Comments on: How Twitter broke the news about Manto

By: Global Voices Online » South Africa: A nation in conversation with itself 140 words at a time

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:14:57 +0000

[...] “Was news of Manto’s death the Hudson plane crash of South Africa? Did the passing of the controversial former minister of health mark a coming of age of Twitter in this country?,” asks South African blogger and author Sarah Britten in her post on Thought Leader titled, “How Twitter broke the news about Manto.” [...]

By: Dudu

Dudu — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:01:52 +0000

The former Minister of Health and the Former President both saved the Country from Colonisation through AIDS Drugs. It helped Africa and the poor countries as the Sellers tried to make us feel guilty about not procuring at their inflated prices.Mbeki was bold in that he took both groups for and against AIDS and said they must do their arguments for and against HIV causing AIDS then come and presnt their cases. That was a first.

Manto and the Fruits/Herbs/Vegetables I supported a lot as we grew using those for a number of treatments for ailments. People are not even aware of the Herbal Research Labs in our Country by Dr Matsabisa (MRC) that infact provided Mantos basis for her arguments.I salute her. That was a lot.

By: OneFlew

OneFlew — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:59:13 +0000

Nothing in her life became her like her leaving it.

(A bit of “English culture”.)

By: Blip

Blip — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:07:43 +0000

Nobody walked around with a sad face when Hitler died and tried to say nice things about him. And I’ll not be wearing a gloomy face when Mugabe goes.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:37:30 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by mgthoughtleader: How Twitter broke the news about Manto http://tinyurl.com/y9dxleo...

By: OneFlew

OneFlew — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:49:57 +0000

Ivo Vegter:

“I don’t think the cultural divide is between black and white, in this case. Not speaking ill of the dead is a superstition that is as English as tea and toast”

It is not about a cultural divide at all. (English culture also seems entirely irrelevant to the debate, surely? And if it were relevant, then my conclusion about this would be quite different from yours. The milk of human kindness does not run deep in the UK media.)

Most cultures have death taboos. Yet the deaths of Mussolini, Ceaucescu and Verwoerd could be celebrated.

This outrage is entirely about race and “people like us”, not about taboos. The deaths of 300,000 people pale into insignificance against the wrong person saying the wrong thing about someone he isn’t entitled to criticise.

By: Sarah Britten

Sarah Britten — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:18:25 +0000

@Herman: You make valid points. Twitter is a useful addition to other media rather than a replacement. Nonetheless, what marks it out as different is a) the fact that those participating in the debate are from a variety of media sources (how often do you get 5FM DJs and newspaper editors in the same forum?). This is rare in SA, where other fora are hosted by a particular media owner. Also, participants do reflect a fairly broad variety of backgrounds. Importantly, Twitter is very easy to use on a cellphone, which gives it huge potential in a country where access to PCs is limited.

By: MLH

MLH — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:42:41 +0000

Sorry, she only died after 15:00

By: MLH

MLH — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:41:58 +0000

I had it off Reuters by 15:10, She only died after 10:00.

By: Nick Jackson

Nick Jackson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:25:46 +0000

140 *characters* at a time.

Did you hear how another @5fm DJ, @Rob_Vemba, stuck his foot in it on air at about 15h35 yesterday? I unfollowed all the 5fm DJs I was following after yesterday. They’re insensitive and have huge egos. Even bigger than mine. That’s big.