The Ignore Julius Initative

Dominic White

 
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The Ignore Julius Initative

Julius Malema has exploded into political prominence by making himself hard to ignore. Inheriting a platform that drew attention to the accidental outrages he tripped into, he quickly learned to stoke outrage and roar back at any responses he provoked. For the media, trying to gauge the state of the nation’s health from moment to moment, this makes him a much more attractive candidate than the business-as-usual official announcements of the ruling party proper. But Malema’s sound and fury signify little, and his disproportionate voice in South Africa’s public conversation is only hurting our ability to speak to one another, and to speak sense when we do. We think it’s time to ignore Julius, and invite you to join us.

For the week of 7-14 April 2010, we undertake to talk about this country, its challenges, its promise, its news, and to ignore Julius while doing so. Join us in this initiative. If you blog, join the roll. If you Tweet, add the hashtag #ignoreJulius to your daily output.

However you communicate, take a week off from Julius.

Here is the list of blogs that are participating in this initiative:

http://rwrant.co.za
http://zoem.co.za
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/mariusredelinghuys
http://memyselfandkarin.wordpress.com/
http://robsramblings.co.za
http://antithesis.blognation.co.za/
http://singe.za.net/
http://blog.empyrean.co.za
http://www.pinkhairgirl.co.za
http://www.macgeek.co.za
http://www.futurechurch.co.za
http://www.cptawesome.co.za/
http://www.indigogirl.co.za/

Thanks to Jason van Niekerk for writing the above text, and Henno Kruger for suggesting and running with the blog initiative.

Responses to Criticisms

  • Ignore Him at Your Peril - I'm not suggesting we ignore him permanently, or ignore the political youth or the ANC YL. I'm hoping this will restore some balance so that we have less Heat-magazine-like reporting on Julius resulting in more balanced, less obsessive coverage of relevant political activities.

  • A Campaign to Ignore him isn't Ignoring him - This is a rather naive observation that several tweeters have penned as their pithy response. While I applaud your noticing of the words Julius in the campaign name, referencing the initiative isn't the same as the obsessive reporting on his every action. That being said, I have no desire for the #ignoreJulius hash tag to trend, and feel the success of the initiative would be in a marked decrease in the mention of him and a marked increase in "other voices," ideally positive ones.

Wednesday, April 7. 2010
Posted by Dominic White in Politics
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Last modified on 2010-04-12 23:18
 

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#1 Andrew Nezar wrote (Link) (Reply)
Posted on Friday, April 9. 2010
Yes ignoring Julius Malema might be tricky as he is given a lot more attention for his bad behaviour than for the good he is doing - what good is that again?
 

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