The casual observer might presume that soccer has experienced some kind of paradigm shift akin to baseball's transition from the dead-ball era or the NFL's recent transformation into a pass-happy league.

WSJ: The Phenomenon of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

In a post-era era world of "Kony2012, " with its harrypotterfication of reality and its transformation of Africa from a complex, infinitely nuanced society into a manichaean Madison Avenue fantasy of good and evil, are we all now becoming teenagers?

CNN: Opinion: After Kony, should kids decide our morals?

He said it showed that apartheid-era judges still wield enormous influence in South Africa, and the government needed to speed up the transformation of the judiciary.

BBC: Profile: Julius Malema