Nelson Mandela: A mass murderer and terrorist

Perhaps it appears I am trying to stir up some shit by writing this, and maybe I am, because sometimes that is what it takes to drive a point home while educating a few people who need schooling. Besides, I don't believe in being politically correct simply to not offend anyone, especially over an internet forum where free speech and open discussion should be championed yet rarely is. But this is mostly in response to another thread, where I was berated for having an unpopular opinion by posting a video of Nelson Mandela and members of the ANC organization singing songs about killing white people. Several people sent me nasty PMs calling ME racist for pointing out Mandela's blatant racism, stating that posting the video was in bad taste and "inappropriate," even though the video clearly speaks for itself.

But aside from the video I posted, let's consider who Nelson Mandela was as a person. He was a member of the South African Communist Party. He was the co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, a terrorist organization that killed innocent civilians, including children. This organization targeted supermarkets and fast food outlets. In addition to this, the military wing of the African National Congress tortured and executed suspected government agents. Mandela was incarcerated, and justly so, for pleading guilty to 156 acts of public violence, including the Johannesburg railway station bombing in 1964.

I just wonder how many of the people who are lauding Mandela while attacking me in spite of these facts, know what I just outlined above. Or do they only know the Nelson Mandela that has been sold to the public by the global media, which casts Mandela as a peaceful, loving man, who, today, is gracing the covers of every major newspaper and magazine across the globe as a "hero".

 

I think the majority of the people who call him their hero do not know his whole life. I also think a man is just a man, so a man that did a lot of good things or had a lot of positive impact in his later life can still be considered good regarding those things while he could actually have done some bad deeds too. Bad deeds don't make a person all bad. Neither do the good have to make a person a hero.

 

So being involved in mass-bombings, killing innocent men, women and children, doesn't make a person bad? Interesting.

 

Not to the extend he can't also do good anymore is what I was saying. Especially if people don't even know the bad things about a person you can see how it works in practice. Yes, interesting indeed.

 

Maybe do your homework first before mouthing of at other members.

 

Care to elaborate?

 

(him personally)

I had no good feelings towards NM.
I too wanted to see that he was seen as a terrorist.
I am looking for some solid evidence for this...

Have any?

 

Care to?

 

Why do you have to be black to see something as it is? I think my white self has a pretty good idea of what is and what isnt.

What I don't get is the common misconception that Mandela was imprisoned for his beliefs and that he didn't actually do anything wrong. No one is arguing the atrocities of apartheid. It's just that people put him on a pedestal and compare him to people like Ghandi. They completely ignore the fact that he was a terrorist and killed innocent people. And when someone simply points a light to show that he wasn't the innocent political prisoner that he's thought as, people lash out and become offensive.

 

Once being on the side of Good Vs Evil. I found that the Good was even more corrupted than the Evil that was so said to exist..

However I come to the conclusion...

There is no right, no wrong, shit just is, what it is ...

dwanky.. :love:

 

PR, I think people were berating you due to the context of your comments. The thread was supposed to be a mourning, not a place for debate. It's like picketing soldier's funerals. Those soldiers probably murdered theor fair share of people, but that isnt the time or place to point it out.

Glad you started a seperate thread, where the context of the discussion is approproate.

 

What comments? I didn't see any comments from PR in that thread.

 

the link and

 

I knew Gandhi...He was a prick.

 

An influential and inspirational prick.

 

That seems like a very black and white to look at history. Mandela's imprisoning for treason and the violence associated with that in the 60's isn't news to anyone.

But after many years of imprisonment, he was released, and led a non-violent struggle that ended apartheid culminating with his presidency, that's why people remember him fondly.

 

ACTIONS:

One man's Terrorist is another's Freedom Fighter (1776 and all that!)

QUESTIONS:

Was the alternative acceptable? = Was the cause just, and Fair to/for - all?
Was one there at the time / place - Suffering? = First hand experience of status, situation of Living in/at the time?
As a Black man, was his appeal specific to such persona? - or not?
What was the 'Aftermath' of Actions taken? = How many Revolutionary Leaders' have been supported by the Western World, only to become Evil Dictators?
Does the end justify the means? = Is the legacy of Change something to be proud or regretful of?

"One man's Terrorist is another's Freedom Fighter"

 

Why?

Ho Hum.

 

He doesn't seem to have influenced history and be an inspiration to people to you?