re: #248 RealityBasedSteve

Idolize and demonize are the same in that they are a lazy way to view any individual. With rare exceptions few individuals are totally pure or totally flawed. Even the Saint can have feet of clay regrading some things. Mandela was a great man and did many great things. He wasn’t perfect, and were there excesses committed in his name. I doubt that any other person would have been able to lead and guide the transition that he started SA down. He will be missed, and should become a role guide for others.

RBS

I can’t imagine a post-apartheid South Africa without Nelson Mandela in the picture. It’s possible that the regime would have eventually fallen, but what followed wouldn’t be South Africa anymore. The man made possible a negotiated, peaceful transition that would have seen violent revolution or continued oppression in any other world. All his flaws do not detract from that.