Top 10 Most Commented Articles: The Articles That Got People Talking
These articles got the internet buzzing. Here’s a list of the Rational Standard's 10-most commented articles from the past 12 months in case you blinked and missed any.
1. Zille and the DA’s Fall
25 March 2017
Written by Nicholas Woode-Smith
The Helen Zille-saga at the Democratic Alliance was a major talking point throughout 2017. For many readers, the lunacy of reprimanding Zille for a tweet was shocking and the social media posts and comments followed for weeks afterwards.
2. Editorial: Don’t be Distracted – Media, not Roodt, are to Blame
20 April 2017
Written by The Editor
The lack of diversity in South African mainstream media grew even more apparent in 2017. Discourse is most often discouraged and dissenting views are labelled as racist, homophobic, colonial without engaging on the merits of what is being said. This led to many readers expressing their dismay with our current state of mainstream media affairs.
3. It Takes Manyi To Make Manyi
2 February 2017
Written by Daniël Eloff
After ANC advisor, Jimmy Manyi, publicly stated that the Constitution should be done away with, many reacted with justified outrage. Despite the Constitution merely being a piece of paper, it remains frightening when the narrative of majority disempowerment keeps being preached in a time where it simply is not true.
4. UCT Intellectuals: Let’s Try Central Planning – Again!
26 January 2017
Written by Martin van Staden
In this article, Rational Standard Editor-in-Chief, Martin van Staden, responds to a published article and tears it down with some sound and basic logic. As advocates for the free market, this article sparked great discussion amongst our readers.
5. Andile Mngxitama Unmasked
8 April 2017
Written by Anthony Stuurman
The most-read article of 2017 also had plenty of discussion in the comments section. Andile Mngxitama remains a clearly-biased and racist individual. In this article, a timeline of events is sketched which shows the path that Mngxitama has travelled and who have helped him along the way.
6. Academic Boycott of Israel is path to ruin
3 September 2017
Written by Nicholas Woode-Smith
The University of Cape Town never ceases to surprise. In actual fact, the advocated academic boycott of Israel should come as no surprise. While the left try to act like neo-Nazis are returning, they are the real anti-Semites, hiding behind false accusations against the Middle East’s only stable liberal democracy.
7. On handicapping the economy
25 January 2017
Written by Tim Bester
National sporting teams are a metaphor for a country’s success, and when they win their games we are all gladdened. In spite of pressure from some quarters, we have for the most part resisted the handicapping of our sporting teams through racial quotas.
8. Reply to Prof Crowe’s Criticism of the Roots of Racism
12 June 2017
Written by David Matthews
As part of a series of exchanges, this article by David Matthews had the most people talking. The roots of racism were debated throughout the series of articles.
9. South Africa’s oppressive banking system and why you need to buy Bitcoin now
6 July 2017
Written by Mpiyakhe Dhlamini
As the price of Bitcoin has rapidly rose the past few months, this article caused quite a reaction amongst the faithful Rational Standard readers. We now have secure crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin, allowing ordinary people a means of protecting the value they’ve accrued with governments having little power to do anything about it.
10. A rumble in the jungle (Part 1)
31 May 2017
Written by Dr Harald Sitta
The first article in a two-part series was widely discussed. Dr Harald Sitta discusses colonialism in these two pieces. Have a look at what our readers thought.