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Nelson Mandela's Funeral.

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anotheoldgit | 12:08 Sun 15th Dec 2013 | News
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524036/Soldiers-seats-Nelson-Mandelas-funeral-service-overruns-hours.html

Nelson Mandela has finally been laid to rest, but what do others think of the extraordinary length of the final proceedings?

Yes and what can be said about all those African dignitaries in their smart suites and fancy dresses, this was a different Africa than is generally displayed to us on our TV screens, not a single poor little infant with faces covered in flies, or women folk walking miles to get a pitcher of muddy water.

But through out all those speeches that were made there was plenty of talk about 'equality', but I saw very little evidence of it this morning.
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I get what anotheoldgit was saying. He was being ironic..........and before anyone starts on me, I grew up in Kenya so I have some idea of what living there entails. Some years ago I visited Dar es Salaam and was shocked to find there were no street lights, but lights lit the way to the president's mansion, sidewalks full of huge potholes, beggars with leprosy,...
15:20 Sun 15th Dec 2013
The norwegian blue being a reference to the dead parrot sketch on Monty Python
I see, thanks,,, nice decking.
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sp1814

/// However, like Europeans, I can tell immediately if someone from Africa starts to speak, roughly where their family hail from, because of accent. ///

/// The same way that I can tell Germans from French and Swedes from British. ///

/// Eastern European accents I find difficult to differentiate, because I'm only friends with one Pole and one Ukranian, so that doesn't give me a sufficient baseline for compar... ///

Who said anything about the way they speak, have you ever seen or heard any of those what one can call African children speak on the TV appeals?

The latest TV appeal is for 'Save the Children' and they all look African to me unless you know any different?
The same children are shown all the time with the same mothers. I have almost got to know them I have seen them so many times - and by this I mean many years not weeks. In fact I am convinced they must by now be grown up or have died. The same thing applies to the NSPCC adverts. Why don't they change them now and then. They are obviously posed anyway - and some of them have been altered to appear more pathetic.
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sp1814

/// "Yes I know that Africa is a continent which contains many countries, but they are all very much the same ///

/// Congratulations. With only a few days left of 2013, you have successfully posted the most remarkable statement of the year on AnswerBank. ///

/// I think you should give an acceptance speech. ///

/// Like at the Golden Globes. ///

There was no need for this extremely sarcastic post of yours.

My answer was in reply to your seemingly superior knowledge post set out below,

/// By the way AOG - Africa is a continent, rather than a country. This is the funeral of the President of one country in Africa - namely South Africa. ///

I don't need to be told by the likes of you something that most primary school children must know, that Africa is a continent and not a country.

And I still maintain that all the children look African on the TV appeals, hence my remark "but they are all very much the same".


AOG

You deserved the maximum amount of sarcasm for this statement:

"Yes I know that Africa is a continent which contains many countries, but they are all very much the same"

You said that all countries in Africa are very much the same.

That is the most thunderously ignorant statement I've read on AB in many a year.

"And I still maintain that all the children look African on the TV appeals, hence my remark "but they are all very much the same".

And now you're trying to squirm out of it.

Stop.

You wrote this:

"Yes I know that Africa is a continent which contains many countries, but they are all very much the same, so a general comparison is very easily made."

You then realised your mistake and changed tack.

Stop...just stop. When you've been found out, just...please...stop.
Anyway - forget about that - it's a minor detail.

The point is...as Africa is a continent, not a nation. Therefore, you can't compare what you saw in South Africa to what you see on appeals, because they would be for other countries.

It's like the example I gave before - don't you think it would be incredibly ignorant for an American to watch (say) the Royal wedding and say, "Look at those European dignitaries...where are all the starving orphans now eh?"

Do you see what I mean?

Do you not understand how ignorant 'the likes of you' sound?
Question Author
*** "Yes I know that Africa is a continent which contains many countries, but they are all very much the same" ***

/// You said that all countries in Africa are very much the same. ///

/// That is the most thunderously ignorant statement I've read on AB in many a year. ///

How can this be a thunderously ignorant statement? the words "are very much the same" (which is what I said) is different from saying "are all the same".(which is what you are implying).

Let me ask you are not all of them populated by a majority of black people? are they not mainly classed as "Third World Countries"? do not most African countries suffer at time from droughts and famine? are not most TV appeals on behalf of black women & their children in Africa specifically? (the subject of this debate)? are not most of them ruled by corrupt leaders? are not a large amount of them involved in war like situations?

Like I said "all countries in Africa are very much the same"

In my opinion it is you, who is either 'thunderously ignorant', or are not prepared to face facts.


Question Author
sp1814

/// Anyway - forget about that - it's a minor detail. ///

It appears not to be so, taking into consideration the number of posts you have entered on this, "minor detail".

/// The point is...as Africa is a continent, not a nation. Therefore, you can't compare what you saw in South Africa to what you see on appeals, because they would be for other countries. ///

Can't you still see that it is not about South Africa per-se?

Most of Africa's 'dignities' where in South Africa at Mandala's funeral, and most who gave speeches talked a lot about equality, but most in Africa do not enjoy anywhere near equality, and I am not referring to black v white equality.

Wait a moment isn't this where I came in?
AOG

Ah...gotcha.

As I've said before - all politicians talk about equality. It's a goal (as I've said before), but true equality between rich and poor is not possible within a capitalist system.

It's also not possible under communism.

The fight that Africa needs to win is not the redistribution of wealth, but the redistribution of opportunity.

And that is a huge fight.
AOG

Let me ask you are not all of them populated by a majority of black people?

Yes, but if you are using that as a reason to say that Africans are 'all the same' then, the argument follows that all Northern Europeans are the same, because they are all white, and all South Americans are 'the same' because they have Latino heritage.

Would you agree with that? Are you the same as a Pole or Lithuanian?

are they not mainly classed as "Third World Countries"?

Yes...there are 56 countries in Africa, and 34 of them as listed as 'least developed' cf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_developed_country

Do not most African countries suffer at time from droughts and famine?

No - you're referring to sub-Saharan Africa.

Are not most TV appeals on behalf of black women & their children in Africa specifically? (the subject of this debate)?

God only knows. I see appeals for Barnados, the NSPCC, Oxfam, Save The Children. I would not know where to get information on who spends the most on tv advertising. As you can't either, the evidence you present is empirical and therefore cannot be supported.

are not most of them ruled by corrupt leaders? are not a large amount of them involved in war like situations?

I don't know. I suspect that you don't either.

I think that what you wrote was sweeping and you know very little about Africa.

But back to your original point - you asked what others thought about the length of the funeral - I think that it was incredibly long, but it had to accommodate a large number of people.

In years to come, I suspect a number of leaders will wear their attendance as a badge of honour.

Because Mandela was a 20th century iconic figure, some will want the 'reflected glory'.

And what can be said about the African dignitaries in their smart suites and fancy dresses?

Exactly the same that could be said about Communist leaders in the 70s who spend billions on defence, paraded around their own fancy uniforms whilst the general population lived below the poverty line.

Greed and corruption is an international issue.

What do you think - now that we've got back to your question?
tambourine

Well, it's bronze, not gold...!
Question Author
/// Yes, but if you are using that as a reason to say that Africans are 'all the same' then, the argument follows that all Northern Europeans are the same, because they are all white, and all South Americans are 'the same' because they have Latino heritage. ///

You are once again twisting my words, I did not say that "all Africans are the same".

As regards the rest of your posts, all I can say is "give up digging you have lost the argument".
AOG

You wrote:

"Yes I know that Africa is a continent which contains many countries, but they are all very much the same, so a general comparison is very easily made."

So what did you mean when you say that 'they are all very much the same'?

We you referring to flora and fauna? Landscapes? IT infrastructure, city transport policies?

Or were you talking about the people?
Would you say that Morocco is pretty much the same as say, Chad or Nigeria, and that Egypt is pretty much the same as Somalia and the Seychelle?

Or do you think that displays at least some form of ignorance of the countries, their politics, their people, their religion and their relative economic success?
The Seychelles are a group of islands in thhe Indian Ocean, They are not in Africa, I know because I've been there. The population is a mixture of African, Chinese, European, and Asian ( Indian subcontinent).
jomifl

You may have been there but you didn't know that the Seychelles is an African state.

It may be a group of islands away from the mainland, but they are still part of Africa.

Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seychelles

(Check the first paragraph).
sp, the Seychelles may be part of the African union but nobody but an idiot would consider them part of Africa, they are 800 miles from the nearest part of the African mainland. I've been to Africa too, it isn't the Seychelles. A signature on a piece of paper doesn't change the geography of the world. You really need to understand that wanting something to be true doesn't make it so.

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