My wish for 2008 is a year of good judgement. And let such judgement be uncolored by preconceived notions and prejudice. I base this wish on two events: my opera attendance yesterday and the election of Jacob Zuma, destined to head up South Africa.
Yesterday, with a friend, I wondered down to the local cinema to watch the live transmission of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel. The audience included a fair number of doting mothers and kids brought to enjoy a fairy-tale cultural event. Good intentions on their part, no doubt.
The reality was disaster. At interval the kids were bawling their eyes out or clinging is terror to their parents. Most kids did not return after interval.
And that is as well, for scary as the first two acts were, so the third act was brutal, bizarre, and downright perverted. Nobody under 50 should have been allowed to see it. Most of it deals with the witch trying to cook the kids; that is the traditional story, but the opera, to fantastic music, had a man dressed as a woman, trussing Hansel and feeding and fondling him. It got downright tough to watch. But that is the essence of good opera, so bravo to the Met, and tough cookie to those misguided mothers who think all opera and all fairy-tales are cute & sweet.
They simply excercised bad judgement based on ill-informed, preconceived notions. I hope that the ANC has not done the same in South Africa. I have never seen Mr. Zuma, but he is reportedly charismatic. Of course so are some American politicians.
For example while traveling up to Vancouver from Los Angeles, I watched a slate of Republican presidential-hopefuls talking. I am old, so the only one I trusted is the older (oldest) candidate John McCain. At least he is old enough to know the truth and tell it. He seems to have good judgement. Poor Mitt Romney is clearly competent and of good judgement, but he is so boring and pedantic. Then there is that fellow Huckabee. I found myself clapping for him and being drawn in by his charisma. Even as logic told me his judgement is muddled: in one breath he bragged about the number of people he put to death as governor and in the next breath he proclaiming the sanctity of life for the unborn. Good politics for the poles, but totally illogical. And scary too, for the next day he announced that he would punish doctors–maybe by death as he did so efficiently as governor. Some fairy-tales can be brutal
Back to Africa and its implications for mining. My personal opinion is that Mr. Zuma and his crowd are dangerous and could well lead South Africa down bad judgment paths. If I were investing this year in South African mining stocks (which I am not), I would be very careful to cover my tail as Zuma starts South Africa down the road to African ruin: some fairy-tales can be brutal. You will, of course, have to exercise your own judgement on this one, hence good 2008 judgement is my New Year’s wish.
