# New African Money Pit - ‘They Eat Money’: How Graft Enriches Mandela’s Political Heirs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-african-money-pit-they-eat-money-how-graft-enriches-mandela-s-political-heirs/812556>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 17, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-african-money-pit-they-eat-money-how-graft-enriches-mandela-s-political-heirs/812556 "2018-04-17T03:00:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-african-money-pit-they-eat-money-how-graft-enriches-mandela-s-political-heirs/812556/41 "2018-04-20T20:34:52Z")

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> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Since nothing about this OP invites discussion of the entire U.S. budget, I don’t believe you.

Believe what you like. The OP specifically said “That’s not how I want my tax dollars spent”, I was asking if they were OK with corrupt spending of their tx dollars as long as it was in country. I didn’t question non-corrupt spending, so “the entire US budget” is a strawman on your part. Whereas Pruitt’s corrupt spending is a direct comparison.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-african-money-pit-they-eat-money-how-graft-enriches-mandela-s-political-heirs/812556/42 "2018-04-20T20:43:48Z")

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> [@jayjay](#):
>
> > [@Shodan](#):
> >
> > For all the screeching that happens when “Black Lives Matter” gets the response that all lives matter, I would have thought that “Black Corruption Matters” wouldn’t be turned aside with “All Corruption Matters”.
> 
> I’m going to assume you’re just incredibly morally myopic and don’t realize how racist the quoted post is.

Yeah. The point of “Black Lives Matter” is to protest the fact that in the historically and persistently racist society of the US, black lives are routinely treated as though they matter less than white lives.

To mimic that phrasing to characterize government corruption in a different country on a different continent as “Black Corruption” is just a smidge away from proclaiming that you lump all black people together and don’t notice any difference in their social/political/cultural situations compared to their similarity in race.

For comparison, try to imagine someone describing the financial-misdealing scandals currently surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a case of “Jewish cunning and dishonesty”. Netanyahu undeniably is Jewish, and there seems little doubt that he’s been quite cunning and dishonest in his various backroom deals. But do you see why gratuitously linking those characteristics together comes across as kinda slimy? That’s how you’re coming across when you try to draw a parallel between the “Black Lives Matter” activism of African-Americans and so-called “Black Corruption” among South African politicians.

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