South Africa's best president has passed. A true giant.

An amazing man. He was old as dirt when he was finally released in 1990, glad he had good long period of freedom and relative peace.

A great man...very sad news.

RIP Madiba.

A man of humility. RIP

The real definition of Hope and Change. A great man.

96 years old.
A long, long life.
And they say The Good Die Young.
Not always true.
RIP

RIP Madiba.

You will be missed.

Nelson Mandela accomplished a lot for his country and those accomplishments and his life should be celebrated RIP Nelson Mandela.


BUT!!!!!


Liberal Idiots show their ignorance, Brian Williams showing his ignorance called him Jesus Christ "We lost the Hope and Light of the World today" Christians refer to Christ as Light of the World so I take deep offense at Brian Williams statement.

Rest in Peace to a great man

(12-05-2013 06:37 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  Nelson Mandela accomplished a lot for his country and those accomplishments and his life should be celebrated RIP Nelson Mandela.


BUT!!!!!


Liberal Idiots show their ignorance, Brian Williams showing his ignorance called him Jesus Christ "We lost the Hope and Light of the World today" Christians refer to Christ as Light of the World so I take deep offense at Brian Williams statement.

Are you being serious?

(12-05-2013 06:45 PM)ARandomHerdFan Wrote:  

(12-05-2013 06:37 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  Nelson Mandela accomplished a lot for his country and those accomplishments and his life should be celebrated RIP Nelson Mandela.


BUT!!!!!


Liberal Idiots show their ignorance, Brian Williams showing his ignorance called him Jesus Christ "We lost the Hope and Light of the World today" Christians refer to Christ as Light of the World so I take deep offense at Brian Williams statement.

Are you being serious?

That Brian Williams called Nelson Mandela "The Light of the World" Yes or my offense that Brian Williams chose poor words to honor a great statesman with accomplishments that changed his nation for ever, again Yes.

Brian Williams is supposed to be this worldly educated individual and to choose the words he did, is truly surprising he should know better.

This post is going to be deeply unpopular.

I think Nelson was a very good and very well meaning man. I also think that he was able to have a deep impact on those around him.

I don't think we can just ignore the fact that what he did devastated his nation, crippled the economy, destroyed the healthcare system, has resulted in inflamed racial tensions, saw a mass exodus of people, destabilized the judicial and political systems to the point that the nation is amongst the more corrupt halfway developed nations in the world, and that much of the nation was rendered almost without a government.

I don't think apartheid was right, certainly not, but I think it's wrong of us to pat ourselves on the back and celebrate the man's achievements, notice I didn't say not to celebrate the goodness of the man himself, which have crippled the country and will hinder it for decades, if not more. Change should have been brought about in a very different way.

A lot of folks think, "what a great man and what an achievement" while conveniently forgetting the state of affairs in the country. It's disingenuous and shows that we really don't give a crap about South Africa, or its people.

Though about posting similar but being he just died, figured I'd get nothing but grief.

It's remarkable evidence of how far the world has come in 20 years.

For a (nominal) Marxist, he was indeed a pretty good guy.

More than anything else, what is remarkable to me is the Truth and Reconciliation process. That is one of the most admirable political acts of my lifetime.

(12-05-2013 08:10 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  I don't think apartheid was right, certainly not, but I think it's wrong of us to pat ourselves on the back and celebrate the man's achievements, notice I didn't say not to celebrate the goodness of the man himself, which have crippled the country and will hinder it for decades, if not more. Change should have been brought about in a very different way.

A lot of folks think, "what a great man and what an achievement" while conveniently forgetting the state of affairs in the country. It's disingenuous and shows that we really don't give a crap about South Africa, or its people.

This comment seems reminiscent of the comment of one of our family friends who opposed the civil rights movement, who, while grantings that blacks deserved equal rights, said that that blacks would be better off if they waited for whites to grant those rights on their terms.

Apartheid is unquestionably an evil policy... how do you get from there to a genuine civil society without some growing pains? I don't think that Mandela was equipped at all to do so in an ideal fashion, but I doubt anyone in South Africa was any better prepared.

(12-05-2013 08:48 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(12-05-2013 08:10 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  I don't think apartheid was right, certainly not, but I think it's wrong of us to pat ourselves on the back and celebrate the man's achievements, notice I didn't say not to celebrate the goodness of the man himself, which have crippled the country and will hinder it for decades, if not more. Change should have been brought about in a very different way.

A lot of folks think, "what a great man and what an achievement" while conveniently forgetting the state of affairs in the country. It's disingenuous and shows that we really don't give a crap about South Africa, or its people.

This comment seems reminiscent of the comment of one of our family friends who opposed the civil rights movement, who, while grantings that blacks deserved equal rights, said that that blacks would be better off if they waited for whites to grant those rights on their terms.

Apartheid is unquestionably an evil policy... how do you get from there to a genuine civil society without some growing pains? I don't think that Mandela was equipped at all to do so in an ideal fashion, but I doubt anyone in South Africa was any better prepared.

^^^^^
this guy hit the nail on the head

Madiba was truly a great man.

As someone interested in rugby, I find it fascinating how he used the South African rugby team to help reach out to whites and help unify the country. And I mean "used" in absolutely the nicest possible way there. See the movie Invictus if you haven't.

Indeed, a good number of his ideological leanings were far different from mine. But on this day, I'll remember him as the man who battled Apartheid and was instrumental in bonding together the races, thus may he rest in peace.

(12-05-2013 08:10 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  This post is going to be deeply unpopular.

I think Nelson was a very good and very well meaning man. I also think that he was able to have a deep impact on those around him.

I don't think we can just ignore the fact that what he did devastated his nation, crippled the economy, destroyed the healthcare system, has resulted in inflamed racial tensions, saw a mass exodus of people, destabilized the judicial and political systems to the point that the nation is amongst the more corrupt halfway developed nations in the world, and that much of the nation was rendered almost without a government.

I don't think apartheid was right, certainly not, but I think it's wrong of us to pat ourselves on the back and celebrate the man's achievements, notice I didn't say not to celebrate the goodness of the man himself, which have crippled the country and will hinder it for decades, if not more. Change should have been brought about in a very different way.

A lot of folks think, "what a great man and what an achievement" while conveniently forgetting the state of affairs in the country. It's disingenuous and shows that we really don't give a crap about South Africa, or its people.

May or may not have been unavoidable.