Former South African President PW Botha dies aged 90.
I bet he’s up there at the gates of heaven wagging his finger at St Peter and demanding to speak to his boss.
The man was a bully and a thug.
Grim
Yipes, could you ask a mod to amend the thread title so that people don’t think Krokodil the poster is dead (and that you’re happy about it)? You gave me a shock there.
Anyway, I’m picturing Botha meeting Jesus and reenacting the scene from Lethal Weapon 2:
Botha: B-but… you’re bleck.
St. Peter, to Jesus: He’s right, you know… y’are.
As requested, the title has been edited so poor **Krokodil ** only has a little bit of a heart-attack instead of a big one.
The Washington Post has a great article - really conveys how utterly pathetic Botha was. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110100006.html
Just to note that P.W. shouldn’t be muddled up with Pik - something that occasionally happens.
Dead but not forgotten. In all the wrong ways.
An apology, a change of heart, would not have undone what he did, but it would have been an indicator of character. His lack of remorse is another sort of indicator.
Funny, but when I first read about this the first thing that popped into my head was this (bottom row left).
Little-known fact: P W stood for Pee Wee.
If there is an afterlife I am quite certain he’s not at the Pearly Gates. He’s somewhere they keep the thermostat set much, much higher.
When South Africa came up with the idea of the “Truth and REconciliation” hearings, I thought it was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard of. Boy, was I wrong; it was a remarkably smart way to acknowledge the wrongs of apartheid and move on without causing a horrible backlash.
But it’s still a shame they didn’t hang P.W. Botha.
If there is an afterlife I am quite certain he’s not at the Pearly Gates. He’s somewhere they keep the thermostat set much, much higher.
When South Africa came up with the idea of the “Truth and REconciliation” hearings, I thought it was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard of. Boy, was I wrong; it was a remarkably smart way to acknowledge the wrongs of apartheid and move on without causing a horrible backlash.
But it’s still a shame they didn’t hang P.W. Botha.
Actually, that’s maybe the one thing I respect him for. Think about it. You’re P.W. Botha. You’ve built your life on the idea that whites are superior to blacks, and you’ve spent your entire political career maintaining that principle.
So now it’s over, and your enemies, who stand for the opposite of all that, are in power. What do you do now? Do you say, “Oh, I’m so sorry! I’ve changed! I think all the things I’ve believed in are wrong, and all my actions defending them are evil!”
If he had the views when he was strong, why change his position now just because he’s weak?
Fortunately, some people with racist and other abhorrent views do come to realize and admit that they were wrong.
You’re George Wallace. You have built your political career as Governor of Alabama on supporting hard-line segregation between whites and blacks. You are well-known for standing in the door of a building at the University of Alabama to prevent black students from entering. You have used incredibly nasty racist images and slogans in your political campaigns. According to a Gallup poll, you are the seventh most admired man in America for what you have done.
Now it’s over- segregation has gone down. You have adopted some new religious beliefs, and you have become aware of the harm that your segregationist policies and rhetoric have done. What do you do now?
George Wallace apologized to civil rights leaders and appointed a record number of black Alabamians to government positions in his last term as governor.
That had to take an incredible amount of courage, to realize that he had been wrong, admit it, and try to do something about the damage he caused. That’s what I wish PW Botha had had the morals and the courage to do. Recognizing and admitting that you were wrong isn’t a weak thing to do.
I’m an atheist, but I won’t pass this up:
Good luck with that. You’ve had some time to prepare that apology, so it had better be a good one.
Because it would have been morally right?
As Pope said, you should never be ashamed to admit you’ve been in the wrong, since it merely shows you are wiser today than you were yesterday.
I think his point was that sticking to his guns, however repellent, is better than issuing some completely fake I’m-dying-so-I-better-score-some-brownie-points-with-God apology.
Even if he didn’t believe he was in the wrong, though? He should lie about what he believes to make the people he believes are evil happy?
No, but it would have been much better if he had recognized that his racist views were wrong and evil.
So I guess only one Bothan died to give us this message?
Come on, someone had to say it.
I just call him Pig Botha.
Some of the reaction in Sth Africa is interesting (and IMHO, inspiring):