"shoot to kill" is moronic, imbecile and naive

Last night i watched a news bulletin on e-tv around 10:00pm. in the incident involving shooting between 5 robbers and money delivering vehicle. 4 of the robbers were shot dead in the scene while one securuty was injured, i was perplexed by the way the reporter made fun out of the whole situation, shooting of people cannot be seen as a 'win' by the government who is failing its people. it was a very emotional incident, dead people scattered all over the place uncovered. government, police and those reporetrs who are in their comfort zone must atleast respect the humanity of the black man and understand why blacks are on crime..why? if killing black people is a 'win' therefore apartheid government was victorious. the government must find another way of dealing with crime.

Reportesrs: You are the serial killers!

Continous dehumanising of african people, and its continent is a serious issue that needs close attention. We have also dealt with this issue in our journalism course in ideology and narrative and genre.

MY area of interest in these stories are the words that are used by the world reporters when depicting African situation, words such as famine, ethiopia as the "closet thing to hell on earth", dark dispairing days, congested, Crowded, flimsiest of clothing; " and when describing ppeople often as - exhausted, often woefully thin, hungry people trying to find food, criminal and corrupt As a student journalist i am worried of this continuos negative depiction of africa. Fiske in his writing of narrative and genre says that this is done deliberately, it is not seen as impacting on African peoples lives but as comfirming 'ours'. this also plays into the stereotype that Africa is a doomed continent, one of the writers once wrote "africa a country of darkness" what puzzles me is the fact that despite the increase in the level of education globally, people especially reporters continue depicting africa as place of no hope.

What not to do...

Don't we all just some times feel like this is all we're doing in the world? As budding journalism students, we need to make sure to remind ourselves that "No matter how one may think himself accomplished, when he sets out to learn a new language, science, or the bicycle he has entered a new realm as truly as if he were a child newly born into the world." - Frances Willard.

'Cannot' is only formulated within the brain

The air is congested with feelings of uncertainty as the year draws to an end and exams are drawing near...slowly but surely we all have to face them. The fear of looking at that question paper and wondering if you know all the answers or even worse...if you know anything!

One thing I believe in life is that, 'cannot' is only formulated in the brain and if one strives to get what they what they will get it. This is not to say that now you can get 100% for that law exam...come on now, you also have to be realistic about things. Dr Enathi will take you through some steps on how to achieve those goals:

1) Imagine...set your mind free and lose control of all those thoughts.

2) Within these thoughts filter a few possibilities that you want to achieve by the end of the year.

3) Take out a note pad and write all of these down.

4) While you are undertaking this task make sure you formulate a method of how you could turn these ideas into a reality.

5) On your wall or somewhere visible, put this quote by Marilyn vos Savant, " Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent." With this quote in mind you will think twice about not fulfilling what you set out for yourself.

This is a very broad method of achieving what you want but remember that if you truly want something with no hesitation, you ought to fight to get it. As Brian Tracy states in a book entitled Goals " One of the rules for success is this: It doesn't matter where you're coming from; all that matters is where you're going. And where you are going is solely determined by yourself and your own thoughts."

Whichever goal you intend on fulfilling may you strive and undertake the task of making it achievable with care. Do it legally, and for all those who will be writing examinations soon...take a stand and prove to yourself that you CAN, after all you are worth the success you receive.

ispeakmymind

Racism (in south african context) is the indocrination of the black men's mind to believe that being called 'black','nigger' or 'kaffir' is an insult and therefore whoever call those names should be punished.

This is pathetic.... WHY?

For non black to keep a black man happy for instance don't dare mention those words. but should a black man mess up the names will come into play.

This puts black skinned in other's mercy

For example to keep a lame/blind person happy one must pretend not to recognise his disabilities but when conflict arise the names come to play, and what a lame man does he lay charges or curse that "your kids will be like me or say i did't choose to be diasbled".

In my way of seeing things its the same for racism it is like saying "i did'nt choose to be black therefore interpealing to the call that black is inferior and has to be continuously proteced from the more 'perfect skinned', some even pray that "Oh god, why I was black in the first place?"

To explain the process of racial reconcilation is not to explai it away.

A racist person is a pretending person, like a first thaught is the true charater of a person.

Of all the cases i have tell of people complain that they have been called 'nigger',I guess it is sometimes about wanting someone's attention.

In many circumstances once a black person get rich he tends to look down to his people and associates himself with white and in doing so he/she tends to forget her colour and when white man pulls the race card he feels offended because he is being associated with people he believe is head and shouldiers above them, i therefore say we should not put a great deal of emotins to race, because it does exist and the only problem with these steriotypic ideas is that they are so entangled to the truth. Be black and proud.

Where is the love?

Why can't the field of journalism deal with issues of the heart? Is it too subjective? Not appealing enough? Has the subject of love gotten so cliché that it is somehow a taboo for me to write about it in a journalism blog? Well if it is- too bad, because I simply cannot keep this in any longer.

You can consider me a hopeless romantic. I believe in true love and am not afraid to admit it. I fantasise about the day I get to grow old with that one person, and am tired of being criticised for it.

The stare I receive from society that insults my intelligence, by diagnosing me with some form of naive abnormality for believing in commitment, tears at me every day. How can anyone believe that the "one night stands", "cheating is acceptable" and "marriage is jail" ideology society has somehow developed in the last few decades, could bring real happiness?

Is it not logical to think that the false ideas of love and the flexibility of social mores in society has something to do with the rising statistics on divorce?

How could something so pure and extraordinary, become so polluted? Commitment has somehow become the little, but very evident, piece of spinach everyone tries to avoid, that sneaks into the gaps of your two front teeth. It humiliates you, and fills you with shame, until you feel nothing but relief when you flick it out and throw it into the wind.

I may be alone in this, but I believe that life is nothing without love. So if my happiness means being an outcast and walking around with an entire vegetable garden between my teeth, I have nothing to say but, "Let's start sowing!"

The increasing of crime and diseases

The first article I read from The Time Online was about a pregnant teenager who died with her baby after contracting swine flu. This article falls under bad news in the news value. I would say that this story is focusing on the resent disease that has hit our countries, for example here they are talking about England and Scotland. Basically in this article they are talking about pregnant people who die before and after giving birth to their children. This article is very much clear and talks about how pregnant women can protect their selves and in these two countries its estimated that there were 100,000 cases of this swine flu in July, this means that a lot more other people are in danger. The other article was from The Herald and it was about three arrested men for selling the RDP houses. Its about three men selling houses that belonged to the government, they sold these houses because they wanted peoples money but in the end they were caught and sent to jail, these men were very old, they were51, 36 and 37.In the end this caused people to be violent( those in the RDP houses). I also read a story from the Grocott’s Mail about a 23 year old guy who killed a local business and his domestic worker. These stories are what is happening in our everyday lives. These stories are like a cry for help, its something bad and people need to be helped.