So this actually happened... O_O

Everyone should remember that fake interpreter dude from the memorial of one of our centuries heroes, even if just vaguely.



Recently I came across this ad for a product I didn't even focus on as I watched the video in silent awe.



I guess it's true what they say: there really is no such thing as bad publicity.



As much as I want to laugh at the obvious joke the company is making of the fraud, I'm too irritated by the fact that this fool is still being connected to our country's greatest icon.



But I have to be honest, it's not just his continued connection to the Mandela memorial that scratches my soul. The fact that this fool's actions are being excused due to him 'supposedly' suffering from a mental illness is something that ticks me off.



Too much misunderstandings already exist for those that actually DO suffer from various mental illness and are in no need of this person's added influence on the growing confusion of what people go through as they live with their conditions.



But if we must brand this man with an illness, then let us call it stupidity. Too broad..?

Voting Selfie

I've never given it much thought until now, but my understanding over the privacy around one’s voting experience in those booths is done for the safety of the people casting their votes, right?

It makes sense to keep that experience a close-kept secret when you have other individuals running around and threatening people to vote things their way. So it makes sense for that privacy to exist as it basically comes down to the security of people’s lives.

Imagine the trouble that could be caused by extreme activists if they were able to identify all the people that voted against their beloved parties. There would be so much unnecessary bloodshed. But of course that’s just how I understand the privacy of the voting booth.

Reading the recent release from the IEC that warns people against taking selfies when they vote has made me curiously confused.

http://www.news24.com/Elections/News/IEC-No-selfies-please-20140504

 "It is an offence to take and/or publish photographs which reveal a person’s vote on a ballot paper. Upon conviction offenders will be liable to a fine or a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year".

To be honest, I'm truly surprised the IEC feels the need to make such a statement; however, given the mindset of today’s average individual I can see why they feel the need to. But is protecting peoples safety really the only reason they are doing this?

Anyone with even half a working brain cell would know the consequences of taking a selfie that shows where their allegiance lies and even if they don’t, it won’t be long before they do. 

But after thinking a bit about it, is it really illegal for someone to shout out their personal banking details to the world? Are people really arrested for displaying how many sexual partners they have or plan to have?

If you think about it, it’s all the same in the end.

South Africans should vote for their right to complain

Everybody should vote.

Why?

Well it’s simple; so that they have the right to complain.

Lets’ be honest, with the coming voting and elections no one will believe the results, no matter what they say. Thanks to Zimbabwe and various other governments and corrupt officials everyone now knows that the rigging of votes is easier than previously believed and done more often than any will ever admit. So it comes as no surprise as people think three times on whether it’s worth it or not to go to the voting stations and cast an opinion.

Our governments have become so synonymous with corruption that we find it easier to just take the public holiday and do our own thing instead of going to vote, because even if we didn't, someone else would do it for us, right?

Sadly there exists no reason or argument that can dissuade people from giving life to such a reality, as it is after all, a reality. However should that really be the reason not to step up?

Even the politicians are fearful of a country that takes action and begins to demand better of the ones in charge of running things. In recent news we can even see just how desperate our very own president is to keep the votes in their favour. After Sunday’s rally that saw many people walking out in the midst of his speech, we see how Mr. President then tried to fight back as he goes so far as to violate the very few protective tools rape victims have, in order to justify his extreme spending.

Now while we take a moment to just realize that this tactic has effectively destroyed any chance our president has of ever denying claims of ignorance [again] in terms of his infamous little Nkandla village, we also need to realize how low politicians are prepared to go in order to garner sympathy from the people.

It seems to me that the president has forgotten the little detail that most people live in conditions where his wife’s ordeal are something of an everyday occurrence. So where then are those people’s personal villages to protect them and their loved ones.

I don’t mean to cheapen or degrade his wife’s ordeal, but I'm pretty sure everyone who has been through such traumatic events all deserve the same amount of sympathy and with that mind frame should the president really expect the people to view his excessive spending on his security over the improvement of the country’s security?

The president’s actions, while distasteful, are just a few peeks into the extremes politicians will go to prevent the people from taking any unwanted action and despite many protests the ANC isn't the only party guilty of this. It’s an unfortunate tool of every party running for the top and I doubt that will ever change, now or in the future.

So if the corrupt system we have become so used to watching won’t change, then why don’t the people change?

The mere act of stepping up and making your mark, regardless of who you choose, is already a gigantic step forward to changing something. It’s the same step that changed the long-ago past that our current government clings onto.

So everyone should vote and claim their right to complain.

Look up

This video doesn't really cover something new, but it does drive home a good point that forces one to take a step back... and look up.



Like all the movies of old, one notices that people have had a problem looking up.

When looked at literally, we see how many heroes or unfortunate souls in TV shows always get killed because as they were looking around the corner for the threat, they completely forgot to look UP where the threat actually was and then... BAM!



It's a tired tool of horrors and action movies, that very few directors move away from, but it gets the effect they want, every time.



But as we move away from the 'literal' sense, we come across the emotional turmoil that bends our will to a place where all we can think, with far too much frequency, is that it's not our problem.



I think it's this 'emotional' aspect of looking down that has made social media such a powerful drug that has made mankind it's slave.



The ease with which the interwebs has made the act of not giving two flicks of the next person, unless they provided some form of entertainment or something of equal value, is something that greatly appeals to a world where life is forever put on hold 'until after this episode' or perhaps 'when this person or that person has finally replied'.



People have too easily become mere observers of the world and those few that actually choose to live in it. Most of us have found some inexplicable comfort in watching others do the things we want or learn and use the skills we desire. All the while some of us console ourselves that eventually we'll get there.. we'll do that.



How sad.



In this video we see how closed off we make ourselves and miss the chances that can take us from simply being observers to becoming those coveted few  that we have observed.



It's a depressing thought when one has to look back on life and wonder how many chances have been wasted because we were unable to look away from the screen for even a fraction of a second.

It seems almost akin to the stupid crime of texting while driving and we all know the horrid consequences that can have. The only difference seems to be that instead of destroying another's life, it is our own that we slowly chip away at.

Everyone's days are numbered and I'm glad someone took the time to show us, in such a poetic way, what it is we're missing while we ignore that fact.

Time is a very finite thing that an infinite amount of people have taken for granted for far too long.

So like our poetic friend suggests, shouldn't we look up and take in the beauty that is all around us and maybe live in it a little while we're here?