Rise Africa! The sleeping lion

Former president Thabo Mbeki’s, “I am an African” speech, motivated and inspired me to be proud of my African lineage, and to contribute to reviving Africa’s forgotten splendour. The saying, ‘it began in Africa’ is actually true as the discovery of the Sediba fossils and Pangea verifies this. With everyone ranting about doomsday nowadays, even Hollywood movies such as 2012 portray Africa as the lone survivor should a global apocalypse occur, as if subliminally saying, ‘Africa shall conquer again.’ But is this possible?

Today, nostalgic historians boast about advanced ancient African civilizations but ignore Africa’s current state. Africa has atrophied from majestic kingdoms to a poverty-stricken land stooped in stupefying religions and witchcraft. Ululating sangoma’s can’t cast a spell to produce carbon free energy and missionaries don’t preach economics.

New Age African journalists should be entirely secular and not politically aligned. Instead, we must focus primarily on science and technology (sci-tech) writing, proposing Africans let go of mysticism and rather try to understand how sci-tech can solve Africa’s problems. A New Age Religion perhaps? Here are several examples…

Africa has the world’s highest AIDS rate. Instead of relying on muti, I’ll elaborate how nanotechnology can cure diseases and people could live longer life spans without getting sick.

There’s an abundance of sunlight and wind but Africa lacks technical knowledge to create solar panels or windmills to produce electricity. Did you know that with thermonuclear energy alone, Africa could produce enough global electricity for at least 100 000 years?

Cloning, GM foods and hydroponics allows food to be grown all year round instead of seasonally. The abundance would drastically reduce food prices and foster environmental preservation. Endangered species could be cloned reviving them from near extinction.

Genesis says ‘go forth and multiply,’ but Africans should understand overpopulation is the source of poverty. For shacks to disappear, governments should impose sterilization of women in slums after one child. Professional abortion clinics should be opened. Strict laws should be passed restricting the amount of children per family and family planning should become a compulsory school subject.

SA is experiencing a shortage of skilled personnel in the sci-tech sector, and the Hip2bSquare campaign is meant to bolster math and science literacy. As long as elders continue imposing primitive tribal beliefs instead of encouraging youth to pursue sci-tech, Hip2bSquare will be futile. Governments should launch a cultural revolution like China did, purging outdated beliefs halting technological innovation.

New Age African journalists should combine sharp writing and photography skills to simplify the most complex technology to simple English. We should encourage youth to pursue sci-tech careers because this is where solutions for Africa’s suffering can be found. Africa was a continent of light in ancient history and my dream is to be the light bearer bringing enlightenment back to the Dark Continent. The innovative gene that designed the pyramids lies dormant in every African; it is time to awake the sleeping lion.

Is social networking useful for journalists?

The arrival of social networking sites about a decade ago revolutionized media overnight. On one hand, journalists in repressive states such as Communist China found a way of spitting out the media gag and telling the whole world of the gross human rights violations in China. On the other hand, lack of editorial control on social networks means anyone can disseminate news with careless regards to ethics. Technology is expanding media beyond our wildest imaginations, but has the advent of social networking heralded in a glorious new frontier for journalism, or is it the beginning of the perversion of our ethical duties?

In layman’s terms, social networking is where people from different towns, cities, countries or even continents develop networks of friends and associates through links. Practical examples of popular sites are Blogger.com, Twitter, You-Tube, Facebook, My Space and Linkedin.com. Sites like these offer the 21^st century journalist an extremely effective way of communicating with a niche group or global target audience with limitless benefits…

…Sports24.com shows how journalists can effectively target a desired niche group. The blog offers millions of sports enthusiasts up to the day local and international sports news. Interactive features such as comments and forums allow people to discuss and leave their own opinions clearly distinguishable from the editors. If an offensive comment is posted, users can report the alleged perpetrator to the administrator. This ensures that blogs and groups alike aren’t the domain of unregulated hate speech and that a proper code of ethics is maintained.

Though it is practically impossible to control and monitor every discussion on social networking sites, because groups and bloggers claiming to be part of the ‘free press’ promoting hate speech, discrimination and incitement of imminent violence spring up everyday, putting the credibility of real journalists at risk. Some believe that by default, truth and professionalism will eventually overcome rumour and bias as people lose interest in renegade bloggers claiming to be rogue reporters, free press or ‘citizen reporters.’

Discussing the trend topic of how news organizations are relying on so-called citizen reporters (ordinary people with a video phone posting fresh footage of events on You-Tube or Facebook etc). A retired NBC News reporter was quoted saying, “citizen reporting is like saying someone with scalpel is a ‘citizen surgeon’ or someone who can read a law book is a ‘citizen lawyer.’ Information without journalistic standards is called gossip,” he exclaimed.

You-Tube videos and blogs set up by citizen journalists all have the same underlying flaw and that is they ignore the universal journalism code of conduct which is; factual, truthful, objective, fair, balanced and unbiased reporting. Another important factor is funding i.e. marketing for creating awareness to a broader audience as corporations won’t risk investing in these social networking vigilantes.

Eric Umansky, a well respected veteran journalist in America explained how in the near future, new ethical standards for online journalism and trusted online sources will be regulated by advertising.

“Online news sources will essentially be regulated by the marketplace…

"A blog, just like a newspaper, has to build credibility and people will stop reading if it’s unreliable and has old news,” said Umansky.

Just think of how new school journalists are spoilt by the lightning quick immediacy of social networks; celebrity gossip can be Tweeted within seconds by tabloid journalists, the final 2010 World Cup goal blogged by sports photographers within minutes or streaming footage of the aftermath of a terrorist attack can be broadcast live via You-Tube to a mesmerized audience. So, “Is social networking useful for journalists?” The answer is a unanimous yes!

Evolution of Music

Popular British radio and tv presenter Paul Gambaccini’s statements “…rock and jazz are dead…” Are the final sentiments of someone unable to adapt to an advanced technological era in music. Through natural selection, nature exterminates weaklings, ensuring only the strongest gene pool survives. The same applies to human society, where weak cultures are assimilated into dominant cultures, allowing progression of our species as a whole. Like evolution genetically tailors animals to adapt to their specific environments, artists should also keep up with technological advancements in music, as well as rapidly evolving sub-genres.

Remember your roots…

Follow the roots of rock and one discovers that rock is a sub-genre that splinte

red from jazz around the 50’s. What began as something for societal misfits exploded into arguably the greatest music force in history. Rock was and still is more of a lifestyle that openly rebels to…Well, everything, including old-fashioned traditions. Trace the roots of punk (no not the wood) and you will understand exactly what I mean. My point is, if rock remained the way Paul’s generation enjoyed it, wouldn’t that go against its basics of being anti-conformist?

Hybrid theory

Before the 1900’s, jazz was sneered upon as music for lower class African-American slaves. Later, ‘Americanized’ generations assimilated European technology with their ancestor’s nostalgic folk songs. Pianos, trumpets and guitars were incorporated resulting in the jazz boom of the Roaring 20’s. The jazz Paul claims to be real is actually a hybridization of older jazz and synthetic sounds of that period, hence the term jazz fusion. Ironically, his resentment to modern jazz mirrors the sneers his generation received from older ragtime connoisseurs who couldn’t operate electronic equipment.

Electronic music

Laptronica has given music a facelift. It entails making music using a laptop, instead of relying on recording studios. Music’s fusion with electronically generated sounds has enabled artists to deliver flawless musical performances.

Some of this technology includes; auto-tune, device allowing

singers to sing perfect pitches while disguising off-pitch notes,

Roland TR-808: machine that produces artificial drum sounds and the electric guitar, which is already a standard jazz/rock instrument. The latest in electronic music technology is the Tenori-On, which is an 808, auto-tuner, guitar etc all in one touch screen tablet similar to Apple’s I-Pad. Typically, the only people opposed to this digital revolution are the outdated has beens.

The Tenori-On is a 21st century musical instrument

Jazz is alive!

Unknown jazz artist Esperanza Spalding unexpectedly snatched the best new artist award from favourite Justin Bieber at this years Grammy’s. Another surprise came when U2 performed with legend Hugh Masekela during their Soweto concert last week, and their success ensures the best jazz genetics survive extinction. Nature is always changing and so is human society, art if it’s true, reflects this change, therefore resisting it would be hypocritical if you regard yourself as an art lover. To a certain extent, ‘The Great Gambo’ is right, but the bigger picture is that the death of the old has laid seeds for a new generation to blossom, thus continuing the infinite cycle of the evolution of music.