Posted on 12/06/2013 9:46:38 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
I have heard over and over how great he was; but what did he DO?
All this rambling about him as an "icon" is frothy and full of adulation, but I have YET to hear how he CONCRETELY made anyone's life better.
I guess he helped institute a better voting process and government in South Africa....but REALLY could he have done it without de Klerk's support? And what was his RECORD as a chief executive?
The media keeps talking about how he was SA's first black President. Big whoop.
Clint Eastwood made a movie about how he helped some soccer team...
But his actual RECORD....did he create jobs? Did he save lives? Did he lower taxes, create wealth?
Lots of SIZZLE out there about him, but is there any STEAK?
Sizzle? Like a burning tire necktie sizzles?
He got Winnie a power platform where she could extort money and kill kids.
You certainly have to give him that he sacrificed his own freedom for 30 years fighting apartheid. That shouldn’t have been enough to make him president, however. As a president he was a leftist, and that never goes well, as we can clearly see here.
The media along with their cousins in the entertainment industry as well as academia are infatuated with the concept of the ‘magic negro’.
If you are unfamiliar with this term, please Google it.
I’d certainly take him over just about any other on that continent.
one very important thing he did is show the world that using guerilla warfare against a totalitarian government will get a positive reaction by the media.
(I mean, i’m sure its not just his skin color that the media doesn’t mention he was a terrorist).
Will Bibb, The Michelin Man, hold a Nelson Mandela memorial.
Perhaps it is more important what he did not do. He did not lead South Africa down the same road as Zimbabwe. I have discussed Mandela with Afrikanners and they give him a lot of credit for keeping South Africa from disintegrating.
Mandela brought “Global Awareness” to the inherent racism of whites, and by proxy capitalism.
he’s a symbol of the leftists of the West’s belief that the world is most accurately sorted between downtrodden good guys and victorious bad guys. He fit that bill fantastically well, and articulate and decent guy who was made a political prisoner for 30 years for the crime of wanting some sort of representation for his people.
It’s a more complicated story than that to be sure, but on the day of his death it is churlish and reactionary to point out the obvious, that he was no a messiah after all, and the situation of most South Africans is not better than before, and that majority-rule has not been, for the most part a democratic or economic success.
he’s a symbol of the leftists of the West’s belief that the world is most accurately sorted between downtrodden good guys and victorious bad guys. He fit that bill fantastically well, and articulate and decent guy who was made a political prisoner for 30 years for the crime of wanting some sort of representation for his people.
It’s a more complicated story than that to be sure, but on the day of his death it is churlish and reactionary to point out the obvious, that he was no a messiah after all, and the situation of most South Africans is not better than before, and that majority-rule has not been, for the most part a democratic or economic success.
He probably helped to save some right after the fall of apartheid. The ramifications of the cultural change has not played out in SA, but, I think it would have been more bloody right after the fall. It still might become Rwanda, but not as of yet.
The accomplishments of an old-school commie.
but what did he DO?
Mandela, a communist revolutionary, killed less of his own people than did other communist revolutionaries.
I guess that's an accomplishment.
5.56mm
Mandela - The “Great Statesman”
http://www.rhodesia.nl/goodcom.html
I think the best way to quickly end this MSM adoration will be at frequent opportunities to point out that “Mandela was so much better than Obama.”
Remember that those on the political left deny there is any spiritual afterlife. So for this reason, their funerals and memorials are strictly political rallies for the survivors. How can we use the dead guy for our benefit?
A great example of this right now is the White House releasing a picture of Obama visiting Mandela’s old prison cell. It is just a crass opportunity for Obama to get some of Mandela’s leftist cred through osmosis.
They are so crude about this, I am surprised that the White House hasn’t released doctored photos of an adult Obama marching arm and arm with MLK, even though he was only about 5 years old when MLK was shot.
“Frrrrreeeeeeee Nelson Mandela. Freeeeeeeee Nelson Mandela.”
SA, from what I can gather, did well during his time in office, mainly due to the existing infrastructure and manpower still being in place. Also, the lifting of sanctions and embargoes, along with gold exports, kept thing relatively good. Mandela wasn’t dumb enough to mess that up because he knew that SA blacks would have no clue as to how to run the economy, but his comrades in the ANC were ticked that the rabble wasn’t getting the spoils they were promised, so they put the squeeze on to get blacks in higher private sector positions (affirmative action) even though most of them were wholly unqualified and in some cases corrupt. They also started confiscating lands from white farmers and passing out the land to clueless supporters whom couldn’t grow grass. They also promised clean water and free homes to everyone as long as they kept voting ANC.
Mandela quickly found himself moving from leader of a movement, to quaint old man that was supposed to shut up and smile while the new ANC power elite were putting in the system that led SA to being the basket case it is today. A virtual one-party state, run by the typical African “president” and his crew of cronies, still waving around the bloody shirt of “colonialism” in order to keep their STILL poor supporters believing that they are their saviors.
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