One Year of Rational Commentary
On the 25th of January 2016, we published an article announcing the founding of the Rational Standard and why we felt it necessary to start this project. Back then, we cited the rise of the fallist protests in 2015 as inspiration.
2016 gave us even more content to criticise, as the fallist protests grew in number, ferocity, and stupidity. As they demanded that ScienceMustFall, we defended reason and provided a clear alternative to the mainstream media that had seemingly thrown their lot in with the left. We had picked a side. We had bias. We were honest about it.
"One Year of Rational Commentary" is the subscript of our first ever hard-copy publication. Fallism: One Year of Rational Commentary is an edited compilation of all the articles we and our guest contributors have written throughout 2016 on the FeesMustFall protests as well as matters which were related to it. The book is a testament to the fact that the debate is not over, and that the fallists and their spineless supporters in the academia and mainstream media are not on the 'right side' of history, even though they might be on the winning side. The book is freely available in e-book format to all the subscribers on our (free) mailing list - click on the big banner immediately to the right and get it!
Throughout 2016, we didn’t sacrifice our principles for views, cash, or from fear. We stood on, defiant against the rise of the left. We provided hope for many who felt thankful enough to contact us. These messages and discussions spurred us on as we realised our importance in the South Africa discourse.
For too long, people accepted being walked upon. They were afraid to speak out against illegitimate collective guilt. They didn’t have any example to give them courage. The Rational Standard legitimised defiance. It made it okay to fight back, to argue and to disagree with the mainstream narrative – because you knew there were people out there watching your back.
Throughout 2016, we have received private and public messages thanking us for our defence of reason and our standing up for those who have been abandoned. We have received emails from Uber drivers thanking us for condemning government regulations and taxi violence, compliments from experts for standing up for the facts and uncountable thanks for giving up our time to run this type of platform.
Those who know that we all work for free and often pay out of pocket to promote the site, are even more impressed.
We have also run into negative comments. More often than not, these inspire than disturb us. We have been threatened, insulted and criticised by people from the EFF, the DA, FeesMustFall as well as a number of left and right-wing individuals. We take their attention as a point of pride, as they have realised that we are not a platform to be ignored.
In late 2016 we also welcomed Daniël Eloff onto our Board of Directors. Daniël has made invaluable contributions to the Rational Standard, including thought-provoking articles and excellent graphics which we now use across our platforms. We have no doubt that he will continue to play a large role in our journey to see liberty realised in South Africa.
In 2017, we aim to continue our principled and honest stand against irrationality and tyranny. We will maintain our platform, improving it where we can. A new server, a nicer homepage, new projects… We have many plans and ages to accomplish them.
The Rational Standard will always be free – politically and in terms of cost. While some of the traditional South African bastions for liberty-inspired content, like Business Day and BizNews, now place their content behind a paywall, our content will always be freely available to those who desire to read it. Help spread this content by sharing our articles on social media or by email.
We will continue to do our part in providing our commentary and analysing news so you can separate the important information from the chaff and lies.
We look forward to spending another year as the logical alternative and hope to see you reading our content for times to come.
Nicholas Woode-Smith is the Managing Editor and a Co-Founder of the Rational Standard.