Well, you never actually fired. Let's say your wee brandishing in a hostile manner. None the less, I had to take care of business. I kind of felt bad about it, but I must say you had stunning hair.

You know what no one's interested in? Other people's dreams.

Lest all you dripping, gushing folks who are seeing who can be heap the bestest highest praise on Saint Mandela the Perfect...he was a man, full of imperfections. Oh sure, a better man than many...and a man in the right place at the right time...but hardly perfect. Can we keep the idolotry to a dull roar?

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/21/opinion/why-won-t-mandela-renounce-violence.html

Umm, it's already been made clear that Mandela was neither a Saint, nor perfect. I even quoted him accepting that. So why you then choose to refer to him as Saint Mandela the Perfect is beyond me.

mendax - to bother you.

Sorry, I was wrong. That's why we can't have nice thing. ^

krellin, you're right that there's a little bit of cult of personality around Nelson Mandela. He was just a man, and far from perfect. That's lost in the hagiography.

However, he also was a great man and statesman in every sense. Leading South Africa peacefully from a fascist government that denied basic rights to the vast majority of its population to a liberal democracy where people of all races are treated equally is no small feat. Doing it without a violent revolution is even more amazing. Holding back the desire for revenge is more amazing still, maybe even unprecedented.

South Africa still has a lot of problems and faces pretty daunting challenges going forward, but it would be in an incomparably worse position than it is now if anyone besides Mandela had lead the opposition to an managed the collapse of apartheid. As I said, there is an element of hyperbole in the descriptions of him as some secular saint we should all be in awe of. However, he really did accomplish something amazing and did a lot of good for the world by preventing a lot of harm.

@INvictus - I'm interested in *your* dreams, cutie...

@Invictus - Also, you *will* note, please, that I did say as a man he's better than most - hell, he invited his jailers to his Mardi Gras bash and hung out at the pool with them...but he's still just a man...60% great statesman blah blah blah...and 40% right place right time lucky bastard.

If the country/world we not ready for the change he advocated, it wouldn't have happened if he had a flock of recently deceased flock of bald eagles flying as angels around his head to back him up.

/\ that was almost gibberish.

can you guys please take sbyvl back?

http://sbyvl.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/lets-honor-the-terrorist/

I took him back. Signed for all of us. Too bad it has to be moderated before it's posted. Whatever, he still sees it.

http://puu.sh/5Etlf.png

@Putin33 “Tendmote's sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, attacks on every public official in existence got old ages ago. I get that he thinks his bowel movements don't stink everybody else is beneath him. It's become redundant at this point. ”

Well, you never pass up an opportunity to turn everything personal.

Can't even make a basic generalization without you having a kaniption.

The difference between this thread and the one on vDip is quite stunning, enjoy your sbyvl guys!

Meanwhile in the Czech Republic, one unelected prime minister laments the inconvenience tied with the death of Mr Mandela:

https://news.google.com/news?ncl=d4ZIL9tv_MNsBwMQbcrTcbi-mVW_M&q=rusnok&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w1-kUrXMCNGUhQfAKQ&ved=0CDQQqgIwAA

Yeah... that got through on the Dutch news... Everybody has bad luck every now and then.

And?