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Mandela Dies

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by CometsWin, Dec 5, 2013.

  1. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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    Matters because?
     
  2. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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  3. ferrari77

    ferrari77 Contributing Member

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    Took a few pages but I was expecting this. Congrats to you for deciding to use that racist blog to make your point. Not a good one at all.

    FranchiseBlade has already responded appropriately and accurately to your post so please take that **** to Stormfront or some other racist forum/website comment page.
     
  4. otis thorpe

    otis thorpe Member

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    same here. i should be ashamed by this but i was surprised at the coverage his death initially received.

    for me its that everything revolves around america and this guy is a mlk/ghandi type figure. the fact that his story has been during my lifetime is probably why i didn't realize how big his presence truly was, simply because it didn't happen in this country. i really have to get out of that mode of thinking.
     
  5. Deji McGever

    Deji McGever יליד טקסני

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    It matters a LOT. My biggest problem with the story is the retconning about Mandela by the right. There is a great deal of moral and poltical nuance, and the story becomes whitewashed without remembering it.

    In the 80s, the view that Mandela was a terrorist and got his sentence for his involvement in violence and that the ANC was funded by the Soviet Union were red meat talking points by mainstream conservatives in the US and UK. Heck, my Republican grandparents in Houston were sold on those talking points, and belived anyone wearing a "Free Mandela" button was a naive Soviet stooge.

    That conflict is important not to forget. It was part of a discussion we still have every day: Security Vs. Justice. It wasn't until 2008 that Condi Rice convinced Bush to take the ANC and Mandela himself off the terror list.

    My second biggest problem is the idea that ALL conservatives were of that mindset. The killing blow to the apartheid regime, and what set in motion his release from prison, were the sanctions approved by the US Senate.

    Too many obsess over the forces of reaction, who tried to prevent the sanctions, notably President Reagan, and Senators Cheney, Gramm, and Helms, and not the fact that it passed in a Republican majority senate. It's important to give respect were it's due and to recognize those who were on the right side of history.

    Guys like Mitch McConnell heard the arguments about "American interests" being at stake vs. the morally right decision to cut off access to US funds and he and his republican colleagues made the politically unpopular (for his own constituents at the time) and morally correct decision that ultimately killed the regime. It's important to note when you read his comments on Mandela, there isn't an ounce of hypocricy.

    Contrast that with Cheney, who makes no apology for his support of the filibuster, but says Mandela "mellowed out" later in life and mourns his death...hmm ok.

    Considering that only 8 years before, Jimmy Carter couldn't reverse the policy on South Africa. Conventionalcold war thinking even pressured him to tolerate apartheid, at least in his capacity as president.

    Thatcher gets the worst of it, especially considering her hard line vs. both terrorism and the Soviet Union, as well as her husband's business ties to South Africa, but she was always consistent in denouncing the practice of apartheid. But the ANC was radioactive politiclally for a lot of reasons people should understand. Contrary to the talkbacks on the Guardian, she supported the Inkatha Freedom Party, but they didn't have even close to the poltical capital that Mandela did, and I doubt they could have made the transition that ended up taking place.

    And third, considering the lifetime Mandela endured under the regime, the lack of international support for his cause, and three decades of prison, most would have expected his tenure as leader to be more like Robert Mugabe than anything else. He saved his country from the fate, and had the presence of mind to be practical and look for a realistic reconciliation.

    South Africa's woes are far from over, and the guys like Zuma and Mbeki that suceeded him hardly inspire confidence, but had anyone else tried to lead a post-aparthied South Africa, we would still be watching a 12-way civil war. Mandela had the political capital to keep all these tribal and political rivalries under control and convince them all to move on, an impossible task, that most didn't think he'd be able to pull off.

    So in the end, when people call him a communist and a terrorist, I'm almost relieved. To ignore that is to make him into some sort of saint. To ignore the history of his life and the difficulties, and still get the result that he did is to miss the whole point.
     
    #85 Deji McGever, Dec 8, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2013
    2 people like this.
  6. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    Funeral Selfie:
    [​IMG]
    classy
     
  7. droopy421

    droopy421 Member

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    [​IMG] :grin:
     
  8. JeopardE

    JeopardE Contributing Member

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    ^^^

    Came here to post this.

    With a 3rd frame:

    [​IMG]

    Michelle knows how to keep her man in check.
     
    1 person likes this.
  9. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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  10. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Obama started his Presidency as Paris Hilton and will end it as Miley Cyrus.</p>&mdash; Jerome Hudson (@JeromeEHudson) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeromeEHudson/statuses/410447460717576192">December 10, 2013</a></blockquote>
    <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
     
  11. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

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    Another "Democrat President Sex Scandal" :eek: !?!?!?!

    I have dibs on the "stained funeral dress" the blonde lady is wearing. :grin:

    This one will use a vuvuzela instead of a cigar.
     
  12. NewRoxFan

    NewRoxFan Contributing Member

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    Too bad there isn't a place to discuss politics here on clutchfans... :rolleyes:
     
  13. generalthade_03

    generalthade_03 Contributing Member

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    Even with the expensive clothes, jewelries and make up, Michelle is still a nightmare to look at.

    Why is it so hard for her to get some braces for the lower molar? Any cosmetic dentists here on this board?
     
  14. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

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    I agree. Maybe TMJ due to underbite... rezdawg? :confused:
     
  15. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    somebody forgot a comma:

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Mr.Scarface

    Mr.Scarface Member

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    You are bigot. Your post keep show your colors.
     
  17. JeopardE

    JeopardE Contributing Member

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    Bigot.
     
  18. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    Repped and just a great post.

    The only thing I will add for those continuing to bring up that Mandela was a terrorists and the plight of white South African farmers I wonder what they thought of the system of Apartheid? Apartheid was always unsustainable and it was going to end one way or the other. White South Africans, and most do, should be thanking Mandela that it ended peacefully and not like what is going on next door in Zimbabwe.
     
  19. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    why, I find her ugly to look at as well, Obama is like a 8/10 and Michelle is below 4 at this point
     
  20. AroundTheWorld

    AroundTheWorld Insufferable 98er
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    This is funny and sad at the same time.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/mandela-sign-language-interpreter-fake-2013-12

    <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NpPvGP_GUXs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

    The Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela’s Memorial Was 'A Complete Fraud' Making Nonsense Gestures

    The sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial yesterday "made up his own signs," according to South Africa's deaf federation.
    "He's a complete fraud," Cara Loening, director of Sign Language Education and Development in Cape Town, said according to ITV News. "He wasn't even doing anything, There was not one sign there. Nothing. He was literally flapping his arms around."

    Delphin Hlungwane, an official South African sign language interpreter at DeafSA, told Reuters: "Nobody knows who he is. Even at this hour we still don't have his name," Hlungwane said.

    People on Twitter were urging to take him off the stage during the service, which is sad given the immensity of the event.
     

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