Nelson Mandela Died.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/05/17500450-nelson-mandela-dead-at-95

Nelson Mandela, the revered South African anti-apartheid icon who spent 27 years in prison, led his country to democracy and became its first black president, died Thursday at home. He was 95.
"He is now resting," said South African President Jacob Zuma. "He is now at peace."
"Our nation as lost his greatest son," he continued. "Our people have lost their father."
A state funeral will be held.

[LMNO]

 

[hooplala]

Oh shit...

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Dying at home at 95 isn't too shabby. He did everything well.

[Reginald Ret]

Dying at home at 95 isn't too shabby. He did everything well.

Yep. Well done, that man.

[Cain]

Or, as the UK news put it..."Nelson Mandela is....DEAD!"  Try not to sound too happy about it, OK?

I'm expecting a lot of hypocrisy, as our very own Young Conservatives used to chant "Hang Nelson Mandela", before getting into mainstream politics.

[Junkenstein]

What bothers me is the grief porn and hyperbole.

Example:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25254578

The Queen has said she is "deeply saddened" to learn of Nelson Mandela's death and has sent her "sincere condolences to his family and to the people of South Africa".

A statement from Buckingham Palace said: "Her Majesty remembers with great warmth her meetings with Mr Mandela".

"He worked tirelessly for the good of his country, and his legacy is the peaceful South Africa we see today".

Fucking really?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_South_Africa

South Africa also has a high record of car hijackings when compared with industrialised countries

The country has one of the highest rates of rape in the world,

PricewaterhouseCoopers's fourth biennial Global Economic Crime Survey reported a 110% increase in fraud reports from South African companies in 2005.

Crime is a prominent issue in South Africa. South Africa has a very high rate of murders, assaults, rapes (adult, child and infant), and other crimes compared to most countries

[/b]

Wikipedia is full of liberal bias though. Lets try the news:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/02/uk-safrica-crime-idUKBRE9B10LJ20131202

A Czech gold and diamond dealer who has been evading police for eight years was charged with a gangland-style attempted murder and kidnapping in a South African court on Monday.

Radovan Krejcir, 45, who is also wanted in the Czech Republic on multiple counts of fraud, pleaded not guilty as he applied for bail, and alleged he had been tortured with electric shocks while in police custody.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/11/south-africa-fight-decent-housing-assassination

The state is so threatened by the poor – especially the organised poor, the strong poor – that it has abandoned the rule of law. A politics of blood has replaced the politics of peace. The police have been militarised, and municipalities are setting up militarised units to stop land occupations. We have been evicted, driven from our homes by party thugs, beaten, tortured and shot by the police. Nqobile Nzuza, a 17-year-old schoolgirl, lies in her grave, shot in the back of her head on 30 September. Witnesses allege that she was shot by a senior police officer, but no arrest has been made. Nkululeko Gwala died after being hit by 12 bullets on 25 June. Thembinkosi Qumbelo was gunned down on 15 March. All these murders happened in one community, Cato Crest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/udoka-okafor/corrective-rape-in-south-africa_b_4292271.html

The problem, though, is that there seems to be a gap in South Africa between the legal realm and the sociocultural realm. And in this gap appears the phenomenon known as "corrective" rape. Corrective rape is a phenomenon wherein a homosexual person is raped as a means of "correcting" their sexual orientation. In most cases, the victims are black lesbians. This phenomenon takes place in other countries as well, but for the purposes of this post I'm focusing on South Africa.

http://womennewsnetwork.net/2013/12/02/violence-against-women-ignored/

Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA: In April 2012, a cell phone video of a teenager with an intellectual disability being gang raped by men and boys from her community in Soweto went viral. Authorities had no choice but to attend to the 17-year-old's ordeal, so too, South Africans had to acknowledge the violence that so many women and girls with disabilities face on a daily basis.
This was not the first time men had abused the young girl. She had also experienced violence in 2009 and 2010, but authorities failed to address these instances and make arrests. One wonders whether police would have seen to her case, had her ordeal not been filmed and shared so publicly. Over a year later, the accused still await trial, while charges have been dropped against one of the eight alleged perpetrators.

Yeah, South Africa's fine and Mandela fixed everything. Or there's still a shitload of things to fix and now no one will give a shit because one of the few names they could actually associate with South Africa is now dead. I can't help but think that shit's going to get a lot worse in some respects there. Remember, this is a country that recently sold flame throwing briefcases as an anti-mugging measure. There's a ton of stuff around about skin bleaching and the popularity it still holds in higher circles in SA. Not that long ago there was also the boxer who tried skin bleaching with unfortunate yet foreseeable consequences.

Pretending racism and violence is no longer a problem in South Africa is delusional at best. Yet watch what pretty much every me-centred tribute comes out with.

[Cain]

I think a lot of media types are overcompensating for the 80s, when they were warning that Mandela was a Soviet agent and should he ever be released, he would slaughter South African whites in a genocide.

That was pretty embarrassing.

[Junkenstein]

Here's something I just found out about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_security_industry_in_South_Africa

The private security industry in South Africa is the largest in the world,[2] with nearly 9,000 registered companies and 400,000 registered active private security guards, more than the South African police and army combined.[3]

I'm sure everyone involved in this industry is an upstanding citizen and there in no hidden violence or corruption involved.

Behold, the future.

[Junkenstein]

I think a lot of media types are overcompensating for the 80s, when they were warning that Mandela was a Soviet agent and should he ever be released, he would slaughter South African whites in a genocide.

That was pretty embarrassing.

You're probably quite right. I just don't understand this need to dive to one end of the spectrum and pretend everything's fine when in reality things are very, very fucked.

There's been a lot of resentment for a while about SA getting aid from the UK. I suspect that this "All's Well" shit will be used shortly as justification to reduce/limit any assistance. Takes a few votes from UKIP at least by talking about it.

[Cain]

I suspect it's also an attempt to sanitize his legacy, a la Martin Luther King.

After all, he did try an armed insurgency, and he has been quite critical of capitalism and US foreign policy (but I repeat myself).

[LMNO]

Well, this is nice.  Ted Cruz posts about Mandela on FB.  The commenters go full potato(e)

Ah, internet comments.  Truly a shining example of humanity.

[Suu]

Well, this is nice.  Ted Cruz posts about Mandela on FB.  The commenters go full potato(e)

Ah, internet comments.  Truly a shining example of humanity.

You're not surprised by this, are you?

[LMNO]

I'm slightly surprised Ted Cruz said something nice about Mandela, actually.  The commenters?  To be expected.

[Suu]

I'm slightly surprised Ted Cruz said something nice about Mandela, actually.  The commenters?  To be expected.

Cruz is just doing what every politician does, showing face when somebody important dies.