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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be really sad and upset. RIP Nelson Mandela :-(

147 replies

LittlePeaPod · 05/12/2013 22:35

I know I am not but wanted to share the sad news. Loss of a grat man and inspirational leader.

news.sky.com/story/1178430/nelson-mandela-dies-president-confirms

OP posts:
NorthernLebkuchen · 05/12/2013 23:51

I'm rather Hmm about posting in AIBU and expecting that people won't disagree with you............

There is not a single post on this thread belittling Mandela or his world changing impact. The adverse responses are siply addressing the exact questin the OP posed.

CoffeeTea103 · 05/12/2013 23:51

Agree with shoe. Only a South African knows what he meant to us. Sad

thecatfromjapan · 05/12/2013 23:51

Shoe That was really thoughtful and thought-provoking. Thank you.

DirtyDancingCleanLiving · 05/12/2013 23:56

he helped to move SA from apartheid to a more humane system of government without bloodshed

Do you know anything of his history. Great man he was. Saint, or 'innocent of bloodshed' he was not. Not by a long shot.

AfricanExport · 05/12/2013 23:56

Shoe, great post. Especially the part about us irrationally wishing he would live forever Smile

Mumrose · 06/12/2013 00:00

RIP to a great leader and an amazing manSad

ZingSweetPea · 06/12/2013 00:01

sad news indeed.Sad Thanks a wonderful man, smart and strong, a real inspiration.

shoes

have you seen Invictus? I thought it was a wonderful film - I believe he was like that.

RIP Madiba

waltermittymissus · 06/12/2013 00:03

without bloodshed???

RIP.

A wonderful man, a great beacon of hope for SA and for oppressed people the world over, but let's not change his history for the sake of heartfelt bleating tributes.

Mandela owned what he did. He never claimed he did it without bloodshed.

MrsLouisTheroux · 06/12/2013 09:22

"The apartheid regime was a crime against humanity; as illogical as it was cruel. It is tempting, therefore, to simplify the subject by declaring that all who opposed it were wholly and unswervingly good. Its important to remember, however, that Mandela has been the first to hold his hands up to his shortcomings and mistakes. In books and speeches, he goes to great length to admit his errors. The real tragedy is that too many in the West can’t bring themselves to see what the great man himself has said all along; that he’s just as flawed as the rest of us, and should not be put on a pedestal."
From this

MrsLouisTheroux · 06/12/2013 09:24

In other words what waltermitty said ^

Whistleblower0 · 07/12/2013 11:10

Incredibly sad, even though expected. I dont know, he was someone who seemed invincible. Just thought he would somehow come back from this illness, even though it was always unlikely..
He was a real one off, and an incredibly compassionate human being. Never will be another like him. RIP

SoonToBeSix · 07/12/2013 11:23

Did you know him personally op? If not yabu

OhWellWhatToDo · 07/12/2013 12:22

I am not particularly sad or upset. I'm sad that if I talk to my children about my life as a black South African, growing up under apartheid (I was 16 when NM was elected) I will be describing a great man in the past tense, and that to them, Nelson Mandela won't seem as 'real' as he was when he was alive.

I am not sad or upset he died. He authorised many deaths. He also mourned them, later. One of my friends lost her mother- from one of those terrorist attacks. Strangely enough, as we met in university, if it wasn't for Nelson Mandela, we would never have met, she was white and would have been living a completely opposite life to me.

I am 'glad' in a way that he died as he essentially transformed my adulthood, and the lives of my family and friends, and he didn't deserve to suffer in the way that he was suffering in old age. I'm also glad that many fellow South Afticans are marking his death with singing and dancing, and celebrating his life.

creighton · 07/12/2013 17:38

when I said 'without bloodshed' I was referring to the time when he was released. there was no civil war, the whites were not chased out of SA burning everything as they left. the transition was done peacefully.

I personally was against the 'truth and reconciliation' committees that were set up as I felt they let the whites off the hook for all the crap they had given the Africans. luckily for SA NM was more compassionate than I was at the time.

I am not S African but my family would have been split up as me and my father would have been deemed 'coloured' and the rest of my family black/African.

he was a much better man than some SAfricans deserved.

creighton · 07/12/2013 17:40

oh, and I find it rich that british people complain about violence and bloodshed when they have travelled the world for 300 years with a club in one hand and a knife in the other.

MardyBra · 07/12/2013 18:01

I'm British but I personally haven't travelled the word for 300 years with a club in my hand. Are you suggesting I'm responsible for any crimes committed by any of my ancestors?

creighton · 07/12/2013 18:35

you are benefitting from the proceeds/'prestige' of their violence/empire building.

BoneyBackJefferson · 07/12/2013 19:01

Creighton
"oh, and I find it rich that british people complain about violence and bloodshed when they have travelled the world for 300 years with a club in one hand and a knife in the other."

Is it not a bit rich complaining about "British people" when you are giving tribute to NM without giving due consideration to his past.

creighton · 07/12/2013 19:07

have you not read the rest of the thread?

BoneyBackJefferson · 07/12/2013 19:21

it was a reply to you about "British people" who have not killed or been involved in the killing of innocents, whilst giving tribute to a man that has been involved in the killing of innocents.

Rewriting his history is an insult to a great man, To how far he came and to what he achieved.

intitgrand · 07/12/2013 19:55

'he resembles my Dad'
who was your dad? Harold Shipman?
Lets remember the guy was head of a terrorist group, signed off the deaths of hundreds of innocent black people.
Do you admire Gerry Adams too?

creighton · 07/12/2013 20:08

white south africans were NOT innocents. they were bringing their children up to abuse black south africans.

creighton · 07/12/2013 20:10

i haven't rewritten history. i know who he is and the steps the white administration, with the backing of the rest of the white population, pushed him to. why not criticise the white population for pushing the africans to such lengths?

Minnieisthedevilmouse · 07/12/2013 20:15

He was in his 90s, do not get shock he's dead.

Decent bloke, made big diff in SA, bit perplexed though about quasi saint status. Tends to put me off him tbh, for no real reason. Just don't get quasi saint on anyone, Diana, m. Teresa, him, d.beckham et al...

Looked like he had a bloody good sense of humour tho. That makes me like him more. As you say rip top bloke.

NigellaLaw5on · 07/12/2013 20:21

YABU, unless you also cried over the deaths of any other self confessed terrorists, or has Mandelas past been completely rewritten. I can only imagine the guff they teach the next generation of brain donors in our schools.