
get tough on youth crime
stop the mad stampede into renewables
stop buying votes with rebates

Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites. . . . Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

The debilitating effect of false sympathy, created by a misguided education

Edmund Burke “A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly”

Lift up your hearts

This is an echo of my Catholic foundation, but in those days the words were in Latin: Sursum Corda

It is followed by the call to give thanks and praise.

Well in the western hemisphere whole countries pause and families gather to give thanks together. It is a fine tradition which the rest of us should follow with at least the respect and enthusiasm we give the banal Halloween, over-hyped Festive Season and chocolate coated Easter!

You may have noticed the absence of any rant or mumble in recent months – I have not been inspired or agitated enough to stir my stumps…

Perhaps there will be peace in Ukraine this Christmas. It will be an achievement of note, notwithstanding the apparent pandering to the acknowledged aggressor. That is cause for jubilation.

Israel and Gaza have slipped off the media interest scale, although still simmering. Let us give thanks and praise!

Good news is often not sensational, so it is downscaled by most media, sadly – it doesn’t sell as well as blood on the front page.

But here are some things we should be happy about:

AI is revolutionising medical diagnosis. …
Ocean cleanup projects are making waves. …
Mental health support is going mainstream. …
Renewable energy is breaking records. …
Gene therapy is curing ‘incurable’ diseases. …
Cities are becoming wildlife havens.
Food waste is being tackled with smart solutions
Global poverty continues its historic decline

Yeah! They do look good. Thank you

sorry … bit of a mumble space filler..

The book I am now reading…

The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick o’Brian

O’Brian is highly talented storyteller who uses sophisticated techniques to entertain but also inform on the themes, values, fashions, attitudes, humour, politics and sociology of the 19th Century Royal Navy.

The story is a continuation of the Aubrey and Maturin saga. It consists of 18 volumes, which should be started at the beginning.

This is my third or fourth reading – I look forward to many more.

Woe king

Sadly, that’s what I think of Charlie 3.

His younger brother is a hound, always has been, by repute. Probably undone by an unhealthy streak of aristocratic arrogance. Somehow extending the divine right of kings to include a suspension of decency.

It is a common tale of misfortune which resounds amongst the ranks of scions of families with inherited wealth. Too much money and regard for status seems to lead to the belief that rules of society and decency do not apply.

But he has not been accused of any particular crime. Years ago a claim was settled with the girl who claimed the prince had taken took advantage of her when she was a minor. Inappropriate, undesirable behaviour but no crime.

The media hullabaloo has ebbed and waned. There has been a recent resurgence of the same allegations and the girl has died.

So…. HRH the Charlie sees fit to cast his brother out; cancelling all the honours and privileges traditionally accorded to a child of a monarch.

This is a weak act of virtue signalling in keeping with the woke generation. That is a clear indication that the Palace has succumbed

Google says:

A king is symbolic of power, authority, and leadership, representing the nation’s identity, continuity, and the rule of law. He can also symbolize a connection to divinity or the ultimate source of justice…

Justice requires appropriate consideration of evidence and the opportunity to defend oneself at trial. There are no accusers – just noisemakers and a compliant puppet.

No wonder there are no real leaders in the UK, with such a weak monarch.

His mother had more balls.

Ja nee

Lulu got swooped by a butcher bird the other day; it clipped her bum and she leapt away. Quite funny, until it had a go at me..!

Magpies and kiewiets/plovers also get huffy. Being strafed while cycling is not amusing.

My Auntie Bunty said it was very frightening when it was a German bomber doing the strafing, which happened to her in WW2. Obviously they missed, as she told us the story.

It’s going to be one of those days with bits and pieces.

Such a moment in time, when the world makes kiss kiss to that awful orange man. Peace in Gaza was inevitable, there was nothing left. The Donald’s timing enabled him to claim the glory, but he was really only the final straw.

Let him crack the hard nut of the Ukraine and I will echo his own nomination for the Nobel Peace prize

These are quotes from stuff I have been reading lately. Hope they titillate your fancies.

“Journalism largely consists in saying ‘Lord Jones is dead’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.” –G.K. Chesterton

“There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.” Umberto Eco

All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

George Orwell

“The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Margaret Thatcher

… the Internet will bring about Idiocracy

Trump ….”tribalist, kleptocratic, authoritarian cultural imperialist? “

” He cares about getting rich, persecuting his enemies, and eliminating threats to his own power—just like his Middle Eastern counterparts do. “

Nick Catoggio

A hit dog will holler.

“Anyone who calls us authoritarian is going to prison,”

“If you can’t call fascists fascists, then the fascists have won.”

Democracy insists upon enfranchising the ignoramuses, who also get a vote on any number of other issues about which they know little or nothing. Two cheers for democracy and all that.

United States and China are firmly locked in a cold war struggle whose outcome will be the most important determinant of peace, prosperity, and quality of life in international politics over the next decade.

The second half of this decade is set to be a critical inflection point in this contest.

Stephen Weber, Cold War Statecraft for the 2020s

We would be better off if we did a little bit more work understanding what people actually think (and why) rather than inventing arguments that are designed to make us feel virtuous in comparison.

Kevin D Williamson TMD 24 Oct ’25

He was talking up the Ideological Turing Test which he believes will help us all avoid unsubstantiated sentimental pronouncements about others’ arguments.

Hope that stimulates some thought, sorry it’s so serious…

Soutie

Those of you with African origin will understand the title.

“Soutie” is a derisive Afrikaans name for an English speaking South African. It is an abbreviation of the crude term soutpiel or salty prick.

Many Afrikaners were of the opinion that English speaking South Africans retained one foot in Britain and the other in Africa. As this resulted in legs far apart, it caused the salination of the dangling nether regions.

I confess that there may be some truth in their assertions

I have just returned from a sojourn in the land of my birth. eSwatini is a landlocked little kingdom in Southern Africa. My brothers live there, on a farm in the bushveld. The eldest, Mpunzane, has late stage Parkinson’s, so the visit was bitter sweet. My wife is in Nelspruit with her sister who has cancer.

Not a fun visit.

Seedy, run-down, dirty, busy, rural houses like weeds in every space, no plan just build.

Too many care less officials and fat police officers. Road markings gone, potholes, beggars, some traffic lights.

Poor but friendly.

Lots of curled lips and curses about the fat, greedy king. Nobody seems to like him, but see his cultural role as still important.

Almost felt like home ….. but not quite.

We are OzAfricans now, settling well in the South Pacific.

This is an untitled poem in Afrikaans by Lidi de Waal, a poet and artist fom the Western Cape in South Africa.

I find Afrikaans to be a wonderfully expressive language – translation below

{*The poem was untitled – this is my title for it)

Where to find happiness *

die lewe is te kort daarvoor

om geluk elders te bly soek

of om daarvoor te bly sit en wag

geluk is nie iewers anders nie

dis nie in ń ander dorp

of ń beter blyplek nie

dis nie in volgende week of volgende jaar nie

dis nie by ń ander partner

of beter vriende

of ń ander werk nie

geluk is hier waar jy is

geluk is in die vrede binne in jou

in die klein stukkies vreugde

wat soms in jou eie hart opwel

life is too short

to seek happiness elsewhere

or to sit still and wait for it

happiness is not somewhere else

it’s not another town or a better home

it’s not in the next week or the next year

it’s not with another partner or better friends

happiness is where you are

happiness is in the peace within you

in the little bits of joy

which occasionally well up in your own heart

Social Justice

I started to write about the political emphasis placed on child care and aged care. Both aimed at liberating mothers and fathers from caring for their families, so they could work.

The political left crusades to enable every adult to enter the workforce. They do this by making more and more money available to voters – isn’t that kind?

How do you get mothers back to work? Pay to have their children and their aged parents cared for by others.

Never mind the destruction of the family as a nurturing place for young and old.

But it is more than that. Exploiting apparent inequalities as a political practice is effective in getting sympathy votes. How can it be wrong?

The moral high ground of the Social Justice Warrior is: Emancipation is an ongoing process. It is a moral duty to address remaining inequalities. We must create a more just and equitable society for all.

The political opportunity of exploiting the moral of disadvantage is a battle based on sentiment, not intellect.

That fallacy is the cudgel used – it’s not equal, that’s not fair! Everyone must have equal rights…

The Left has become the champion of the voteless people. Championing equality for the poor, people of colour, women, homosexuals, the aged and the disabled engenders lifelong electoral support. So virtuous!

It’s the gift that keeps on giving, because things will never be equal for everybody…

Of course this is only possible in democracies. If you step out of line in China, Russia, Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Venezuela or most Middle Eastern countries, there is a high probability that you will disappear or die.

The opponents of democracies: totalitarian, Islamist, kleptocratic regimes actively support and agitate for “Social Justice” in western democracies.

It is a great way to maintain ongoing disruption and antipathy in societies.

This didn’t go where I was thinking of going… but it still says something about what I think…

Stripping your moer

This is a South African term for losing your temper. A ‘moer‘, amongst other things is a nut. One frequently loses one ‘s temper if the thread is stripped on a moer that one is tightening.

Other meanings are cruder and even obscene. We won’t go there; save to say if someone strips his moer with you, he is likely to moer you. In this case the second moer is short for murder!

What brought this to mind was the damage done when one’s temper is lost. Whether physical or verbal, the blows struck can cause significant bruising which can ache even after calm is returned.

I am a firm believer that we always have a choice in such matters: the straw that breaks the camel’s back can be deflected. Instead that straw should be seen as a signal to step away and not lash out.

It is a chance to give clear indication that your restraint is being tested, you are amper gatvol. Maybe just say, let’s leave it for now or don’t go there, please.

That’s a clear signal to others that sensitivity has been trampled upon; a change of subject is needed, immediately.

That way, there is opportunity for all parties to step back, review and seek another way forward.

If a clear signal to desist is ignored, there is licence to declare your moer to be stripped!

But, even then, moderation minimises mutilation!

Losing control means you are a loser… even if the other party surrenders or recants. They will be scarred and so will you, because you will know you failed as a reasonable human being.

There have been some notable temper failures …..

Jesus displayed righteous anger (stripped his moer) when he cleared the money lenders from the temple … whew! Am I brave enough to go there?

King Henry II of England wanted to be rid of a turbulent priest, thus Thomas a Becket was murdered by four loyal knights…

Of course one can be righteous if one is right, but who is the judge of that?

So, if you strip your moer, – take a deep breath and think carefully how to rein your temper in …. then smile!

That really disconcerts others!

Oops! Maybe a bit passive aggressive?

Points to ponder

These are mostly extracts from others’ articles which resonate with me.

Artificial Unintelligence

AI is only as bigoted as we make it

Feed an AI whale a lot of antisemitic swill, and it will defecate antisemitic crap on command.

These large language models just summarize whatever texts were fed to them. This is why so many of them actually ratify progressive conventional wisdom, culled from academic and journalistic texts.

July 11, 2025 The Dispatch Logo

Jonah Goldberg

The global wellness economy is valued at $6.3 trillion per year and is expected to grow to $9 trillion in the next three years

… wellness influencers represent a new generation of morality salesmen, marketing the idea that health is something you can buy—and that virtue is part of the package when you purchase their products, and poor health is part of your punishment when you don’t.

This religion was a heavily moralistic one, and its road to hell was as wide as the door to dieters’ refrigerators

The influencer who gave us the idea of the body as a temple was none other than St. Paul.

The Wellness Gospel Won’t Save You – Hannah Rowan
July 19, 2025, The Dispatch

Humans are wired with a “negativity bias” that triggers a stronger emotional response to bad news than good news – evident in the journalism maxim “if it bleeds, it leads”

… progress is often about what doesn’t happen

The modern world was built and shaped by optimists. We owe it to them to carry the torch.

We have everything we need to thrive. Our resiliency will protect us; our intelligence will propel us.

Old Fictions, New Fictions – Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch 1 August 2025

“Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” – Marx brothers

A tilt at a windmill

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.“

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian 1747 to 1813