Inequality....the current pre-election buzzword
I've often wondered if becoming morally outraged on a regular basis is a condition of employment for people who work at the Mail & Guardian. I ask this question in all innocence because I have become rather addicted to Twitter of late. It's not a particularly healthy addiction I know but I do try and restrict myself to no more than an hour a day and I never go to lunch with people and Tweet from a mobile device such as a smart phone or an iPad. That's not because I don't want to or because I have impeccable manners; it's just that the prohibitive price of 3G connectivity puts it way beyond what a poor pensioner can afford.
Here at home my laptop and iPad are linked up to a wireless service and I have about 20 gigs (whatever they are) to play with every month. Hence the Twitter addiction. Back on the first working day of the year I made a deliberately provocative comment about inequality (Inequality demonises the successful and celebrates the economically useless) which was picked up by Nickolaus Bauer of the M&G.
Clearly 2nd January was a slow news day and poor Nick had obviously drawn the short straw and was bored out of his mind. So after he Tweeted his earnest reply -"Inequality isn't made up. It's REAL, Mr Capitalism"- I thought we might be in for a decent debate on the topic. No such luck I'm afraid.
After a few other Twitterers had weighed in with comment young Nick decided that it was all getting rather complicated and did what any good lefty would do in the face of a robust debate; he legged it leaving a Tweet for me,- "I just thought I would try and waste as little of my time as possible on politically incorrect dinosaurs like you in 2013". Maybe he was overcome with emotion at the thought of all that inequality out there.
As I am sure you know we are going to hear a lot more about inequality in the run up to next year's election, mostly from politicians who drive very expensive German cars and think nothing of billing the taxpayer for their personal expenses. Sadly the irony will be lost on most of the electorate. The leftist press always speak about inequality as though it was a bad thing and a uniquely South African problem.