Thursday, December 5, 2013

Breaking News: Nelson Mandela is dead

(CNN) -- Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, has died, South African President Jacob Zuma announced late Thursday.
Mandela was 95.

"He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."

"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," the president said in his late-night address. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."

Mandela will have a state funeral.
CNN

34 comments:

The Dude said...

My respect for him was greatly diminished when I learned he was a communist. He endured horrible treatment, but I really don't have a lot of sympathy for communists and the damage they do.

Third Coast said...

Obama skipped the funerals of the Polish President (Lech Kaczynski killed in airplane crash)and Maggie Thatcher to go golfing. Does anyone think he'll go to Mandela's funeral? Just kidding.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“Laura and I join the people of South Africa and the world in celebrating the life of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. President Mandela was one of the great forces for freedom and equality of our time. He bore his burdens with dignity and grace, and our world is better off because of his example. This good man will be missed, but his contributions will live on forever. Laura and I send our heartfelt sympathy to President Mandela’s family and to the citizens of the nation he loved.” GWB

rhhardin said...

Is dead or has died?

German spy punchline.

Unknown said...

RIP. His time in prison was a tragedy and he was a graceful man.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Thanks rh.

"Is dead" is better.

I don't mean Mandela.

The Dude said...

Stompie Moeketsi could not be reached for comment.

Leland said...

I have to agree with Sixty Grit.

Mumpsimus said...

As Ricky Gervais pointed out approvingly, he was released from prison in 1990, and never re-offended.

Trooper York said...

He was great when he sang back up forMartha Reeves.

Amartel said...

I don't know, Sixty. I think you can admire the life Mandela lived, his great achievement and example to the truly downtrodden all over the world, without ratifying his ideology. It's difficult for people raised in America, or some other freedom-oriented nation, to understand how deeply engrained statist ideologies and power structures are in most of the rest of the world. As a political leader, Mandela was ... better than average for the continent of Africa. But he was a great man.

The Dude said...

Communism and socialism led to the death of 100 million people in the 20th century.

That fact alone makes anyone who is a communist lower than snake shit in my opinion.

At some point right and wrong have to enter into the equation. And being better than Mugabe or Idi Amin is like saying Obama is better than Hitler.

The Dude said...

Saw this over at Evi's place:

https://twitter.com/communist_party/status/408716670048673792/photo/1

chickelit said...

rhhardin said...
Is dead or has died?

That's just rhhardin being intransitive; stubbornly refusing to compromise.

chickelit said...

"Has died" begs the question: Mandela has died what?

Amartel said...

Well, of course the commies want to claim him as their own. Duh. The way to go here is not to say he was a bad man because he was a communist but to recognize that he did great things, made real sacrifice, for freedom DESPITE stewing in communist juices his whole life.

rcocean said...

General Streck:

-Hello Operator, Give me the Hospital. Doctor, what is the condition of Sergeant Kruger?
[pause]
-Very well, let me know if there is any change in his condition.
[Hangs up]
-He's dead.

XRay said...

He left the place better than he found it... right?

Amartel said...

compareandcontrast

The Dude said...

Obama sitting in a prison cell - I like it!

Amartel said...

Just because Mandela will be lavishly overpraised in the media which will ignore all the nasty statist tendencies and the fall out therefrom, doesn't mean you overlook the man's achievement. Politics is not personal, right?

Amartel said...

Heh heh.
Yeah, but he's only POSING as a prisoner.

chickelit said...

This tweet did make me pause and think. Why not a photo of Mandela? Why not a Mandela quote?

WTF is wrong with our NiC?

chickelit said...

Imagine if Crack Emcee had honored Mandela's passing with a Crack Emcee photo and a Crack Emcee quote and nothing more.

Same thing. Same offensiveness.

chickelit said...

That may be something endemic to blacks and black men in particular. They cannot honor their own fathers without trying to upstage them. It's a show-off mentality.

Sad.


chickelit said...

Same thing. Same offensiveness.

"Offensiveness" was the wrong word. Disrespect is better.

MamaM said...

Disrespect is better.

Disconnect takes it a step further in, as the pain of lived disconnect is one layer below the acting out behavior of disrespect.

While the words could have passed as eulogy, the picture accompanying them needed to have been of Mandela in order to complete the honor.

Unknown said...

Obama makes it all about Obama. Nothing new.

The Crack Emcee said...

Sixty Grit,

My respect for him was greatly diminished when I learned he was a communist.

America called him a terrorist - helped make his life a hell for decades - and you thought he'd run into our arms, did you?

God, you people are stupid,...

Methadras said...

The Crack Emcee said...

Sixty Grit,

My respect for him was greatly diminished when I learned he was a communist.

America called him a terrorist - helped make his life a hell for decades - and you thought he'd run into our arms, did you?

God, you people are stupid,...


Did the US make him a communist? Seriously you are going to cry like a little bitch about this?

Brill said...

Phew! I finally found a place that isn’t fawning over a terrorist commie who didn’t leave his country better off. The guy spent 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to 157 acts of violence. Ok, so apartied
was bad for the natives and he was a “freedom” fighter but this does not negate that fact that he was a killer.

"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," the president said in his late-night address. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."

Sorry pal but I don’t see a killer with a commie faith within me.
The leadership of Gandhi brought down the British Raj in India, the death knell for the greatest empire the world has ever known. He did it through non-violent means. He was a great man.

William said...

I think Mandela chose communism for the same reason that he later chose pacificism: They seemed, at the time, the best path for the independence of his people. Of all the third world nationalist leaders, he is the one that wears the best. He led his people to liberation with minimal blodshed and bitterness......Drudge linked to a NYT article. There are some in South Africa who feel that Mugabe and not Mandela shows the way forward. Crack, consider the possibility that white Americans aren't the only stupid people in the world.

The Crack Emcee said...

Crack, consider the possibility that white Americans aren't the only stupid people in the world.

Only a stupid white American would suggest that:

I think the historical evidence works against you.

You not only misjudged others, but yourselves,...,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Methadras,

Did the US make him a communist?

Are you denying that being around you guys has turned me against you?

You really think your shit is that attractive - even when told, to your face, it ain't?

You're delusional to the point of tragedy. Watch 12 Years a Slave, and see yourself as others see you, then we can talk.

Seriously you are going to cry like a little bitch about this?

No - everything's working the way I want. You guys are the ones bitching now. That's good enough for me. I told you - I've been right all along:

All I've had to do is wait.

Enjoy your decline,...