thokozani. i understand that consulting with isangoma is still an act that is shrouded in secrecy and is a source of shame for many. it is this shame and secrecy that makes people ripe for exploitation and harm.

i am not here to perpetuate already existing boogeyman narratives about my job but i beg you all to never, ever go to a sangoma without alerting at least one person of your whereabouts.
unless you know you are up to no good wena self, it should be an easy location pin drop and "friend, this is where i am should you not hear from me in x hours." no further explanation necessary.
we must admit without taking it with our chests that certain generalisations exist because there are certain individuals that perpetuate them. that's life. i will give personal anecdotes:
there is a client that came asking for help some months back. her life was at a standstill and she didn't understand why until, together, we connected the dots. her secret trips to isangoma sakhe were not what i would call normal.
there were rituals where she was asked to have sex* with the "healer" 🥴 in order for the muthi to work (????). this went on for months. she'd come in, akhanyise ngemali, he would take advantage of her, ahlanjwe after. things would be great for a week then back to square one.
*i do not consider this sex. it is closer to sexual assault.

this "sangoma" was siphoning her mndau energy for his own personal gain. it continued for as long as it did because the shame compounded. the act of consultation plus the sex rituals plus going back for help each time
this can also easily happen (and has happened) in a religious institutions. church. mosque. temple. none are without blemish. people are strange & dangerous. ask questions often. talk to the rational elders in your family about izinto.
or a client goes into indumba engaxelelanga mntu & never comes home. there are people who use amafutha omntu for izigubhu zokuthwala nokuthwalisa. human trafficking doesn't only happen amongst drug dealers & boogeymen from faraway places.
we are really all just strangers to each other. treat any healer with a healthy amount of suspicion and question everything until umoya wakho axole. until idlozi lakhe shows you that you will find healing there. do nothing blindly. and please use your common sense nawe.
niberight though. sharp 🤙🏾

More from For later read

This response to my tweet is a common objection to targeted advertising.

@KevinCoates correct me if I'm wrong, but basic point seems to be that banning targeted ads will lower platform profits, but will mostly be beneficial for consumers.

Some counterpoints 👇


1) This assumes that consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones.

This does not seem self-evident to me


Research also finds that firms choose between ad. targeting vs. obtrusiveness 👇

If true, the right question is not whether consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones. But whether they prefer *more* contextual ads vs *fewer* targeted

2) True, many inframarginal platforms might simply shift to contextual ads.

But some might already be almost indifferent between direct & indirect monetization.

Hard to imagine that *none* of them will respond to reduced ad revenue with actual fees.

3) Policy debate seems to be moving from:

"Consumers are insufficiently informed to decide how they share their data."

To

"No one in their right mind would agree to highly targeted ads (e.g., those that mix data from multiple sources)."

IMO the latter statement is incorrect.

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The YouTube algorithm that I helped build in 2011 still recommends the flat earth theory by the *hundreds of millions*. This investigation by @RawStory shows some of the real-life consequences of this badly designed AI.


This spring at SxSW, @SusanWojcicki promised "Wikipedia snippets" on debated videos. But they didn't put them on flat earth videos, and instead @YouTube is promoting merchandising such as "NASA lies - Never Trust a Snake". 2/


A few example of flat earth videos that were promoted by YouTube #today:
https://t.co/TumQiX2tlj 3/

https://t.co/uAORIJ5BYX 4/

https://t.co/yOGZ0pLfHG 5/
क्या आप जानते हैं कि क्या है, पितृ पक्ष में कौवे को खाना देने के पीछे का वैज्ञानिक कारण!

श्राद्ध पक्ष में कौओं का बड़ा ही महत्व है। कहते है कौआ यम का प्रतीक है, यदि आपके हाथों दिया गया भोजन ग्रहण कर ले, तो ऐसा माना जाता है कि पितरों की कृपा आपके ऊपर है और वे आपसे ख़ुश है।


कुछ लोग कहते हैं की व्यक्ति मरकर सबसे पहले कौवे के रूप में जन्म लेता है और उसे खाना खिलाने से वह भोजन पितरों को मिलता है

शायद हम सबने अपने घर के किसी बड़े बुज़ुर्ग, किसी पंडित या ज्योतिषाचार्य से ये सुना होगा। वे अनगिनत किस्से सुनाएंगे, कहेंगे बड़े बुज़ुर्ग कह गए इसीलिए ऐसा करना

शायद ही हमें कोई इसके पीछे का वैज्ञानिक कारण बता सके।

हमारे ऋषि मुनि और पौराणिक काल में रहने वाले लोग मुर्ख नहीं थे! कभी सोचियेगा कौवों को पितृ पक्ष में खिलाई खीर हमारे पूर्वजों तक कैसे पहुंचेगी?

हमारे ऋषि मुनि विद्वान थे, वे जो बात करते या कहते थे उसके पीछे कोई न कोई वैज्ञानिक कारण छुपा होता था।

एक बहुत रोचक तथ्य है पितृ पक्ष, भादो( भाद्रपद) प्रकृति और काक के बीच।

एक बात जो कह सकते कि हम सब ने स्वतः उग आये पीपल या बरगद का पेड़/ पौधा किसी न किसी दीवार, पुरानी

इमारत, पर्वत या अट्टालिकाओं पर ज़रूर देखा होगा। देखा है न?

ज़रा सोचिये पीपल या बरगद की बीज कैसे पहुंचे होंगे वहाँ तक? इनके बीज इतने हल्के भी नहीं होते के हवा उन्हें उड़ाके ले जा सके।