Nelson Mandela Dies at 95

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Hey, don't everyone answer at once.

Wasn't he a communist?

Just wondering what's so great about him?

Is South Africa thriving because of him?

I admit I had to read up on the South Africa Communist Party, although after reading it IMO it wasn't a "communist" party in the traditional sense that we usually think of it, like with the USSR... Their goal was basically to end apartheid....

As far as I can tell, Mandela was never an official member of that party...

Now, if you listen to war criminals like Dick Cheney, he has been branded a "terrorist". As if apartheid was a picnic. You know, where the white 15% gave no rights to the other 85%.

South Africa's economy did much better when he was President, as did education...

But IMO the main thing that I had always respected him for was after he was released from prison after 27 years... He could have easily started a bloody civil war that would have lasted years... But he didn't do that, rather he worked with the government to end apartheid and give all of their citizens basic human rights.

So does that make him a great man? I guess it's up for interpretation....

[Nitro Express]

South Africa is a racist country. It used to be white against black racism and now it's black against white racism. Also most the world's gold is in South Africa but they are only the seventh largest producer. China is first. Why? The racist blacks running the place now can't get it out of the ground. Whites have been killed, tortured, raped and their lands taken away from them in South Africa. Mandela was no Martin Luther King or Gandhi. He simply replaced one form of oppression and terror with his flavor of it.

[vandeleur]

Communism is such a terrible thing to Americans but in principle it's a totally understandable ideology.
It's the most basic form of politics , it's the least complex organism.
People who have nothing want to share what others have , good or bad it's true .
Communism only flourishes in poor conditions , once people have stuff it's no your not sharing it it's mine .
Communism isn't inherently evil , it's just the product of having nothing , I can't think of a country that was ever communist that didn't have people living in dire conditions .

[vandeleur]

Why was he great :
Stood for what he believed in.
Changed the world we live in.
Fucked the system .
Didn't allow South Africa to fall into chaos after an insane corrupt archaic system crashed.
Conducted himself with dignity and integrity .
Prefers Dave to Sammy ( I made that bit up )

[Nitro Express]

Communism needs capitalism to survive. All communist movements have been sponsored by capitalists. The Koch Brothers, Armand Hammer, and the Rockefellers were all working with the communists and doing business deals with them. Communism can't stand on it's own. It always fails. It needs outside money to keep going. It's a great tool to subjugate and control large populations with. You kill a lot of dissenters and end up with a population of drones who will do anything you tell them to do out of fear. Bolshevism is great to take leaders and countries who aren't on board with the other oligarchs and their plans down.

[Nitro Express]

Communism is such a terrible thing to Americans but in principle it's a totally understandable ideology.
It's the most basic form of politics , it's the least complex organism.
People who have nothing want to share what others have , good or bad it's true .
Communism only flourishes in poor conditions , once people have stuff it's no your not sharing it it's mine .
Communism isn't inherently evil , it's just the product of having nothing , I can't think of a country that was ever communist that didn't have people living in dire conditions .

The problem with communism is millions of people end up dead. Hey if you want to live under a Stalin or a Chairman Mao be my guest. I even have a Mao suit and hat from the old commie days. It was required by law that it be worn. I keep it to show kids and tell them this ugly crap outfit was the only thing you could wear and you had no choice of clothes. Communism is lame. The other problem with it is some are more equal than others.

[vandeleur]

Am pretty sure I didn't say I supported it , I said I understood how it existed.

[vandeleur]

It's a bit sickening all the politico one up man ship to who can top trump the other with Mandela stories , fighting to get the best sound bite out .
Am sure it's what he would have wanted .

All these people of less moral fibre trying to book end his life , strange .

[Seshmeister]

Communism needs capitalism to survive. All communist movements have been sponsored by capitalists. The Koch Brothers, Armand Hammer, and the Rockefellers were all working with the communists and doing business deals with them. Communism can't stand on it's own. It always fails. It needs outside money to keep going. It's a great tool to subjugate and control large populations with. You kill a lot of dissenters and end up with a population of drones who will do anything you tell them to do out of fear. Bolshevism is great to take leaders and countries who aren't on board with the other oligarchs and their plans down.

All of these things also apply to capitalism.

Communism is a reaction to the frustration that a few greedy fat fucks who have maneuvered their way to the top eating all the cheese while others starve.

It's very very important to these people to create a mythology whereby they are rich because they worked much harder than everyone else but usually it's because they got lucky, cheated or they inherited it.

Mandela wasn't a communist although in his circumstances he would have been more than justified going that way. All he did was refuse to attack the communist party who had also helped in the struggle against a deeply evil regime.

[Von Halen]

Interesting comments from people that obviously understand, and care more about this, than I.

I guess some questions I have about this guy are, what did he do to affect me? Affect America? (Because let's face it, we are the only ones that matter.) Affect Scotland? (Only because of Sesh)

If he freed Charlize Theron to come to America and prosper, I will mourn him today.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

If he freed Charlize Theron to come to America and prosper, I will mourn him today.

Don't forget about Lara Logan!

[Von Halen]

Don't forget about Lara Logan!

I am not familiar with her.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I am not familiar with her.

60 Minutes? Blonde, great rack....

[Von Halen]

60 Minutes? Blonde, great rack....

Nope. I will google her...

[Von Halen]

By the way, anybody thinking about flying their flag at half staff.

Under 4 U.S.C. § 7(m) and established traditions by Presidential proclamations, the flag of the United States is to be flown at half-staff in following circumstances:[22]

For thirty days after the death of a current or former president or president-elect, as occurred after the death of President Reagan and the death of President Ford.
For ten days after the death of a current vice president, current or retired chief justice, or current speaker of the House of Representatives.
From the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a secretary of an executive or military department, a former vice president, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate,[23] or the governor of a state, territory, or possession.
On the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.
On Memorial Day until noon.
Upon presidential proclamation, which has recently included: the interment of Frank Buckles,[24] the death of Senator Ted Kennedy,[25] the remembrance of the 9/11 attacks,[26] the death of Pope John Paul II,[27] the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003,[28] the victims of Hurricane Katrina,[29] the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami,[30] the deaths of Coretta Scott King[31] and Rosa Parks,[32] the Virginia Tech massacre,[33] the Fort Hood massacre,[34] the 2011 Tucson shooting, the funeral of Neil Armstrong,[35] the death of Libyan Ambassador Chris Stephens, the 2012 shooting in Aurora Colorado, the 2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.,[36] the 2013 Washington D.C Navy Yard shooting, and the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

I will NOT be flying my flag at half staff.