Conservatives are more nuanced than that, Yce.
They note that to jump from apartheid to black supremacy was to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. From bad to worse. Mandela could have been gracious and turned the glory to God... which would have been a segue to racial harmony... but did not. He was selfish and wanted idolization.
“Mandela could have been gracious and turned the glory to God... which would have been a segue to racial harmony... “
Nonsense. After all those years in prison, he chose to have De Clerk as a deputy in his administration. They managed to maintain a market economy despite the fact that three hard left wing organizations make up the core of the ANC. They’re the only decent economy in subsaharan africa. They didn’t drive the whites farmers out or confiscate all of their lands, they let them stick around and simply levied taxes on them. Any fair comparison between SA and Zimbabwe shows people what could have been. If he’d come out of prison mean and vindictive(as he arguably had every right to be) he could have rounded up and slaughtered a bunch of people and destroyed their economy at the same time.
The Mandela situation is a lot like the MLK Jr. situation. People want to focus on their ideology rather than the pragmatism of their decisionmaking and their ability to navigate through without provoking wide spread physical conflict. It would have been so easy for either the US or the SA situations in the sixties to have devolved into bitter long term partisan violence.
I don’t see why it’s so hard for people to just tip their hat and move on. People can call him a terrorist, but I doubt there are more than a handful of freepers that wouldn’t have their guns at the ready if our government tried to treat us that way. He’s a man with flaws who handled things pretty well, all things considered. I think people don’t realize how bad things in SA could get if the racist populist types like his ex wife or Julius Malema ever truly gain control in the country. The same types of political idiots who’ve run Zimbabwe into the ground make up a sizeable chunk of the ANC. The fact that SA has maintained a favorable business climate over the last few decades is remarkable, all things considered, and it’s mostly stems from his decision to set a more moderate tone despite the fact that ANC had the power to do anything they liked.