The Madiba Magic Mushrooms

I have a question for you, dear reader.  One I have been pining about for a while now. And I hope you can answer me on this one as I may have to go look for another planet to live on depending on the answer you will give me.

Has the world lost its collective mind?

I'm asking this not only because of the events of the past week, but also the reactions to and surrounding the man called Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela for the past few years.  
Now don't get me wrong.  I have every respect for Nelson Mandela for what he has done for this country in terms of the peaceful transition of government that took place between the Apartheid National Party government and the African National Congress (ANC), even if I don't think it was the best thing for this country, but come on.  This man is no saint, and his extremely sordid history is a testament to that.  Have no illusions: by co-creating Umkhonto we Sizwe he is indirectly responsible for killing many innocent people, people that believed with every fiber of their beings that should South Africa be handed over to black people "it would go to the dogs", something I believe is definitely happening at this moment, and has been happening for the past 20 years.  If my previous post on e-tolls and the other corrupt attempts by the ANC to steal from every South African is not proof enough, go look at the state of our judiciary, our parastatals, our public health care, our national crime record, and our deteriorating infrastructure.  Go look at it carefully, and don't get caught up in the propaganda.  It's not pretty; following almost the same path as every other African country's deterioration.  

But I'm not here to point out Mandela's shortcomings.  He knew it very well himself, and he hated the fact that people were sanctifying him.  I've come to ask you, the reader, the above question, and whether you knew of Mandela's faults.  If you saw the whole sanctification campaign of Mandela during this week and found it as disgusting as I have, you have my thanks and my belief that your head is screwed on the right way.

To the rest of you I have some additional questions:  Are you aware of the danger your fanboy/girl attitude towards Mandela is doing to both you and the people around you? Are you aware that, by elevating Mandela this way, you are disrespecting him?  Are you aware that you may have chosen the wrong role model? And finally, are you aware that your are being manipulated?

The danger of the Fandom

While probably not having the same dangers as being a fan of Manchester United or other similar sports teams, being a fan of someone to such a degree as making them a god is extremely unhealthy.  The very real danger lies in the fact that you start to ignore that person's faults, which could eventually lead to you embracing those faults as being correct, or a means to an end.  
Mandela was a womanizer. Is there ever any good reason for a man to be a womanizer?
Mandela was a friend towards Gadaffi. Is it good to associate yourself with dictators?  After all, don't friends shape one another, either for good or bad?
The current undercurrent of corruption in the South African started when he took office.  Don't you think he should've rather focussed his efforts on preparing his party to govern with morals and ethics instead of kissing the political asses of the IMF and other powerhouses?  Did he not perhaps neglect his people, and perhaps fuel his own fandom by making those visits?

All the above faults of Mandela mentioned are legitimate concerns and issues people had of him.  These cannot be ignored by anyone who say they live an ethical and moral life.  Yet, thousands of people around the world, if not millions, have forgotten these faults.  If you knew of these faults, but still elevate this man to god-hood, won't you start to act like him?  Aren't you desensitized to issues such as these?  I firmly believe that any person that elevates another human to fandom or god-hood will eventually act like that person, and this is very disconcerting to me.

Disrespecting Madiba

I've mentioned previously that Mandela hated his public image and saw it as not being in line with who he was.  Do you think you honor the man by elevating him to saint status when he clearly doesn't want it?  Personally, I'd be rolling around in my grave if I ever was sanctified the way Mandela was, not only because I will not receive my rewards in heaven for what I've done (Matt 6:1-4), but because I will be doubly ashamed of my own shortcomings.  It would be a burden to me that I take to the grave, not a blessing, and I believe Mandela felt the same way in his last days. It surely didn't make him age well, and the impressions I got from the images and news stories in Mandela's last years certainly painted a picture of a man that was tired of the world and his own public image.  An immense burden no one person can truly carry.
 

Manipulation

The sleigh of hand, the distraction of the senses, the quick moves at the right time: every magician's tools to deceive and create the illusion of magic.  
Entire TV stations playing only Mandela-related content, instead of current, and perhaps important,  news events.  World leaders extolling the virtues of a man in a manner that makes them look good, while the rot festers in their works.  The quiet signing of laws that stands against the public good while using a man's funeral as a smoke screen to divert the attention away.  
Fandom blinds not only the person from the wrongs of the person he/she is fanboying about, but makes them easy to manipulate.

We all know about president Barack Obama.  This president caught a lot of shine for his speech during the remembrance ceremony of Mandela, but this president has put his country in serious financial trouble in the long term, and defiled the Nobel Peace prize (oddly the award ceremony was shown tonight on TV), turning it into nothing but another political, self-congratulatory, pat-on-the-back tool.  But he is not the only one, with dictators/murderers, such as Mugabe, and other lousy politicians and presidents all coming here to catch a bit of Madiba shine.  Richard Poplak from the Daily Maverick probably said it the best when he said that Thamsanqa Jantjie, the fake sign-language interpreter, was the only person in that whole stadium telling the truth.

I watched a documentary this week, called Star Suckers, that talked about the manipulation of ordinary people by corporations and governments  using fandom as a method of manipulation and control, and how it destroys peoples' lives and, sometimes, assists genocide. At the end of the documentary I vowed never to buy into the fandom of Bob Geldoff and Bono or to ever support any celebrity-led charity or aid campaign ever again.  I know the truth now, and won't be blinded by these people or their methods.  

How about you?  

Magic Mushrooms

Watching the world go ballistic this past week regarding Mandela's death made me wonder about our state of mind.  Have we all become such fanboys/fangirls that we have thrown caution to the wind?  How do we allow ourselves to become so drugged on one person that we allow others to manipulate us and rob us of our freedoms and finances.  Honestly I don't get it, because it doesn't take a lot of brain power to realize that we are being manipulated and lied to.  Or is common sense just that: common?  How do we fix this, and how do we prevent this from happening in the future?  Is education enough, or will it take something more drastic?

This may sound disgusting, but I'm glad Mandela has finally died.  This way people will, eventually, stop sanctifying him.  The problem is, though, thst people that will sanctify one person will easily do it to another. And who knows what the politicians and power-mongers will get away with next.

So, are you willing to get off the Madiba Magic, or is the drug too good for you?  Will you awake and realize the error of your ways, or do you just not care?  All I can say to you is this: drugs can kill.