Author: manqindi

Post imperial wind drift. Swazi, British, Zimbabwe-Rhodesian, Irish, New Zealand citizen and resident, now in Queensland, Australia. 10th generation African of mainly European descent. Catholic upbringing, more free thinker now. BA and Law background. Altar boy, wages clerk, uncle, prefect, student, court clerk, prosecutor, magistrate, convoy escort, pensioner, HR Practitioner, husband, stepfather, father, bull terrier lover, telephone interviewer, Call Centre manager, HR manager, grandfather, author (amateur)

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

It’s a hard life!

Well …. it was at first...!

Now ….

I live in my own house in Australia. I have a wife, have enough to live on and save and no debts. My children and grandchildren all live in Australia, most within an hour’s drive.

We celebrate occasions and braai together frequently.

I am 73 years old and despite creaks and groans, not chronically ill.

In the past year I have consulted a doctor, cardiologist, and a nuclear radiologist. I have also seen a podiatrist, dentist, and a chiropractor. In addition, I have seen a phlebotomist and a physiotherapist. I visited some of these professionals more than once. All at no cost or subsidised fees.

My doctor at my last medical check-up said: If I had these results I would be dancing every day!

As a pensioner I receive subsidies for electricity and rates from the State. Any public transport costs 50 cents a trip.

In the event of an accident, I will be fetched by an ambulance and treated in hospital at no cost. Most operations and hospital visits are free for me.

If I need a carer in the future, the State will cover most of the costs. Alternatively, they will subsidise costs of a care home.

They may even send someone to mow the lawn.

You will note the absence of a mental health professional in the list. That is because I am wise and sane. I can remember nearly everything! But that service is subsidised too, if required!

For my friends and family in darkest Africa and darkening Europe, this may sound like a boast. Please forgive me if it sounds like that; it is not!

I am profoundly grateful for my good fortune. We are truly blessed!

I am haunted by my heritage, which remains an ache but know that we did the right thing.

But there are snakes, spiders and jellyfish and slimy politicians here …. I tell you: it’s a hard life!

Naartjies

I am sentimental, I know… but I can’t call them mandarins.

It’s like barbeque is not the right word and I think that those who say it are ‘n bietjie skeef!

For some reason, I have always felt that naartjies are quintessentially South African. I am quite happy for non-Africans to call a similar fruit mandarins … they aren’t really naartjies.

The thing about naartjies is they are so easy to peel and the peels are so bright and pretty they don’t really matter when discarded on the roadside.

They are lekker sweet and it’s easy to eat a whole bag without thinking.

The current Lions Tour prompts a memory from schooldays. Our Rugby coach and Geography teacher was an Irishman, Rick Hamilton, from Ulster – a surprisingly nice man notwithstanding. In 1968 the Lions played Eastern Transvaal in Springs. It was a mid-week game and Rick organised for the school First Rugby XV to attend.

It was about a six hour trip each way, so we had to leave early in the morning. The main manne sat in the back row. It was possible to duck down there and have a smoke if the windows were kept open. The masters sitting up front pretended not to notice.

I remember some of the songs we sang: She’ll be coming round the mountain (clean version), I am a rock, America, Sounds of silence, (Simon and Garfunkel were big then) Blowing in the wind, Catch the wind …

We eventually arrived. Most of us were country boys so the big crowd and the grandstand were awe inspiring.

Standard rugby fare was biltong and naartjies. We had great admiration for some enterprising Springs High boys. They were slinging naartjies up over the back of the grandstand, dropping them on unsuspecting spectators from another school… Impressive!

Can’t remember the score but it was a wonderful experience, despite 12 hours in the bus. They had even kept some dinner for us back at school.

Eish Boet! It’s lekker to braai boerewors to go with mielie bread or mielie pap. Other than biltong and bakkie not many more words have followed us across the Indian Ocean. But there are a lot of Saffas in Australia! Last time the Springboks played in Brisbane there were twice as many more green jerseys than yellow ones.

Mind you, amongst fellow Africans there is a lot of kak praat and no-one gets gatvol.

Isn’t it astounding that South Africa produces so many world sports champions!

I believe Rassie has worked miracles in giving South Africans a common pride in their country. At last week’s rugby test against Italy in Cape Town, white supporters were a minority. I have never seen that before!

I reckon it’s something to do with a steady diet of biltong, boerewors and koeksisters!

Midwinter detour

Well, the birds are courting and building nests here in Australia and Bauhinia are flowering, so we are nearly into Spring.

I found it boring to speculate further about the revolution and rise of fascism in the US. My raging against the woke manias was becoming vaguely repetitive. (I mean, even Jordan Petersen gets a bit much after a while..)

It being Friday, I decided to write about something else. Thank you TED Talks for reminding me of my other favourite interest: the future.

In a Talk about training a butler robot called Neo at home, an important point emphasized : Diversity generates Learning.

It seems that factory training led to robotic expertise in a few skills but not a growth in abilities. Using a home environment to train robots proved to be a good training context.

It seems that already millions are using Replika an app that lets you create AI friends. The developer highlights the dangers that this sort of app can increase the widespread addictions to mobile phones and social media. She urged the development of a metric which emphasized flourishing as opposed to mere engagement or ‘clicks’.

I have written before about AI companions. Woebots are chatbots provide online cognitive behaviour therapy. Digital ghosts are AI-generated avatars of deceased loved ones. Robotic pets respond to voice commands. They provide calming conversations for dementia patients…

The bottom line with all of these ‘helpful’ technologies is moderation and questioning. AI must always be tested before acceptance.

The pampering of pets

The other day a wise woman said to me that the amount of money squandered on the pampering of pets is scandalous.

This scratched an irk that has been lurking in my mind for some time.

This irk was concretised by a recent article in the Summer 2025 issue of American Affairs by Peter Pilkington called The Limits of Consumption: Why Consuming More Makes Us Poorer.

It is quite heavy reading! What it said to me was:

We are told year in and year out that living standards are rising, but many people—especially younger people—can feel their quality of life decline as time goes on.

quality of life is degrading as GDP increases, i.e. many are getting poorer and some disgustingly richer
consumers are spending too much money on valueless crap
education, health and housing industries have been artificially inflated to extract more money from consumers.

In the US since 2011, the number of housing units per person stayed roughly constant at around 0.425 – that suggests there should be enough houses.

But average household price has risen by 85% !!

Non economic measures show a large decline in quality of life in recent years, but economic metrics show it is increasing.

Surprisingly the homeless populations and deaths of despair are rapidly increasing.

It is time for economists to admit that their metrics are broken

Basing the economic health of people is based on outdated calculations

Big Pharma, Real Estate tycoons and Universities have found the keys to manipulating governments for money. They inflate their markets. This results in higher prices that consumers must now pay.

There is little value increase for huge price increases, called consumer deepening which has degraded quality of life for many.

The pampering of pets is just a symptom of the general malaise that has infected capitalism:

consumers have lost their ability to see real value
- corporations manipulate governments to provide funding as economic policy
white collar information workers are non-producing and increasing, while blue collar workers, who actually produce are disappearing
large, entrenched and empowered DEI inspired bureaucracies
the lack of willingness in politicians to challenge entrenched practices and bureaucrats
ruthless production and marketing of valueless goods

Trump’s rampage in the US has targeted some of these problems. Let’s hope his initiatives are noted and adopted by all (hopefully with a bit more finesse…)

WTF?

I suppose that I could have written the full words. But, I doubt that the internet censors are as civilised as the US President.

There were almost as many headlines about the Trumpeted expletive as there were about whether World War III had started or ended in just 12 days.

My values must be from another age: I cringe when I see Heads of State return salutes of uniformed military personnel. A red baseball cap with a slogan does not compliment a business suit. It probably resonates with younger generations, so whatever?

(Why does he wear a tie for goodness sake? – maybe I should send him my blog on Silly Socks campaigns?)

What really did irk was the frivolous dance and sham theatrics of powerful nations with lethal munitions as props.

Trump stamped his foot and uttered a profanity because his Trumphant plan was spoilt.

Iran, with the largest military force in the Middle East, pre-warned the US of its missile attack! This allowed a total defence to the attack. The Iranian government could report their military audacity to its populace (blinded and deafened without internet and tv). Everyone quickly fell into line.

Now there is doubt over the effectiveness of the strike on Iran’s nuclear armament bunkers – looks like it was all for nought. WTF! Was it all a sham show?

That’ll really pee off the Donald! He’ll look like a right banana! Tee hee!

Will he bomb any new Iranian nuclear facilities? What about the 400 kg of enriched uranium that reportedly eluded the big bang?

Nuclear enrichment elimination was his stated intention. Might become too murky and involved for his liking.Maybe TACO is a good plan B?

No one has said anything about that other cream cracker’s offer to give Iran a few ready made bombs from his ample stocks in North Korea. Is there was any other person more deserving of a bunker bomb or two?

Now we have the NATO conference, where nearly everybody will rush in to kiss Trump’s ring, as if he was a bishop. They will pledge huge increases to their military budgets and the military industrial complex conundrum will rise again.

The political pendulum will be dragged right and war will become a way of life for many for years to come.

What is your call? Will Russia really invade Lithuania as is rumoured?

Will India and Pakistan again rumble or maybe India and China or China and China or Cambodia and Thailand?

Plenty of scope for armament sales for years to come … now that’s a strong basis for re-industrialiation of the mid-West Rust belt.

Think of all the problems resolved by revitalised economies, national service and the perpetuation of western civilisation…

Sorry, got a bit carried away….

I must confess to mixed feelings, again.

I am glad that clear and potent action has been taken to stop Iran’s nuclear kabuki which the world has tolerated for so long. Now that door has been kicked down once, it can be kicked down again.

Iran can read from that lesson that its sponsorship of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond must end. Others will pay attention.

Uncontrolled immigration and the delicate treatment of refugees and illegal immigrants needs the strong treatment.

Burgeoning and entrenched bureaucracies, DEI policies and Woke tactics need to be eviscerated.

Trump is doing the hard yards with these things- not very delicately, but WTF!

How can you hate somebody but like what they’re trying to do?