Nelson Mandela dead

[Dr.Traveler]

A great deal of the hate from folks against Mandela has to do with the fact that Reagan veto'd anti-apartheid measures, and was handed one of most crushing legislative defeats when his veto was over ridden. Apartheid and Mandela's role in its end exposed one of the major short comings of the way we fought the Cold War. Accepting Mandela means accepting we screwed up royally during the Cold War.

He was a great man and we are unlikely to his kind again in our lifetimes.

 

[Lumpy 1]

there is no need to disparage the guy. you may not agree with his politics, but the guy spent nearly half his life imprisoned for political reasons and he emerged into freedom and was a huge force for positive change, not only in his homeland, but around the world.

he is an inspiration.

He was arrested while plotting to blow up schools with children present, don't forget that. The cause was right but the methods of using terrorist methods (156 acts of public violence) were obviously wrong.

 

[Katzndogz]

Um, your point?

You're a pinhead?

No, but I don't diminish a mans accomplishments simply because he was a communist. Should I ignore the positive impact he's had on the world?

He didn't have a positive impact on the world. He had an impact on South Africa how positive it is still hasn't been resolved. But not the world. The tendency is to blow his accomplishments all out of proportion.

 

[rightwinger]

It is amazing that Mandella lived to 95

Reagan made it to 93.

Were you as equally moved.

Of course not.

I voted for Reagan twice.....I was sad to see the guy go

There are points in life where you have to shut the fuck up and honor a great man. It is sad that you cannot grasp that

Time to show some class big guy

 

[laughinReaper]

RIP Life well done.

 

[TemplarKormac]

You're a pinhead?

No, but I don't diminish a mans accomplishments simply because he was a communist. Should I ignore the positive impact he's had on the world?

He didn't have a positive impact on the world. He had an impact on South Africa how positive it is still hasn't been resolved. But not the world. The tendency is to blow his accomplishments all out of proportion.

Let's put it this way. The struggle for freedom is universal. South Africa went through a civil rights crisis just like the US. He was responsible for ending Apartheid. He helped end racial segregation in South Africa. Are we not too dissimilar? I pity those who are so driven by politics that they won't even look for the good in a man. His deeds have been recognized worldwide.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

You're a pinhead?

No, but I don't diminish a mans accomplishments simply because he was a communist. Should I ignore the positive impact he's had on the world?

He didn't have a positive impact on the world. He had an impact on South Africa how positive it is still hasn't been resolved. But not the world. The tendency is to blow his accomplishments all out of proportion.

Ending Apartheid did change the world for the better. As you all point out, freedom is always preferable to safety. The folks here arguing that things may have been better under Apartheid are the same as the folks that preferred the Nazis to the Weimar Republic and the folks that put Putin and totalitarians back in power in Russia.

Mandela was a living reminder that we should always, always, embrace forgiveness and freedom in the face of hate and uncertainty. That message and that example alone makes him more meaningful to world history than any of the last three Presidents combined.

 

[Lumpy 1]

It is amazing that Mandella lived to 95

Reagan made it to 93.

Were you as equally moved.

Of course not.

I voted for Reagan twice.....I was sad to see the guy go

There are points in life where you have to shut the fuck up and honor a great man. It is sad that you cannot grasp that

Time to show some class big guy

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for .. and many died because of his terrorist activities.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

The death the of biggest false prophet since Mohammad!

The guy is man into a hero, when he OPENLY admitted to terrorist activities that killed innocent men and women. He was given a 1st world industrialized country and it was turned into a 3rd world shithole with the high murder, rape and BABY rape rate in the world. He is a false prophet plain and simple!

Nothing funnier to me than "freedom-loving" Conservatives longing for the good ol' days of apartheid.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Reagan made it to 93.

Were you as equally moved.

Of course not.

I voted for Reagan twice.....I was sad to see the guy go

There are points in life where you have to shut the fuck up and honor a great man. It is sad that you cannot grasp that

Time to show some class big guy

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for any many died because of his activities.

Using that metric, so did George Washington.

 

[BDBoop]

My heart is heavy, but he lived a long life, accomplished a great deal - and made it home in time for Christmas.

Who could ask for anything more?

 

[Dr.Traveler]

The death the of biggest false prophet since Mohammad!

The guy is man into a hero, when he OPENLY admitted to terrorist activities that killed innocent men and women. He was given a 1st world industrialized country and it was turned into a 3rd world shithole with the high murder, rape and BABY rape rate in the world. He is a false prophet plain and simple!

Nothing funnier to me than "freedom-loving" Conservatives longing for the good ol' days of apartheid.

Vestiges of Cold War thinking. We always preferred totalitarianism abroad to the possibility Communism could take root. Apartheid was just one more example of that.

 

[BDBoop]

I voted for Reagan twice.....I was sad to see the guy go

There are points in life where you have to shut the fuck up and honor a great man. It is sad that you cannot grasp that

Time to show some class big guy

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for any many died because of his activities.

Using that metric, so did George Washington.

And the other George president as well.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Let's keep any mentions of other message boards out of this thread.

Thanks.

 

[rightwinger]

I voted for Reagan twice.....I was sad to see the guy go

There are points in life where you have to shut the fuck up and honor a great man. It is sad that you cannot grasp that

Time to show some class big guy

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for any many died because of his activities.

Using that metric, so did George Washington.

We romanticize our own revolution. Revolutions, by their very nature are violent. The American Revolution included arson, lynching and tar and feathering of those loyal to the king.
George Washington had little control over what happened in his revolution, neither did Mandela

 

[theDoctorisIn]

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for any many died because of his activities.

Using that metric, so did George Washington.

We romanticize our own revolution. Revolutions, by their very nature are violent. The American Revolution included arson, lynching and tar and feathering of those loyal to the king.
George Washington had little control over what happened in his revolution, neither did Mandela

Exactly.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen...

Dude, the man spent his life fighting Apartheid and then healing racial divides. Of course his skin color is going to come up and of course, of course, when you come in calling him a Communist Terrorist you're going to come off looking like a racist. That's like poking a bear with a stick and acting all hurt when he mauls you. When the bear is done with you, I guarantee nobody blames the bear.

The same goes for the folks actually arguing South Africa may have been better off under Apartheid. Idiots.

 

[mal]

We are assembled to mourn the passing of a leader, a patriot, a father, a fighter, a negotiator, an internationalist, a theoretician and an organiser. Indeed, it is the combination of all these qualities so splendidly in one individual, which made Comrade Joe Slovo the great African revolutionary that he was. - Nelson Mandela

Communists Terrorists RULE!...



peace...

 

[Lumpy 1]

I voted for Reagan twice.....I was sad to see the guy go

There are points in life where you have to shut the fuck up and honor a great man. It is sad that you cannot grasp that

Time to show some class big guy

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for any many died because of his activities.

Using that metric, so did George Washington.

How pathetic and unreasoned of you...but...thanks in part to George Washington you have that right....

 

[theDoctorisIn]

You have to consider the total package not just pick out what you want to believe or have been told to believe. Mandela had a lot to atone for any many died because of his activities.

Using that metric, so did George Washington.

How pathetic and unreasoned of you...but...thanks in part to George Washington you have that right....

And thanks to Nelson Mandela, the black majority population of South Africa are no longer legally second-class citizens.

Why is it "unreasoned" to compare the two?