PATRICK BULGER | Shut up already: silence, ministers talking power to truth

Apparently in some circumstances and some Eastern Cape villages, it’s not at all rude to tell someone to ‘shut up!’

07 July 2022 - 22:13

Whether French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire ever told another salon bright spark to “shut up” is not recorded. But you have to concede, even if you are a fan of French Revolution-style liberty, that Voltaire was quite likely the type of annoying individual whom members of the Ancien Regime often told to “Shut the f#$@ up!” Certainly police minister Bheki Cele might have silenced this famous know-all with the double-tap “Shut up, shut up!” he used on one hapless citizen this week...

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