businessinsider: Nelson Mandela Dead: Former South African President Has Died At 95

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

My favorite quote on Free Republic was anger that Mandela took down a freely elected government.

 

Anyway, I'm not even sure how you put his life into perspective. It's just staggering.

[Bliz]

You weren't kidding. Wish I had taken your advice.

Saw this comment on Yahoo:

 

 

I just...

I mean, I don't even...

 

argh.

 

 

Look, I think we've reached the stage where we as a society need to universally recognize and agree that allowing "comments" on internet news stories was a bad idea.  It was a mistake, which should be corrected immediately.  At least requiring comments to be linked to FB accounts can take away some of the anonymity.  The anonymity only emboldens trolls and racists (can't tell which one that yahoo guy was.  Both, maybe).  But it would be better if they were done away with altogether.

[Sticksboi05]

Backseat racists are the most pathetic people. 

[TMK9973]

Had the chance to visit South Africa last summer. This was after i dated a South African girl who grew up there from 1975- 1999.  

 

Here was what was amazing...Mandela was loved by....EVERYONE. Period.  His family wasn't really (And in fact his family is all suing each other), but it was amazing to see. I did a tour of some of the townships, but also stayed and talked to some of the people in the very privileged area.  I spoke to people that will tell you they were scared as can be when he became president, didnt support his policies, and think the ANC is a mess now...

BUT -Even they will tell you how much of a hero Mandela was.  There is not a person in South Africa who doesn't accept the universal truth, that without him, the country falls into a civil and tribal war and hundards of thousands would have died.  They look at Zimbabwe and said "That would be us...Except for Mandela".

 

I have never seen one man..on politician, so universally loved.  

[grhqofb5]

No doubt an enormous figure of the 20th century.  A unifying force.  Unfortunately, South Africa is a nation full of problems that even Mandela could not fix in a single lifetime.  He has given them the framework, now his successors must follow through.

[sacase]

I honestly wish I knew more about him. I know the more recent history, but I never really looked at his whole life. I have seem some references to him being a terrorist and being connected to the murder of innocents, but I haven't verified that. I also know how he helped change South Africa, which is admirable. Then I heard about corruption. But again, not so sure about the truth behind it. But from what it sounds like he wasn't the nicest guy, but was able to accomplish something good, but still held deep flaws. Maybe I will read about him one day. 

[Bliz]

Newt takes on the anti-Mandela folks:

 

https://www.gingrichproductions.com/2013/12/what-would-you-have-done-nelson-mandela-and-american-conservatives/

 

Yesterday I issued a heartfelt and personal statement about the passing of President Nelson Mandela. I said that his family and his country would be in my prayers and Callista’s prayers.

 

I was surprised by the hostility and vehemence of some of the people who reacted to me saying a kind word about a unique historic figure.

 

So let me say to those conservatives who don’t want to honor Nelson Mandela, what would you have done?

 

Mandela was faced with a vicious apartheid regime that eliminated all rights for blacks and gave them no hope for the future. This was a regime which used secret police, prisons and military force to crush all efforts at seeking freedom by blacks.

 

What would you have done faced with that crushing government?

 

What would you do here in America if you had that kind of oppression?

 

Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.

 

After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.

 

As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.

 

Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

 

Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

 

Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?

 

Some conservatives say, ah, but he was a communist.

 

Actually Mandela was raised in a Methodist school, was a devout Christian, turned to communism in desperation only after South Africa was taken over by an extraordinarily racist government determined to eliminate all rights for blacks.

 

I would ask of his critics: where were some of these conservatives as allies against tyranny? Where were the masses of conservatives opposing Apartheid? In a desperate struggle against an overpowering government, you accept the allies you have just as Washington was grateful for a French monarchy helping him defeat the British.

 

Finally, if you had been imprisoned for 27 years, 18 of them in a cell eight foot by seven foot, how do you think you would have emerged? Would you have been angry? Would you have been bitter?

 

Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years in prison as an astonishingly wise, patient, and compassionate person.

 

He called for reconciliation among the races. He invited his prison guard to sit in the front row at his inauguration as President. In effect he said to the entire country, “If I can forgive the man who imprisoned me, surely you can forgive your neighbors.”

 

Far from behaving like a communist, President Mandela reassured businesses that they could invest in South Africa and grow in South Africa. He had learned that jobs come from job creators.    <facepalm.  give it a break>

 

I was very privileged to be able to meet with President Mandela and present the Congressional Medal of Freedom. As much as any person in our lifetime he had earned our respect and our recognition.

 

Before you criticize him, ask yourself, what would you have done in his circumstances?

 

[Predicto]

That may be the best thing that Newt ever wrote, in his entire rotten life.  

[DCranon21]

Wow, Newt wrote that. It was actually really good. 

 

But since I did not post in here, RIP Madiba. I still remember that day in Feb 11th, 1990. I remember watching his release from prison with my granddad like it was yesterday.   

[SteveFromYellowstone]

He's a great man but boy has South Africa really gone downhill. They went from the leading economy in Africa and only African country to ever procure nuclear weapons to a country with a president that doesn't believe HIV causes AIDS and the highest murder and rape rates in the world. I don't know what the answer is but the ANC doesn't appear to be it.

[Ellis]

Some of you may be interested in this.  It details a few things occurring in Mandela's life the first few months after he was released from prison, concentrating primarily on how he became a Freemason... 

http://masonologyblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/nelson-mandela-a-freemason-and-the-end-of-apartheid/

 

So when it came to light that a mere four months later he came to the US and became a Mason…it raises a few eyebrows for me. I’m not raising an eyebrow of whether it happened or not, not at all as the documentation is there. What I’m intrigued about is Nelson Mandela himself and why in the world he would do this. He must had had a thousand things on his mind, apartheid was still in full swing in South Africa and the street battles/protests were still raging. The world was looking to Mandela to take the reigns. His life was in full throttle. He had no free time.

 

When people wonder what it takes to be made a “Mason on Sight”, it’s no small feat. The ceremony, proficiency, and work take an entire day. Usually 10 hours of ritual work and other things are involved to make it official. For someone in his position, to spend 10 hours anywhere is almost impossible unless something was extremely important to him. Obviously it was important to the South Carolina PHA Masons. Having Mandela as one of them is something to be proud of. But for Mandela to choose to be one of us…that’s something to meditate over.

[MEANDWARF]

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

Nelson Mandela