as we are painfully aware, successfully tried to pick a fight  in the media regarding a cop who was simply following up on a call about a suspected break-in.  As the cop in question was white, the media has gone crazy and cried racism, with help from Obama.

Gates himself apparently said to the officer “Do you know who I am?”, as if somehow his tenured position entitled him to much more respect and deference than your average Joe. I mean the cop didn’t even have the civility to raise his hand in order to receive the professor’s permission to speak. Most of the defence of Gates has also centered on his being a “respected professor of African-American Studies”, “a prominent black scholar at Harvard University”, and so on, and the argument boils down to as a scholar he is by definition such a respected member of society that the only possible factor that could come into play is his race.  

I also recently read an article that I find juxtaposes nicely with the thesis that being a highly-educated scholar somehow makes one above reproach or suspicion.  Since the article was written in Africa concerning African scholars, it’s probably as apples-to-apples as you can get. I think it also helps demonstrate the dangers of technocracy, a force that has also been rising in the West and has to date given us such wonders as the environmental scares (global warming/cooling, ozone depletion, acid rain, we’re all gonna die unless you give us public funding and follow our policy advice, which includes more public funding for our activities) and health scares (bird flu, swine flu, AIDS, we’re all gonna die, unless you give us public funding and follow our policy advice, which includes more public funding for our activities).  

Here’s some relevent excerpts from said article, “Education without civilisation“, by Abigail Mphisa:

“We Zimbabweans are a highly educated lot. Every analyst who talks about Zimbabwe's prospects for economic recovery lists as one of the assets our very admirably skilled human resources. At independence President Mugabe's cabinet ministers were hailed as among the most educated on the African continent, led by a man with seven university degrees.

Zimbabwe boasts of an adult literacy rate of 89.4 percent, which is higher than that of Malaysia (88.7) and Brazil (88.6).  Regional economic power house, South Africa, has an adult literacy rate of 82.4 percent. Malawi and Zambia are on 64 and 68, respectively, while Botswana's rate is 81.2 percent. Why then do we have the singular honour of being the most barbaric in the manner that we run elections within the SADC (South African Development Community) region?

None of our brothers and sisters in SADC brutalise each other during election related violence to the same extent that we do. Zambia, South Africa and Malawi held elections not so along. There were no body bags counted in these countries during the campaign periods, and yet our education statistics are more impressive.

Before we messed up our country, Malawians preferred Zimbabwe as a shopping destination rather than South Africa. The first thing my landlord asked me when I came to Malawi three years ago was how it was possible that even vendors on Harare's streets spoke good English. He told me how after the opening of Westgate shopping complex he and a friend drove to Harare to sample the new centre. Not knowing how to get there, they asked for directions from a teenager who was trying to sell them a pocket of oranges.  They were very much impressed after being given accurate directions in perfect English.

It would appear while we have been learning history and geography, civilisation, that which some people refer to as an advanced stage of social development, has eluded us. We have a president with seven degrees. He does not boast about them much. He prefers the one he has lived by for a bigger part of his life -violence. He boasts of having degrees in violence.

Without an aorta of shame, after the formation of the MDC during the run up to the 2000 parliamentary elections he thundered during an election rally, "To those who are bent on opposing us, death shall befall you!"

Then we have Dr Nathan Shamuyarira, academic, author and one time Minister of Information and Zanu-PF's secretary for information and publicity.  When the MDC was beginning to show signs of popularity in 2000 and beyond, Zanu PF went on a predictable smear campaign. Among other things, an attempt was made to pin the murder of Cain Nkala on the MDC. The late Justice Sandra Mungwira threw out the case and had the unfortunate MDC activists released.

In the meantime, Dr Shamuyarira had not wasted time in issuing a stern warning. The MDC, he said, should not even consider taking the route of violence. He reminded the new party that the area of violence was one in which Zanu-PF's skills could never be matched. You need to be uncivilised in order to be able to utter such statements, without shame, on behalf of any party.

The constituency in question, the very one where the 21 year old lost his arm, belongs to none other than one of Zimbabwe's world renowned agricultural research scientists and gender activist, Dr. Olivia Muchena. In this very constituency, among others, teachers were hounded out of classrooms and children stopped attending school altogether. I always used to beam with pride at the University of Cape Town's African Studies Library because Dr Muchena's work here was held in such high regard.

She has numerous publications to her name.

I recall how soon after the 2005 parliamentary elections Muchena appeared on the programme "African Review" which used to be run by SABC Africa. The topic under discussion was election related violence in Zimbabwe. Among the panellists were MDC activists who told harrowing stories of their close shave with death at the hands of the infamous Green Bombers.

Muchena, a former official of Bishop Abel Muzorewa's United African National Council, did a sterling job of toeing the usual Zanu PF line of victimhood, sanctions and Western propaganda. The embarrassing moment for her came when a caller, displaced by political violence from Muchena's constituency, stated in a very calm and collected manner "SABC, you are giving a voice to a perpetrator of political violence."

He then went on to mention by name some who had died. In a very thin voice, obviously drained of its previous confidence, Muchena tried her best to mount a very unconvincing defence, denying that the listed names of the deceased were from her constituency but rather from a neighbouring one. It was as if by merely suggesting that the dead were not from her constituency their brutal killing became acceptable.

She ended up cutting some very pathetic figure indeed.

Then there is our very own rocket scientist, Arthur Mutambara. A Rhodes Scholar with a PhD in Robotics and Mechatronics from Oxford University, Mutambara is ranked among Africa's top scientists. Sadly, on his journey to acquire impressive academic qualifications, the exposure he received did little for him in the area of social etiquette.

In one interview he boasted that he was more intelligent than most of these Western leaders because he had studied at Oxford while they had not. Now, that is just way too coarse even for a third world Deputy Prime Minister. In his desire to remind the world of his high intelligence quotient, it even escaped him that it was these very less intelligent people who could get us out of our economic quagmire.

In a recent interview with one Maureen Isaacson in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mutambara is quoted; "I am a very different kind of politician. I don't suffer fools. You understand? I might have to do so in politics..I am an independent thinker. I challenge conventional wisdom". Wow! We are still waiting for the independent thoughts to manifest themselves in the GNU for the benefit of Zimbabwe.

Sometime last year, one of the Herald's key hate columnists, Caesar Zvayi, was deported from Botswana where he had secured a lecturing post. Surprisingly, Zvayi had run away from the very economic meltdown which he argued did not exist.  Apart from the vitriol and scorn poured by Zvayi on that country's head of state in response to his deportation, Jonathan Moyo joined the fray. Of all the vulgar and foul-mouthed remarks he directed at Botswana, the one that I found most despicable was "What can you expect when a country has more goats than people." All this because the Batswana did not want Zvayi in their country and from a man who preaches sovereignty ad
nauseam?

They say Moyo is a Professor of Political Science and yet he is still to act in a civilised manner. In fact, the man is so uncivilised that he believes the practice of journalism, the profession of reporting on events, should be made more stringent than the practice of medicine, which has the potential of costing lives if not conducted properly.

How weird is that?

Perhaps it is the late Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi who should occupy one of the top spots in the area of incivility. The Polish trained medical doctor, a true disciple of Zanu-PF barbaric politics, believed that coercion was the answer to Zanu-PF's declining popularity. Yes, a doctor who took the Hippocratic Oath to save lives reportedly converted his Budiriro surgery into a torture chamber. In this the 21st Century, he believed that people should not be allowed the right to choose their own political parties. He was just so primitive, though armed with a medical degree.

We also have Chief Fortune Charumbira, a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe where he studied sociology. He is the president of the Council of Chiefs. One would have imagined that his superior education would also make him understand issues of citizenship and human rights. Not so. He is on record as having issued a statement to the effect that those who support any other party besides Zanu-PF would be expelled from his area.

It is as if one will be reading from a prehistoric script.

I remember former education Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi frothing on the mouth, furious because some NGO had highlighted the necessity of introducing human rights courses in the school syllabi. He made it clear such "misadventures" would not be tolerated by the government because the hidden agenda of the NGO was "regime change".

He could see the hand of the British in it too!”

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=20078