Nelson Mandela, dead at 95

[GolightlyGrrl]

Maya Angelou says we do the best we can and when we know better we do better.

I cannot fault Mandella for his pre-prison acts. I deeply admire the man he worked to become. He learned to command dignity and respect from everyone. An amazing thing to do considering he was a black man in a SA prison.

I refuse to pick up my bag of resentment and bitterness that I let go years ago. I do this because of Mandella's example of forgiveness.

This so much. People change as they get older. They get some perspective. I'm sure Mandela is appalled by his past behavior. I know I'm appalled how I used to conduct myself. And if I had to deal with Apartheid, well, there is no telling what I might have done.

[Emkay]

President Obama shook the hand of Raul Castro. Right wingers go apeshit in 3...2...1

I've actually seen more backlash about the 'selfie.' (Discovered when my Facebook timeline showed my aunt commented- negatively- on an article about it from a local news station).

[louisa05]

I've actually seen more backlash about the 'selfie.' (Discovered when my Facebook timeline showed my aunt commented- negatively- on an article about it from a local news station).

It appears to be the Dutch P.M.'s phone as she is the one with a full two hand grip on it. And I'm not entirely convinced they were taking a photo rather than looking at something on it.

I also think the media headlining that "funeral selfie" need slapped. That was not the funeral and the atmosphere was not quiet and somber at all. I caught a tiny bit of it live this morning--there was singing, dancing, cheers, and seemingly constant noise from the crowd.

[DifferentGurl]

It appears to be the Dutch P.M.'s phone as she is the one with a full two hand grip on it. And I'm not entirely convinced they were taking a photo rather than looking at something on it.

I also think the media headlining that "funeral selfie" need slapped. That was not the funeral and the atmosphere was not quiet and somber at all. I caught a tiny bit of it live this morning--there was singing, dancing, cheers, and seemingly constant noise from the crowd.

Yea,I don't understand the backlash for shaking Raul Castro's hand. Isn't that just common courtesy?

[Iokaste]

Yea,I don't understand the backlash for shaking Raul Castro's hand. Isn't that just common courtesy?

NO NO NO NO NO, back to the SOTDRT we go! Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the DANISH primeminister! :penguin-no:

Dutch is the language spoken in the Netherlands and some parts of Belgium. Denmark is a country in Scandinavia, we speak DANISH here! Other than that I'm completely with you on this, it is ridiculous to be offended by this, it wasn't a funeral, it was a celebration, there were vuvuzelas present, vuvuzelas!

Besides it shows two people, of different color and gender, different background culturally, religiously, politically, from different parts of the world enjoying each others company and having fun together, I for one choose to believe Mandela would have appreciated that.

[thoughtful]

President Obama shook the hand of Raul Castro. Right wingers go apeshit in 3...2...1

The Daily Show's take on it:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-d ... h-mourning

[Cleopatra7]

Despite MLK’s lifelong commitment to nonviolent social change, conservatives thought that he was a dangerous communist (and many still do). Many places in the US still don't recognize the MLK holiday. If you have access to an academic library that hasn’t tossed out all their old periodicals, go spend a day looking at magazines like TIME or Newsweek from the 1950s and 60s and see how the Civil Rights Movement is framed and read the letters to the editor. What you’ll find out is that most whites thought that civil rights for blacks, whether in South Africa or Birmingham, Alabama were a communist plot, full stop. It did not matter if blacks used violence or non-violence to achieve these rights, the very fact that they were demanding equal treatment was communism.

[louisa05]

NO NO NO NO NO, back to the SOTDRT we go! Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the DANISH primeminister! :penguin-no:

Dutch is the language spoken in the Netherlands and some parts of Belgium. Denmark is a country in Scandinavia, we speak DANISH here! Other than that I'm completely with you on this, it is ridiculous to be offended by this, it wasn't a funeral, it was a celebration, there were vuvuzelas present, vuvuzelas!

Besides it shows two people, of different color and gender, different background culturally, religiously, politically, from different parts of the world enjoying each others company and having fun together, I for one choose to believe Mandela would have appreciated that.

FFS, it was a mistake not a complete misunderstanding of all of Europe. I confused two D's. Spare me the geography lesson. I taught geography for a semester and I promise I confused nothing then. It was late when I wrote that and I spent my day in hell. I had read an article about the "selfie" HOURS before and forgot who the woman in the middle was. Hell, given that the dumb article I read said that was the funeral and was quiet and somber, it may well have misidentified her.

[Iokaste]

FFS, it was a mistake not a complete misunderstanding of all of Europe. I confused two D's. Spare me the geography lesson. I taught geography for a semester and I promise I confused nothing then. It was late when I wrote that and I spent my day in hell. I had read an article about the "selfie" HOURS before and forgot who the woman in the middle was. Hell, given that the dumb article I read said that was the funeral and was quiet and somber, it may well have misidentified her.

Hey relax, as you might notice I'm in no way schooling you on the funeral/celebration confusion, quite the opposite as indicated by "Other than that I'm completely with you...".

The Dutch/Danish is a bit of a pet-peeve around here, don't know why people can't keep that straight and anytime this little country gets in international news we want to bask in it for a little bit, can't let the Dutch steal our thunder :D , the rest was a general observation not meant in anyway to imply that you would think otherwise, can we be friends again now? :)

[louisa05]

Hey relax, as you might notice I'm in no way schooling you on the funeral/celebration confusion, quite the opposite as indicated by "Other than that I'm completely with you...".

The Dutch/Danish is a bit of a pet-peeve around here, don't know why people can't keep that straight and anytime this little country gets in international news we want to bask in it for a little bit, can't let the Dutch steal our thunder :D , the rest was a general observation not meant in anyway to imply that you would think otherwise, can we be friends again now? :)

Sorry. I spent five hours yesterday attempting to work with a woman who literally expressed surprise that I was capable of pushing the play button on a CD player then essentially got fired due to her behavior. The experience left me a bit over sensitive.