Comments on: Comments on 8142

Post number 8142

textist — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:10:32 -0800

Nelson Mandela is a “terrorist and a Communist” according to the Canadian Alliance’s laughingstock postpubescent Member of Parliament for Calgary West, who, incidentally, is also a virgin.

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:19:22 -0800

He's a virgin? Whoa! Hold the presses! Better research that one, it completely twists the entire meaning of the main story here.

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:23:36 -0800

who, incidentally, is also a virgin. *defensively* Yeah, so?

By: OneBallJay

OneBallJay — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:31:19 -0800

Not to burst the bubble (so to speak), but that last article says he is not a virgin. And, like SpecialK said, so?

By: OneBallJay

OneBallJay — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:37:12 -0800

Wait, nevermind, I've got the names all mixed up. Those crazy canucks, can't they have easily differentiated names like Man #1 and Man #2? However, it is good to see that at least one of my neighbors to the north is trying to keep those blasted pinko communists out.

By: riley370

riley370 — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:49:52 -0800

As a Canuck, I love to watch the Alliance Party self destruct in such self-eating slow motion. Star Wars still comes to mind whenever I hear their name. "You are part of the rebel alliance..."

By: pnevares

pnevares — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:57:37 -0800

That "virgin" link refers to itself as "Canada's Definitive Satirical Magazine". The Onion Up North?

By: textist

textist — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 18:13:35 -0800

The Onion Up North? Frank isn't as funny as The Onion; it is however much, much meaner.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 18:38:10 -0800

That isn't the onion up north, the best campus satire rag is golden words at queen's university. Ah, it's a shameless plug, I write for them. However, we do have evidence of other campus newspapers copying our articles and worshiping us.

By: silusGROK

silusGROK — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 22:02:11 -0800

A virgin, how _terrible_! There can't be any of those around anymore, could there? Call out the mounties! As for the "Communist and a Terrorist" silliness... sheesh! I mean, Mandela's past is hardly pristine, but one might as well shoot straight if you're going take fire at a person held in such high esteem.

By: tamim

tamim — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 23:02:38 -0800

textist: I am just curious. Why did you add the qualifier, "virgin"? Do you think criticizing Mandela should be restricted to people who have had sex (hetero or otherwise)? Are you surprised that a virgin can be elected an MP? Is this your satiric way of mocking at his Catholic practices? [No sarcasm here. I am genuinely curious.]

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 23:19:47 -0800

I think Textist was joking, guys. And come on, an apparently normal, healthy looking fella who is nearly 30 years old and hasn't had sex isn't strange? It's a lot stranger than a man getting a blow job at work, and that was in the news for a year.

By: textist

textist — Thu, 07 Jun 2001 23:47:11 -0800

Nothing against Catholics – being a lapsed one – or virginity for that matter, but the mention of his being a virgin (or, more specifically, repeatedly claiming publicly to be one) was intended to add another dimension to the utter ridiculousness of the guy: something already painfully familiar to Canadians even slightly to the left of Conrad Black. Making loud political hay out of such a personal moral decision as this, while simultaneously preaching cookie-cutter neocon blarf designed to roger everyone but white businessmen up the bum, strikes me as ridiculous. Plus it’s funny.

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 01:29:59 -0800

Well, I guess Mandela was both a terrorist and a Communist - those facts can't be disputed. But you have to let bygones be bygones and move forward for the sake of peace and stability, which is what the National Party in South Africa did - so why can't the rest of the world.

By: rodii

rodii — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 07:09:56 -0800

So the problem here is that they can't get unanimous approval because of this guy? It's not enough to burble about Mandela like the media used to over Sister Theresa, but we must enforce unanimity? All hail St. <insert your own media-championed paragon here>! Anders may be a joke, but if I were him I'd vote no just to piss the forces of rightthink off.

By: tranquileye

tranquileye — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 07:15:48 -0800

twistedonion, those "facts" can be disputed:Mandela was neither a terorrist or a Communist. Mandela was never a member of the Communist Party in South Africa, although he has said that the Communists were critical in anti-Apartheid movement. During the 1940s and 1950s he worked as a lawyer and attempted to use peaceful, legal means to gain rights for blacks. The South African government banned his organization, the African National Congress, and the white Transvaal Law Society tried to strike Mandela off the roll of attorneys. He was tried for treason. In 1961 he helped form Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC. It conducted a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations; it avoided hurting people. In the early-1960s he was charged with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment. Shortly after his release in 1990, Mandela agreed to the suspension of armed struggle.

By: tranquileye

tranquileye — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 07:19:27 -0800

Anders voted against the Mandela resolution in part because the ruling Liberal party would not back his resolution honouring the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on their 50th wedding anniversary. Anders is an idiot.

By: kindall

kindall — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 09:02:45 -0800

I am surprised that there is a 30-year-old virgin in the Canadian parliament for the same reason I would be surprised if the Easter Bunny had won a seat.

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 09:12:08 -0800

tranquileye, I have to disagree but perhaps that is my tainted knowledge of SA history - I went to high school in Joburg towards the end of Apartheid, but our history lessons were rather biased. I didn't say that Mandela was a member of the SA Communist party, but to my knowledge the ANC (right up to the end of Apartheid at any rate) preached communist values - they were a communist party. The military wing of the ANC may have tried to avoid hurting people but as with any armed struggle they in fact killed a lot of people. Don't get me wrong, I have a great respect for Mandela but I would still consider him to have been both a terrorist and a communist, much in the same way as I consider Gerry Adams to have been both a terrorist and a communist (the IRA hold Marxist principles - or they did at any rate), although I have no respect for Gerry Adams. But we all have to move on

By: Dreama

Dreama — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 09:13:08 -0800

I think it is far more apt to say that Winnie Mandela is a terrorist or at least a promoter of terrorist activities -- though her political leanings are open to discussion.

By: silusGROK

silusGROK — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 09:33:34 -0800

Um... there's nothing wrong or strange about being almost 30 and a virgin. There are plenty of people who wait until they're married or in some other form of a committed relationship to have sex. I'm single, I'm a virgin, and I'm politically active... of course, I'm not stupid enough to think that going off on Nelson Mandela is the least bit politic. And I concur, dreama... if any Mandela was a terrorist it was Winnie.

By: kindall

kindall — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 10:48:24 -0800

There are plenty of people who wait until they're married or in some other form of a committed relationship to have sex. For sufficiently small values of "plenty," I'm sure.

By: DiplomaticImmunity

DiplomaticImmunity — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 11:40:19 -0800

vision - wrong, no; strange, yes, in the sense of being highly unusual statistically.

By: tranquileye

tranquileye — Sat, 09 Jun 2001 12:05:12 -0800

twistedonion, I guess we can agree to disagree. Mandela was never a member of the Communist Party in South Africa. From what I have read of his political beliefs he was a socialist and social democrat. I associate communism with authoritarianism, and that just wasn't Mandela. I don't think he was a "terrorist"; I think he fought for freedom in the face of state violence. The way that he conducted himself and his government after he came to power speaks volumes about this man.

By: rodii

rodii — Sat, 09 Jun 2001 13:47:21 -0800

I am surprised that there is a 30-year-old virgin in the Canadian parliament for the same reason I would be surprised if the Easter Bunny had won a seat. There's a strong whiff of the closet about this, I think.