Where are the intellectuals?

South Africa has a relatively free media, it's citizens enjoy the right to say whatever they want and to whomever they want with some sensible restrictions(no hate speech or incitement to violence) but despite all of this,ordinary south africans seem to be immune to persuasion especially off course in their political choicSouth Africa has a relatively free media,it's citizens enjoy the right to say whatever they want and to whomever they want with some sensible restrictions(no hate speech or incitement to violence) but despite all of this,ordinary south africans seem to be immune to persuasion especially off course in their political choice(which has remained largely constant over a generation).
Why is this?Have we discovered all solutions to all problems and therefore there is no rational argument which anyone could use to persuade us of alternative solutions?If so,we would be unique in history,but a e(which has remained largely constant over a generation).
Why is this?Have we discovered all solutions to all problems and therefore there is no rational argument which anyone could use to persuade us of alternative solutions?If so,we would be unique in history,but a look at this country suggests otherwise.We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world,an even worse level of inequality and the state of the public service is atrocious.
So why our resistance to try out alternative solutions?I believe the answer lies in what is known as the public discourse,south africa is blessed with a disproportionate number of intellectuals compared to other sub-saharan nations yet their numbers are only matched by their relative ineffectiveness,why?
Democracy is essential,understanding our democracy and it's philosophical underpinnings is also essential for all citizens and any erosion of these foundational elements will be detrimental to all of us and is something that should be watched vigilantly,but should this essential debate be the only one or even the most dominant one in our public discourse?
I ask this because people I have met in some of the more humble spaces of south africa hardly ever discuss the philosophical underpinnings of liberal democracy as an example and indeed some people even "switch-off" when these are discussed but time and time again almost everyone I have met is worried about being able to take care of their families because of the lack of jobs.
So,what should public intellectuals spend most of their time talking about?While it is almost oxymoronic to prescribe to intellectuals on the content and form of their discourse,it would seem to me that if one wants to persuade another person,the first step is engagement of that other party in discussion and this can only be done if the content of that discussion is informed by that person's greatest need and if the form of such discussion is centred around proposing and arguing solutions to that problem.
An example of this is how almost all of our intellectuals seem to almost implicitly accept our general macro-economic policy framework and spend almost all their time discussing things like corruption(while corruption is responsible for a significant portion of our ills,the real villain has been our leftist economic and social policies in my humble opinion) and there is a great number of disaffected particularly among the middle-class who are despondent because no one is engaging them on alternative policies which I believe would appeal to many of these people(when it comes to a public discourse on an alternative macro-economic policy framework,chris hart has been a notable exception in my view.)
So what should be done?Well,I don't know,but let's talk about it,among ourselves because that is the first step to greatness for any nation.