There is a new madness in our social interactions that is tearing us apart. An older teacher standing at the gate of her school pushes a comb through the hair of a boy bending forward, presumably to make him look more presentable as a pupil. “Next,” she shouts as another youngster moves forward to assume the position. All hell breaks loose. Our effervescent MEC for education in Gauteng springs to attention, calls the hair-combing incident “completely unacceptable”, orders a probe, and suggests such incidents could lead to suicide. Seriously. Schools have codes of conduct. The teacher, I have no doubt, cares about the appearance of her pupils. Now she will be humiliated because of this fake anguish of the hypersensitive among us...