By taking a great selfie! Let's see here, our first "black" president so loved by the masses, and here he is at the funeral of one of histories most important figures, and he is smiling in a self pic?!
Really? eh... ok. Seems like a non-issue, but I guess it is just more fuel for the fire.
To some of us, repeated indescretions of this nature become embarrassing as a nation. Taking a selfie at a funeral is extremely classy. Especially Nelson Mandela's funeral. Way to represent our nation.
To some of us, repeated indescretions of this nature become embarrassing as a nation. Taking a selfie at a funeral is extremely classy. Especially Nelson Mandela's funeral. Way to represent our nation.
Oh please.... smiling, for a photo at a memorial... wow... what an indiscretion (not).
"First of all, this wasn't strictly a funeral; certainly not the solemn dressed-in-black occasion we often associate with the term. It was a four-hour stadium-sized memorial celebrating the life and works of the beloved Madiba, a riot of colorful dancing and singing. Think New Orleans meets the World Cup. " - http://mashable.com/2013/12...bama-funeral-selfie/
So, why are you and others not calling out Bush for being in a photo at the same event, or how about Bono... geez how dare they, or anyone else that was there?
Sounds like a non-event, but again, people will try to make something out of nothing.
Personally, I hope people laugh and have fun at my funeral.... it is a time to remember the good things about life and to live in the moment.
To be fair, I heard the funeral in general was more of a celebration of his life than a mourning of his death.
He (Tony) knew that, anyone who watched some of it would have known that. He found an opportunity to bash, and he took it, simple as that.. Even knowing it was a non-issue, when you have a lot of hate for someone, you will pounce on anything, even if you know its B.S..
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03:35 PM
Tony Kania Member
Posts: 20794 From: The Inland Northwest Registered: Dec 2008
He (Tony) knew that, anyone who watched some of it would have known that. He found an opportunity to bash, and he took it, simple as that.. Even knowing it was a non-issue, when you have a lot of hate for someone, you will pounce on anything, even if you know its B.S..
I find it offensive. Period.
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03:48 PM
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FieroTony Member
Posts: 1175 From: Conowingo, MD Registered: Feb 2012
Can't stand the clown, but no worse than my sister-in-law taking pictures at family funerals. Not just general pictures, I'm talking about pictures of the casket resident.
Really? eh... ok. Seems like a non-issue, but I guess it is just more fuel for the fire.
Its called respect. You don't do that at a funeral. Even if you don't respect the person that has died, you respect the people that are there enough not to look like an arrogant self absorbed ass.
I always thought pictures at a funeral were tacky. What I liked at Mandelas memorial was the kid acting like he was there as an official 'signor' for the deaf. News said no one knew who he was and all his hand gestures were just worthless movements that didnt say anything. I guess he gets his 15 mins of fame.
Its called respect. You don't do that at a funeral. Even if you don't respect the person that has died, you respect the people that are there enough not to look like an arrogant self absorbed ass.
You don't do that at a funeral... unless it wasn't a meeting of mourning, but of celebration.
Look, Obama sucks, I get it, but this is stupid. What's funny though is the way he smiled and Michelle apparently not liking him taking selfies with other women. That is funny.
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06:14 PM
Gokart Mozart Member
Posts: 12143 From: Metro Detroit Registered: Mar 2003
Its called respect. You don't do that at a funeral. Even if you don't respect the person that has died, you respect the people that are there enough not to look like an arrogant self absorbed ass.
It was a memorial, not a funeral and why is it that he can't do this at a memorial? Do you know the culture of that country and the people? Did the people around Obama complain? Did Mandela's family and friends complain? Did you know Mandela? Do you know how he would have wanted to celebrate his passing?
I am guessing it is more about Obama than his actions. Anything he does is "wrong", yet you have others like Bush and Bono, and that is acceptable... double standards, again. Interesting
Maybe we should be talking about Obama's speech, instead of this photo:
quote
"To Graça Machel and the Mandela family; to President Zuma and members of the government; to heads of states and government, past and present; distinguished guests - it is a singular honor to be with you today, to celebrate a life like no other. To the people of South Africa - (applause) - people of every race and walk of life - the world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us. His struggle was your struggle. His triumph was your triumph. Your dignity and your hope found expression in his life. And your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy.
It is hard to eulogize any man - to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person - their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul. How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.
Born during World War I, far from the corridors of power, a boy raised herding cattle and tutored by the elders of his Thembu tribe, Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century. Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement - a movement that at its start had little prospect for success. Like Dr. King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed and the moral necessity of racial justice. He would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of Kennedy and Khrushchev, and reached the final days of the Cold War. Emerging from prison, without the force of arms, he would - like Abraham Lincoln - hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. And like America’s Founding Fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations - a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power after only one term.
Given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned, it’s tempting I think to remember Nelson Mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men. But Madiba himself strongly resisted such a lifeless portrait. (Applause.) Instead, Madiba insisted on sharing with us his doubts and his fears; his miscalculations along with his victories. “I am not a saint,” he said, “unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”
It was precisely because he could admit to imperfection - because he could be so full of good humor, even mischief, despite the heavy burdens he carried - that we loved him so. He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood - a son and a husband, a father and a friend. And that’s why we learned so much from him, and that’s why we can learn from him still. For nothing he achieved was inevitable. In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness, and persistence and faith. He tells us what is possible not just in the pages of history books, but in our own lives as well.
Mandela showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our ideals. Perhaps Madiba was right that he inherited, “a proud rebelliousness, a stubborn sense of fairness” from his father. And we know he shared with millions of black and colored South Africans the anger born of, “a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments…a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people,” he said.
But like other early giants of the ANC - the Sisulus and Tambos - Madiba disciplined his anger and channeled his desire to fight into organization, and platforms, and strategies for action, so men and women could stand up for their God-given dignity. Moreover, he accepted the consequences of his actions, knowing that standing up to powerful interests and injustice carries a price. “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I’ve cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and [with] equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Mandela taught us the power of action, but he also taught us the power of ideas; the importance of reason and arguments; the need to study not only those who you agree with, but also those who you don’t agree with. He understood that ideas cannot be contained by prison walls, or extinguished by a sniper’s bullet. He turned his trial into an indictment of apartheid because of his eloquence and his passion, but also because of his training as an advocate. He used decades in prison to sharpen his arguments, but also to spread his thirst for knowledge to others in the movement. And he learned the language and the customs of his oppressor so that one day he might better convey to them how their own freedom depend upon his.
Mandela demonstrated that action and ideas are not enough. No matter how right, they must be chiseled into law and institutions. He was practical, testing his beliefs against the hard surface of circumstance and history. On core principles he was unyielding, which is why he could rebuff offers of unconditional release, reminding the Apartheid regime that “prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”
But as he showed in painstaking negotiations to transfer power and draft new laws, he was not afraid to compromise for the sake of a larger goal. And because he was not only a leader of a movement but a skillful politician, the Constitution that emerged was worthy of this multiracial democracy, true to his vision of laws that protect minority as well as majority rights, and the precious freedoms of every South African.
And finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There is a word in South Africa - Ubuntu - (applause) - a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.
We can never know how much of this sense was innate in him, or how much was shaped in a dark and solitary cell. But we remember the gestures, large and small - introducing his jailers as honored guests at his inauguration; taking a pitch in a Springbok uniform; turning his family’s heartbreak into a call to confront HIV/AIDS - that revealed the depth of his empathy and his understanding. He not only embodied Ubuntu, he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.
It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well - (applause) - to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.
For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe, Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate a heroic life. But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or our circumstance, we must ask: How well have I applied his lessons in my own life? It’s a question I ask myself, as a man and as a President.
We know that, like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took sacrifice - the sacrifice of countless people, known and unknown, to see the dawn of a new day. Michelle and I are beneficiaries of that struggle. (Applause.) But in America, and in South Africa, and in countries all around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not yet done.
The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality or universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger and disease. We still see run-down schools. We still see young people without prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs, and are still persecuted for what they look like, and how they worship, and who they love. That is happening today.
And so we, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace. There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. (Applause.) And there are too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.
The questions we face today - how to promote equality and justice; how to uphold freedom and human rights; how to end conflict and sectarian war - these things do not have easy answers. But there were no easy answers in front of that child born in World War I. Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done. South Africa shows that is true. South Africa shows we can change, that we can choose a world defined not by our differences, but by our common hopes. We can choose a world defined not by conflict, but by peace and justice and opportunity.
We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. But let me say to the young people of Africa and the young people around the world - you, too, can make his life’s work your own. Over 30 years ago, while still a student, I learned of Nelson Mandela and the struggles taking place in this beautiful land, and it stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities to others and to myself, and it set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today. And while I will always fall short of Madiba’s example, he makes me want to be a better man. (Applause.) He speaks to what’s best inside us.
After this great liberator is laid to rest, and when we have returned to our cities and villages and rejoined our daily routines, let us search for his strength. Let us search for his largeness of spirit somewhere inside of ourselves. And when the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, when our best-laid plans seem beyond our reach, let us think of Madiba and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of his cell: “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
What a magnificent soul it was. We will miss him deeply. May God bless the memory of Nelson Mandela. May God bless the people of South Africa."
[This message has been edited by jaskispyder (edited 12-12-2013).]
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08:08 AM
PFF
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84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
Interesting, though, that in the pics Gokart Mozart posted everyone around Bama and the Blonde Babe looks somber, or at least reserved. Does that tell us anything? Or is everyone else too slow to get the joke the speaker just made?
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08:30 AM
yellowstone Member
Posts: 9299 From: Düsseldorf/Germany Registered: Jun 2003
Interesting, though, that in the pics Gokart Mozart posted everyone around Bama and the Blonde Babe looks somber, or at least reserved. Does that tell us anything? Or is everyone else too slow to get the joke the speaker just made?
That "blonde babe" is Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister of Denmark.
And I think at a public function lasting many hours you can get a picture of anyone making any kind of face if you take enough pictures...
quote
“All around me in the stadium, South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honour their departed leader. It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid,” wrote AFP photographer Roberto Schmidt on his blog. “I later read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved on seeing the Danish prime minister take the picture. But photos can lie. In reality, just a few seconds earlier the first lady was herself joking with those around her, Cameron and Schmidt included. Her stern look was captured by chance.”
[This message has been edited by yellowstone (edited 12-12-2013).]
That "blonde babe" is Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister of Denmark.
Yes, thank you very much. I know who she is. I used the phrase " Bama and the Blonde Babe " deliberately, to suggest a possible caption for the picture. I knew it wasn't Julia. Barack has lost touch with her.
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08:46 AM
yellowstone Member
Posts: 9299 From: Düsseldorf/Germany Registered: Jun 2003
Yes, thank you very much. I know who she is. I used the phrase " Bama and the Blonde Babe " deliberately, to suggest a possible caption for the picture. I knew it wasn't Julia. Barack has lost touch with her.
What about "Helle and the mudblood"?
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08:47 AM
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
So, why are you and others not calling out Bush for being in a photo at the same event, or how about Bono... geez how dare they, or anyone else that was there?
Because neither of them are president? Just a guess.
I don't think it's a big deal, but at official functions the president represents the nation, and decorum matters. As I recall that was a big complaint Democrats had with Bush. This is just something for the tabloids to report while they ignore all the real damage 0bama is doing.
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08:54 AM
Fformula88 Member
Posts: 7891 From: Buffalo, NY Registered: Mar 2000
It's a widely accepted practice in the majority of African nations to celebrate one's "transition" to the next life rather than mourn. West African slaves brought that tradition to America....basically, we do the same thing here. Ever seen a funeral in New Orleans?
I understand that mass xenophobia precludes knowing that sort of stuff.
[This message has been edited by Doni Hagan (edited 12-12-2013).]
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08:56 AM
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
" Mudblood " sounds extremely derogatory to me, suggesting that Barack isn't human. Please be honest enough to admit that I have never said outright or suggested any such any thing. I don't like his condescension, his god-like conviction of his own intellect, or his willingness to be his own law, and I will criticize him for that. But I have never held the thought that he is less than human. Since you brought it up, sounds like you may have some feelings on the subject.
Oh, it doesn't roll trippingly off the tongue, either.
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08:57 AM
PFF
System Bot
yellowstone Member
Posts: 9299 From: Düsseldorf/Germany Registered: Jun 2003
This is just something for the tabloids to report while they ignore all the real damage 0bama is doing.
Tabloids? It sure seems that the anti-obama crowd has latched on to this... heck, even Rush is going off on it. Geez... For the rest of us, we know there are other issues that need to be addressed, but for those who hate obama, they have point out every thing they can and hope that something will stick.
So... it is ok for others to take photos at this memorial, but not a current head of state? Eh... I don't buy that, sorry.
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09:16 AM
Formula88 Member
Posts: 53788 From: Raleigh NC Registered: Jan 2001
Tabloids? It sure seems that the anti-obama crowd has latched on to this... heck, even Rush is going off on it. Geez... For the rest of us, we know there are other issues that need to be addressed, but for those who hate obama, they have point out every thing they can and hope that something will stick.
So... it is ok for others to take photos at this memorial, but not a current head of state? Eh... I don't buy that, sorry.
You're not going to buy anything short of a glowing endorsement of anything 0bama does. I clearly stated my opinion. I don't think it's a big deal and yes you can lump Rush in with the tabloids. There are plenty of reasons for me to not like 0bama without something this trivial.
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09:21 AM
jaskispyder Member
Posts: 21510 From: Northern MI Registered: Jun 2002
You're not going to buy anything short of a glowing endorsement of anything 0bama does.
wrong, again... I can just see through the hate that people have for this man. He can do no right and everything is his fault.... which sounds a lot like the bush haters... everything was his fault. More of that double standard.
Oh please.... smiling, for a photo at a memorial... wow... what an indiscretion (not).
So, why are you and others not calling out Bush for being in a photo at the same event, or how about Bono... geez how dare they, or anyone else that was there?
You don't do that at a funeral... unless it wasn't a meeting of mourning, but of celebration.
Look, Obama sucks, I get it, but this is stupid. What's funny though is the way he smiled and Michelle apparently not liking him taking selfies with other women. That is funny.
I still say its wrong. I hate to do it, but i give her a point for her disapproval of his immaturity..
And yes i have been to both funerals and 'celebrations of their life'. And i still think its wrong to go around acting like a 16 year old child and disrespecting the person you are there for.
[This message has been edited by User00013170 (edited 12-12-2013).]
Let's see here, our first "black" president so loved by the masses, and here he is at the funeral of one of histories most important figures, and he is smiling in a self pic?! 
