On the eve of Easter Sunday, Eugene Terre’Blanche was murdered by two of his farm employees. Initial reports indicate that his slaying was the result of a wage disagreement the previous afternoon, which is a believable explanation. Terre’Blanche was definitely not the Christmas bonus kind of employer. He had a long history of brutality against black farm workers, and beat a petrol attendant to within inches of his life for “poor service”. Terre’Blanche spent two years in the chookie for his actions, the petrol attendant is no longer capable of working, and will suffer physical and mental disability for the rest of his considerably shortened life. Despite a slew of possible “motivating” factors for his murder, Terre’Blanche was killed in the midst of a national argument around ANCYL President Julius Malema’s singing of a struggle song with the lyrics “shoot the boer/shoot, shoot”.
Eugene, Julius, and the Rest of UsPosted in Simon says on April 14, 2010 by Simon Hartley World Cup SalvationPosted in Simon says on April 01, 2010 by Simon Hartley I saw an advert on television recently (as I tend to do on a regular basis).
Surprise, surprise, the insert was advertising the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Painful as all of the World Cup marketing gumpf might be getting, we would all do well to grit our teeth and bare it. The stark reality is that South Africa has 70 days until the launch of the one of the world’s largest sporting and media spectacles, otherwise known as “the biggest bite we ever did bite off”. So the advert was about the world cup – someone call the shock police.
Only, it wasn’t the subject of the advertisement that caught my eyes and ears, but the method of delivery.
Facebook Ultra ChristiansPosted in Simon says on April 01, 2010 by Simon Hartley In my last blog post I touched lightly on people’s preference for online social interaction over and above personal, real life relationship building. This week, MWEB was the first internet service provider (ISP) in South Africa to announce the roll out of cheap, uncapped ADSL internet in South Africa. Ten years after the fact, South Africa has joined the digital revolution. In short, internet penetration is set to become a nationwide phenomenon, and not limited to the 8 million or so current internet users.
Naturally, more and more people are likely to gravitate towards Facebook, and this social networking tool is gaining more and more cultural credence. Which is why this topic deserves a second look. What people say on Facebook is more and more likely to become part of conversation “offline”. How you represent yourself on Facebook matters more with every new Facebook user. So you’re a Christian, how do you get that across on Facebook?
You Have One New Friend RequestPosted in Simon says on March 06, 2010 by Simon Hartley Facebook is the defining face of the single most powerful cultural shift of my generation – social media. Social what? The term ‘social media’ covers a broad spectrum of applications that have been developed for use on the internet as a means for people to “connect” with one another. Essentially, web users agree to “connect” with other web users on the same platform, and they spend time in community in this virtual space. Also, did I mention that the term “social media” is a working contradiction in terms?
Ten Second EvangelismPosted in Simon says on February 26, 2010 by Simon Hartley Those of us who watch television have, over the course of our screen-gawking life spans become conditioned to the existence of advertorial slots on television. In fact advertorial dominates overall screen time more or less across all cultures and national boundaries, which is no surprise.
Functionally, TV adverts provide a break in the action for viewers to collect themselves, but more significantly they are paid-for opportunities for marketing agencies to guilt us into buying the latest fashionable acquisition.
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