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Damage Control: "Selfie At A Funeral" Photographer Explains What Really Happened
Following yesterday's "selfie-gate" furore at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, it is perhaps unsurprising that the AFP photographer responsible for the series of incriminating photos come out with a wordy (and picturey) response to explain what we all saw. Roberto Schmidt notes, "it was interesting to see politicians in a human light because usually when we see them it is in such a controlled environment. Maybe this would not be such an issue if we, as the press, would have more access to dignitaries and be able to show they are human as the rest of us." Indeed, especially for a president whose only focus is to be seen as "one of the people" and not actually doing, you know, work to help the people.
Via Roberto Schmidt of AFP blog,
So here’s the photo, my photo, which quickly lit up the world’s social networks and news websites. The “selfie” of three world leaders who, during South Africa’s farewell to Nelson Mandela, were messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas one might expect.
In general on this blog, photojournalists tell the story behind a picture they’ve taken. I’ve done this for images from Pakistan, and India, where I am based. And here I am again, but this time the picture comes from a stadium in Soweto, and shows people taking a photo of themselves. I guess it’s a sign of our times that somehow this image seemed to get more attention than the event itself. Go figure.
Anyway, I arrived in South Africa with several other AFP journalists to cover the farewell and funeral ceremonies for Nelson Mandela. We were in the Soccer City stadium in Soweto, under a driving rain. I’d been there since the crack of dawn and when I took this picture, the memorial ceremony had already been going on for more than two hours.
From the podium, Obama had just qualified Mandela as a “giant of history who moved a nation towards justice." After his stirring eulogy, America’s first black president sat about 150 metres across from where I was set up. He was surrounded by other foreign dignitaries and I decided to follow his movements with the help of my 600 mm x 2 telephoto lens.
So Obama took his place amid these leaders who’d gathered from all corners of the globe. Among them was British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as a woman who I wasn’t able to immediately identify. I later learned it was the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt. I’m a German-Colombian based in India, so I don’t feel too bad I didn’t recognize her! At the time, I thought it must have been one of Obama’s many staffers.
Anyway, suddenly this woman pulled out her mobile phone and took a photo of herself smiling with Cameron and the US president. I captured the scene reflexively. 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. The ceremony had already gone on for two hours and would last another two. The atmosphere was totally relaxed – I didn’t see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the US or not. We are in Africa.
(AFP Photo / Roberto Schmidt)
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.
I took these photos totally spontaneously, without thinking about what impact they might have. At the time, I thought the world leaders were simply acting like human beings, like me and you. I doubt anyone could have remained totally stony faced for the duration of the ceremony, while tens of thousands of people were celebrating in the stadium. For me, the behaviour of these leaders in snapping a selfie seems perfectly natural. I see nothing to complain about, and probably would have done the same in their place. The AFP team worked hard to display the reaction that South African people had for the passing of someone they consider as a father. We moved about 500 pictures, trying to portray their true feelings, and this seemingly trivial image seems to have eclipsed much of this collective work.
(AFP Photo / Roberto Schmidt)
It was interesting to see politicians in a human light because usually when we see them it is in such a controlled environment. Maybe this would not be such an issue if we, as the press, would have more access to dignitaries and be able to show they are human as the rest of us.
I confess too that it makes me a little sad we are so obsessed with day-to-day trivialities, instead of things of true importance.
During Mandela's memorial service in Johannesburg. (AFP Photo / Roberto Schmidt)
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Post-spun or not, here is the just released take of the Taiwan animators on the Obama gaffe:
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[sound of respirator]
The farce is strong in this one.
[sound of respirator]
Dude, that is just fucking awesome! ROFCopter.
I notice no one else in the shots is partying like its 1999...
Whether British or American, we both have fucking embarrassments in charge.
At least Cameron was homegrown, though. Across the pond you end up with a dodgy import.
Oh come on now, Kenya was part of the British Empire...
LOL :)
Touche :)
And you guys STILL think you won in 1776!
LOL!
We know how to play the LOnnnngggg game knukles
O Flaccid is our Vergeltungswaffe 2,
You have no idea where it came from, never heard it before it struck even
but shit look at the devastation.....
Now all we have to do is make sure the Germans blow up Euroland in 10, 9, 8...
I love it when a plan comes together ;-)
Coincidentally...purely by coincidence...the White House today released a whole raft of "rare insider photgraphs" showing the President on Air Force One, meeting with GWB and Bill Clinton and acting all presidential. A whole mess of new flattering photographs inundate the innertubes. Yes, it was a coincidence.
Obama worries about sleeping on the couch? whos? Reggies?
did you mean 'couch' or 'crotch?'
The real reason for the retraction:
Obama "No Reggie, I swear I wasn't flirting with that blonde...baby you gotta believe me."
[photographer]: "Hey, look - a delivery from Amazon! Their drone-delivery really is... EOM"
Yea but his pics werent the only ones.
as the Guarding points out..
"
As the trio posed for the mobile phone snap, Obama's wife Michelle sat alongside her husband looking somewhat stony faced.
Her mood didn't improve as Mr Obama and Ms Thorning-Schmidt talked through the order of service and shared a joke.
And it seems that the frosty faced First Lady was so unimpressed with her husband's behaviour that she eventually put an end to the fun.
A photo sequence which later went viral online appears to show Michelle swapping seats to sit between Barack and Ms Thorning-Schmidt.
So - fucking - what?
Exactly how does this differ from 1,000,000 other girlfriends/wives, who tonight will break up that conversation between the boyfriend/husband and the attractive and flirty girl from down the street?
I swear that all those who can't recognize that situation has never been in a serious long term relationship.
the diff: when YOU do it-is the whole world watching?
Are you totally fckg clueless...how many of those million other people are married to the president of the usa, at a funeral for supposedly a very great man??????????????
Well, when you put it like that...
a) me - clueless? it was a memorial, not a fucking funeral. THE FUNERAL IS ON THE 15TH. christ, even THE MOST BASIC internet research would have revealed that, but you find it more suiting to parade about your ignorance.
b) i wasn't aware that the potus wasn't human, and didn't expose human relational traits. perhaps you should take that up with his lizard overlords.
Now run along to the other kids, and be angry - and ignorant - about something else.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d254104-5e50-11e3-8621-00144feabdc0.html
Oh well that entirely changes things! Be sure and let me know when you spit the bit. I'll stop by at the MEMORIAL and flirt up your mom, who obviously didn't teach you decorum and manners to be shown in a public, somber setting.
Don' mean nuthin', don' mean nuthin' at all.
I have to side with EscapeKey on that. the memorial was in a stadium, in South Africa, with hours of speeches and a huge public that afterwards complained they would have liked to have much, much more singing and dancing in honour of Mandela. have a look at yourself in this short BBC video to get the idea. it's Africa... note the lady at the beginning, or how many were dancing shirtless. note the smiles, the mood
on the photos you don't hear the racket, and most commenters behave as if all this happened in a church, or in a somber setting. well, it didn't
mournful gravitas, like most social things, depends on context
I didn't realize that Mandela was an Irish surname and that this was just another drunken mick wake.
Honestly, i don't expect the man to be wearing sackcloth and ashes. Chatting politely with the people around him and smiling would be fine.
He was acting like a pixie stix loaded 13 year old who just got his first taste of up the shirt. This wasn't one of his fundraisers where he's trying to capture the hipster vote yet again. It was still a public venue, and he's still the (ahem) elected leader and representative of a nation. And he was an embarrassment.
Way back, before cell phones, if I had acted like he did in public ANYWHERE my ass would have glowed red in the dark for days. These days, my dad would still probably hire the job done.
Thanks for sharing your many issues with us.
I'm not here to detract from your right to feel embarassed. I'm also not here to say that those photos are not embarassing. I'm only here to give EscapeKey my recognition for pointing out that the whole little scandal is based on the false assumption that the whole affair was sombre, mournful and quiet. in short, a funeral
because it was a hell of a racket there, with a mood which would be mistaken as a carnival, elsewhere. public, yes. in context? no
if the whole thing would have been a Mardi Gras parade, would it have been acceptable? 'cause that was the next best thing to explain the mood, there
Sure thing nits, 5 million dollars while our nation is going down the tube. Funny the president of Israel didn't go for cost reasons. Odd...
He would have felt like a hypocrite. Israel is an Apartheid state. Sometimes it's just too hard to fake it.
Looking at a post apartheid SA, Israel should keep their apartheid state as long as possible! Israel knows what will happen if they give in to demands to dismantle their divisions. It will look just like SA. The economy will crash and crime will be throught the roof with no justice for anyone. You may think that IS justice, but as always justice is in the eyes of the beholder.
Let us know when you get Obama's little prick out of you hero worshiping mouth.
Pathetic. "If you're not with us, you're against us".
AS USUAL, it would have taken one of the ZH moron commenters about 2 seconds of research to find that I essentially always criticise Obama - EVEN in this thread, but hey, that's too much to expect out of someone with an IQ which challenges that of a cucumber.
But you're probably too fucking stupid to do research. Here, I've googled the word for you, in the probable event you don't know what it means:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=research
...because they aren't the President of the United States and the PM of Denmark at funeral that the world showed up to?....is this a trick question?
No, it was a memorial, the funeral is on the 15th. To elaborate - a 5-hour long memorial service. Now, I've never been to a 5 hour memorial service, but I assume they can feel rather long-winded. Consequently, people will probably tend to goof about here and there.
Why people dedicate such anger to such a non-event is completely beyond me. Bread and circuses, I guess.
Dude...I'm not angry...you on the other hand seem quite pissed. I think its fucking hilarious. Memorial, funeral, whatever. The MSM pumped up The Big Oski before his speech and even compared him to Mandella and what a somber time this was. The Prez partied on.... If anything it shows he didn't believe a damn thing he said while giving his little montage.
I think its great he is having an awesome time ... clearly the Danish PM was interested in Barack sausage. The timing was probably bad though.
http://s3.firstpost.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/03_Helle-Thorning_Bara...
As to the human side..perhaps if the WH granted the press access this wouldn't be an issue?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/21/white-house-press-corps-...
No, I'm not angry. But when someone responds to me in an uncivil fashion, I am delighted to announce I can lower myself to that level.
But yeah, it's a complete dog and pony show. In reality, half of the leaders probably didn't know Mandela. Or even liked him. But official obligations call for supposed luminaries to be present at these events.
I just don't get why people get their knickers in a twist over a couple of selfies. In a way, though, it's probably convenient for the cleptocracy, as it deflects attention from the real issues for a day or two. I wonder what news have been buried while this has been making the headlines.
I don't believe I was uncivil to you at all...was I?...is this another trick question?...wait I asked the question?!!!
Again I think this is the fault of the WH policy to keep press away from the Prez. and it has come back to bite them.
Whoever is running their strategy is a total idiot...though I hear they have brought in a pro.. John Podesta.
Totally agree something else somewhere happened far more dire.
Oh, I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to nightowl telling me I was "fucking clueless".
If you truly don't understand why some folks are going apeshit about this photo, or pretending to go apeshit about this photo, then indeed you are fucking clueless. To find this all a distraction and charade is fine; to claim you don't understand the politics, motivations and reasons behind the other posts would take you to the totes ma gotes level of clueless.
No, you're the clueless one for going hook, line and sinker all over this complete non-event.
Whle this was happening, they could have fucking stolen your pension through annual "fees" and "duties". Or instituted extra Obamacare fees, or approved an extra 2,000 NSA employees with the expicit task of bugging your arse. But hey, keep focusing on what's important, right? OMG OBAMA TAKING A SELFIE!!!eleventyone
Who the fuck cares about the current establishment puppet takes selfies with other puppets. In a few years, there will be another event during which a whole new round of puppets take selfies for you to go apeshit about. This, while they take another cut of your pension.
I'm sure the nightowl meant it in some pejorative sense, but many of us think it is quite fine to be "fucking clueless" in a completely irrational and anti-human society.
A non event. That we just blew 10 million on to fly our glorious leaders, past and present to. That the whole fucking world blew money to fly their leaders past and present to.
Good thing it wasn't a Real Event. Who knows what that would have cost!
Do you have aspergers or something? Are you that kid that was always acting out in public events? Your mom make a lot of excuses for your poor fucking behaviour while you were growing up, or did she just ignore it and expect everyones else to follow suit?
They come off looking like school kids on a class field trip after ingesting too much chocolates to me no matter what the explanation.
Fuck you Roberto Schmidt.
Any excuse he puts forward is a LIE!!! Just like everything that passes through his lips. Well except Reggie of course.
Choomster has'nt seen Chewbacca's gooch in a month of sundays.....if ever..
Would you?!?
Wookie Gooch?
Like the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot?
Horrifying
thanks a million guys
I keep seeing a blaxplotation rendition of Linda Blair in "The Exorcist".
DO YOU WANT THIS SOW? FUCK ME! FUCK ME!
Knuks, I got to say thank you!
Your wit and word play never fails to bring a chukle.
That excuse is bullshit. Even though Mandela was a commie turd, taking selfies at a funeral isn't even remotely beneath these ruling class arrogant turds.
Obama is obviously gay as a whistle, and in my view, his transexual beard of a wife is probably envious of the blonde that actually looks like a woman.
Bozo, dufus, and obama, what do you expect?
"it was interesting to see politicians in a human light because usually when we see them it is in such a controlled environment. Maybe this would not be such an issue if we, as the press, would have more access to dignitaries and be able to show they are human as the rest of us."
Or maybe this would not be such an issue if the President didn't fly half way around the world on the tax payers' dime to attend the memorial service of a man he supposedly holds in such high regard only to act like an 8th grader playing grab ass under the bleachers.
Dadburnitpa said it best last night:
"Like making out in the balcony during Schindler's List."
No excuses. Experienced capitalist political hacks know the power of symbolism at a major memorial service.
So, "our" Pres. thought the world needed one more pic of himself...
What a shame!
Hey Mr. AFP photog man...
That's the biggest sack of furious backpeddling horsecock I've ever heard.
But Boeing thanks you--Moochelle is now demanding her own 747.
Droning/mysterious death of that AFP photographer in 3...2...1...
Note: stay away from engine ejecting Mercedes!
Roberto Schmidt, you made it to Obama's drone list.
The first on the list !!
A narcissist, a liar, and a con artist walk into a bar while taking a selfie. The bartender says....What'll it be Mr. President!
"I confess too that it makes me a little sad we are so obsessed with day-to-day trivialities."
Is that why you fly around the world taking pictures of them?
Apparently Obama was not the only fraud on stage there, a fake signer for the deaf
http://news.yahoo.com/outrage-over-sign-language-interpreter-madiba-memorial-082056835.html
It was interesting to see politicians in a human light because usually when we see them it is in such a controlled environment. Maybe this would not be such an issue if we, as the press, would have more access to dignitaries and be able to show they are human as the rest of us.
Hey Roberto - lose the pompous arogance that allows you to somehow think that "we should be this....or we should be that." There is no doubt Obama is human like the rest of us. And like every other human - when you fuck up - (and there is no contest on this), in many a man's opinion - somebody is going to call you out because that too is human nature. I'm not going to afford POTUS or anybody else the kind of special forgiveness you seem to think such dignitaries deserve. For this is precisely whats wrong with what you are asking - that we are all equal out of one side of your mouth, but, that some are more equal than others out of the other side. Finally, apart from the behaviour that Obama demonstrated, captured by you, is hardly becoming of the one holding office of POTUS. If you can't handle the reaction - then don't take the fucking picture, and for sure, then proceed to post it.
I bet this copy is written by White House PR. White House is more concerned about this bad press than they are about the press on ObamaCare.
THE BITCH WAS FURIOUS !!
BTW, WHAT WAS SHE DOING THERE ANYWAY ??
Cock blocking?
EDIT: I didn't say who's!
You didn't tap that.
Translation; This misunderstanding of the situation is why it is so wise of the White House to so tightly control who gets to take pictures, and when. lol
OK. Bottom line.........who really cares? He's proved himself to be just another darkie looking to be accepted in the 'hood.
Trip to Africa: $5M (U.S. taxpayers)
Selfie w/ Hot Danish babe: priceless
'
'
'
'
Dangerous…
This is called 'Damage Control" and it's in high gear.
This reporter has been told from the top down, to fix this. The spin doctors are in full-fledged panic mode.
You will NEVER see another picture like this from a main-stream media outlet.
Self-censorship abounds with the Obama camp. Media outlets everywhere begin the morning with "How can we promote or shield Obama?"
This is the facism that is coming, has arrived in our society.
The flip-side of the coin, Rob Ford, from Toronto, of whom I'm sure you've all heard of, lately.
While he did it to himself, this man can't scratch his ass without the leftist media bothering him.
Both examples are messages being sent of the same manner. You don't want to be on the opposite side of the trade if you're a conservative, fiscal or social, in politics.
The media is in the bag for the filthy, leftist, liberal progressive, socialists, social-engineering, wealth-redistributing, nanny-statists.
Dark times ahead…
•?•
V-V
Dark times ahead… YES. American media has become PRAVDA for White House. Apparently, no one cares.
Holy shit my Schadenfreude is KILLING me today. I love when that happens!
Interesting to see NSA I mean Youtube pull the FLOTUS face and seat switching videos. ..
LOL, all the NSA can do is copying data, but not suppressing them.
So, is Mandela now finally dead and buried? It was pretty obvious the man would pass this year. Whatever happened on stage was scripted long long ago including all the "news" of outpouring and mourning. Is it that shitty out there that TPTB have to serve us this crap to the extent they have to distract from the overall shitty global economy? Sure glad for them that Mandela didn't die during the desaster in the Philippines. That would have been difficult for the propaganda masters to navigate.
If you haven't guessed it by now, I've seen enough bullshit in my life to know what's real and what is not. The Obamas are a real problem. He is an idiot and she is hard to control. The honeymoon is over and the shellack is off. Those pictures told the raw truth about the state of the Obamas and if you had seen this in the National Enquirer, you wouldn't believe it.
I was sorta hoping for the Sherman Hemsley/James Brown family fued over the body, but Xmas isn't coming early this year :(
Denmark's PM has a new G.B.F. !!!
gotta have a pic of that...
I want the picture of Chris Matthews crawing out from the podium, wiping his mouth after Barry walks away.
Sorry, Stooge of Goebbels.
It's too late to Take It Back.
Drone on.
rtalcott- "O-man's behavior was like that of george bush...a 16 yr old on his first road trip."
Hey fuckstick. George Bush WAS there an conducted himself with dignity and respect.
If there was a photo like this of Bush and these two you'd be hearing the same about him but worse. And nobody ever has questioned Bush's sexuality as well as his love for his wife.
Too bad the Bush's didn't take a selfie on the plane ride home aboard Air Force 1 laughing their asses off. With the Wookie beating barry like the dog he is.....and by his own admission EATS!
Hilarious thread. One of you wingers need to get a wide stance, peep under the stall and see what hand Obama wipes with so you can bitch about that.
It's Valerie Jarrett's!
Hey roadkill. Maybe you should adopt a wide stance so you can be DP'd by Baryy and Reggie. They have a double creampie sundae just for you.
And yes i know your name is roadhazard, but your stench reminds me of roadkill.
Those on the right at least abandon their degenerates. The few that don't are statists like the entire left is!
And before anyone blasts me for the left/right paradigm bs well let me tell you there is one.
One believes in government/central planning by the state. AKA collectivism
The other believes in individual freedom/accountability. AKA Capitalism.
We havent lived in a free market ever in this country and to decsribe the conditions we are in now are a result of Capitalism is to be as idiotic as those that think that goverment can solve peoples problems.
Red Dawn Bitchezzzzzz!
WOOOOOOOOOLVVVERRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINESSSSSSS!
Obozo doesn't wipe his own ass! He's got a rotating crew of MSNBC anchors for that.
Matthews!!! Front to back, bitch! Front......to....back!
dude.....there's a career there somewhere
I see some wingers have looked. heh
narcissitic asshole.
http://amazingasset.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/14773b2971c73b-43.-Pi...
If I had a brother and sister, they'd look just like David Cameron and Helle Thorning Schmidt.
...if looks could kill!
This is why the alternative media rocks. The Hedge cuts through all the bullshiite and tells is like it is. This is why TPTB are getting worried. Not only is their spin no longer working but they see that more of the public are escaping the matrix. More people are seeing the fraud and the lies that they are and have been swallowing for god knows how long.
Its just too bad that even fight club is now PC. telling it like it is, no matter how ignorant or blatantly false one views are, should still be allowed to flow around these parts. I mean what is this China? Canada?
Then again the Tyler's may not be from the USA so no free speech for you!
Free Francis Sawyer.
ZH rocks because most of the users and posters here have a higher than average American IQ and can discern facts from fiction.
Living and breathing the corruption of the financial industry does that to people. Exposing the fraud of frauds for what it is because of insight and common sense.
ZH comments are a beacon of truth.
Edit: Why the junk? LOL It was the "American IQ", wasn't it?
I can only imagine what the world would be today if the likes of Cameron and Obama were at Potsdam instead of Churchill and Truman.
I bet Michelle's wooly-munkus looks like a 9" tall half pecan, wreathed in steel wool.
Work it, Twerk it sweet thang.
I just threw up. Thanks, you owe me a lunch.
Yeah and mine too!
+ breakfast + last nights cheese and biscuits
and the carrots I can't remember eating....
I like to watch the MSM evening news for laughs and see what they are trying to feed us. This past week, every night's lead story has been Nelson Mandela. Enough already! That and the weather. It's winter! It snows! All the stuff going on in the world and this is what makes news. Do they talk about TPP, Fukushima, police out of control, real economic news? No, just fluff and distractions.
America’s media, if it uses a true selfie, would be showing the face of Marxism – first, for its spectacular adulation of Nelson Mandela for his communist activities as he worked for a revolution against Whites in South Africa, and second, for the total blackout of the genocide against Whites and non-communist Blacks that continues to this day.
Alex Newman on World Net Daily wrote in June that Dr. Gregory Stanton with Genocide Watch and other experts say that in South Africa “the goal is to terrorize and eventually eliminate white farmers…(and) the ultimate aim is to establish communist tyranny.”
Here are xcerpts from In jeopardy: Future of white South Africans: Genocide Watch expert warns population on verge of extermination | WND
“With a population of around 5 million, whites today make up less than 10 percent of the population, down from above 20 percent a century ago.
Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, an estimated half-a-million have emigrated. Countless more would go if they could.
Land redistribution
In a separate BBC report, the state-funded news organization also documented the results of the South African government’s highly controversial land-redistribution policies.
The government admitted that 90 percent of farms it had “redistributed” from whites who farmed the land for generations to blacks with little knowledge of farming – almost 25,000 square miles of land so far – are now “failing.”
“The farms – which were active accruing revenue for the state – were handed over to people, and more than 90 percent of those are not functional,” Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti…”
Newman says that “the government plan was to redistribute a full third of white-owned land to blacks by 2014.
“From legally mandated race-based economic discrimination against whites to the thousands of farm murders targeting Boers across the nation, the problems are only getting worse. Poverty and unrest are spreading quickly as well.”
Genocide - Newman continues:
The world’s most prominent expert on genocide, President Dr. Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch, already warned last year that the Afrikaner population could be on the verge of a government-linked extermination campaign.
During a fact-finding mission to South Africa, Stanton, who helped fight against apartheid, found evidence implicating the ruling African National Congress (ANC)-South African Communist Party (SACP) government in a plot to eradicate whites as part of a scheme to foist Marxist tyranny on the nation.
In fact, after the investigation, WND reported that Genocide Watch raised its alert level on South Africa to stage 6 out of 8 – the planning and preparation phase of the extermination process.
“There is thus strong circumstantial evidence of government support for the campaign of forced displacement and atrocities against white farmers and their families,” Stanton said in the Genocide Watch report, adding that the end goal was communist tyranny. “There is direct evidence of [South African] government incitement to genocide.”
As WND also reported, South African President Jacob Zuma routinely sings racist songs calling for the murder of whites.
Former ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema, a virulently racist self-styled communist with a significant following, is now forming a new political party to “fight white males,” South African media reported this week.
Malema’s alliance will also seek to expropriate white-owned property without compensation, nationalize key industries and force whites to “behave in a manner that says they regret their conduct.”
Economic discrimination
Meanwhile, on the economic front, authorities are cracking down on the white minority as well.
Through a controversial program known as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), the government has instituted a race-based employment regime specifically targeting whites.
Critics, even among prominent blacks, say the results of BEE have been disastrous.
Among the myriad problems associated with the race-based employment system: mass emigration of skilled workers contributing to “brain drain,” soaring poverty rates among whites, chaos for businesses and more.
Hundreds of thousands of economically excluded Afrikaners now live in squalid squatter camps throughout South Africa without so much as running water or electricity.
Hundreds of thousands more have fled to Western nations seeking a better life.
“The advent of black rule has been devastating for whole groups of whites, even highly educated ones,” Dan Roodt of the Pro-Afrikaans Action Group, PRAAG, told WND.
Among those groups, he said, are European-descent South Africans from virtually every economic field – especially people with cultural skills, bank workers, and government employees.
“Some of these people have definitely ended up on skid row,” Roodt added, pointing to the racist affirmative action policies as the cause.
“I definitely blame the system of reverse discrimination or anti-white racism for white poverty,” the author and prominent activist continued.
“Almost all whites are educated, literate and generally hard-working, so they should not be poor,” he said. “The system makes them poor by denying them opportunities and expecting whites to be superhuman and to make money out of thin air.”
Roodt explained that once people are excluded from the economic life of a country, they “spiral downwards and lose everything,” making it increasingly difficult to re-enter society in the future.
“It makes me both sad and very angry to witness these scenes of whites living in third-world squalor while we have all the skills to employ them, but the system prevents us from doing so,” he added….
“South Africa’s ANC government is so corrupt that it is sometimes hard to distinguish between the ruling party and organized crime…”
Media attention
Since the fall of apartheid in 1994 – when the Western establishment and Soviet powers finally succeeded in forcing the anti-communist, white-dominated government to relinquish power – the international press, which played a key role in the process, has been largely silent.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/in-jeopardy-future-of-white-south-africans/#hPyq0v9zMzsg3YGT.99
Who cares about a god d@mn random 'selfie' that Obama took? How it is in any way relevant to what transpired or what he even said yesterday.
More endless spin and inflammatory nonsense in this case started by Murdoch. Despise left/right news outlet that focus on such completely irrevelant drivel.
If you don't understand it is what people do not what they say that matters then you are beyond help.
The photo captured the irresponsible and disrespectful behavior in a way that is understandable by everyone (except you).
This isn't the President of the United States.
This is the President of Chicago.
Funny you have a bunch of comments on here complaining about the media in general and YET THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF POINTLESS SH!T that the 24-hour news cycle focuses on (left/right) to inflame people on one end of the spectrum to ultimately drive revenues.
If you can't see that, you either a fool or so deluded by hate that you have lost any objectivity.
Look man, everyone is enjoying the shit out of this because it's proving their beliefs correct. Most of these guys were shouting their warnings from the rooftops in 2008.
They got tut tutted as raycissed. Now they're being vindicated. Worldwide, live.
We have an infantile, effeminate do nothing in the highest chair of the land and he can't even act clean, articulate, dignified with no hint of Niagra dialect for a few hours at a fucking world event? This waste of fucking air is supposed to be representing us all and he's a goddamn embarrassment.
Fucking William J Clinton was there and he managed to pull it off. Awash in a sea of strange and he was able to control his base impulses (and they are many) for the ceremonies.
I hope that later chewbacca beat his ass like a runaway.
This would be example of exactly what I am talking about. It is a random single act and you somehow extrapoliate it to some kind of overall evaluation of his presidency? Beyond stupidity. Hate to tell you this but even the most important people do random and foolish things. Always have and always will. Only difference now is that it is much easier to capture in public. I can only imagine if he had picked his nose what ridiculous conclusions you would make.
Yeah I think Obama has been a crummy president and had a horrendous 2nd term so far. He has also been pretty ridiculous in how heavy-handed he has been in controlling and granting access to the media.
MB, why are you so upset that these photos got published?
Did you read a single word I posted? I couldn't give a shit they got posted. They're meaningless except to inflame people for 24-36 hr and drive web sites hits/ratings which ultimately drive revenues. That's all.
The same dopes you complain about how shitty the general media is in its coverage are often the same people who get worked up over this stuff & make all kind of ridiculous conclusions.
It was the same when GW Bush was in office and the most ridiculous and innane things would get posted about him that had no signifanance or relevance.
So fucking what?!? This is more newsworthy than a lot of the "real" news that usually gets spewed by the outlets. (At a supposedly solemn event, the POTUS acting the horse's ass.) I posit that the leaders need to be mocked at every opportunity.
"I posit that the leaders need to be mocked at every opportunity."
Indeed, and massively so, for it's one of the few weapons we have left.
Effective too, as evidenced by Mr. Back Paddling Photographer's lame excuse.
We did read your posts and we don't think you understand your own irrationality.
We are trying to tell you why aternative media, the Hedge, tells it like it is. Its shows all of these people for who they are. its up to people like you and I to be honest with ourselves about the people that we do/did support and choose based upon the honesty of straight forward media whether to continue to support or throw them out.
If you cant be honest with yourself that this is a major embarassment to YOU and I as well as the rest of this great country then you don't deserve the right to speak or vote frankly.
Unfortunately you still have that right and i would not take it away from you no matter what.
Unless you are part of the FSA or a government worker which are one in the same.
LEECHES!
If you haven't figured out by now that this isn't just one random act, but just the latest in a series of embarrassing acts, then nobody can help you.
Obama picks his nose.
The warnings about Obama were good and honest. But the alternative McCain or Mittens was just as stupid. There wasn't any alternative and TPTB are richer than ever and happy as pigs in shit. That's how they roll.
Come on, bizaar we're allowed a bit of amusement once in a while, especially when the elite ruling class does something that inspires ridicule!
Just juxtapose these photos with those of dead Pakistani children that were droned to death by President Obama -- now that's spin!
MeBizarro- "Funny you have a bunch of comments on here complaining about the media in general and YET THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF POINTLESS SH!T that the 24-hour news cycle focuses on (left/right) to inflame people on one end of the spectrum to ultimately drive revenues.
If you can't see that, you either a fool or so deluded by hate that you have lost any objectivity. "
Not sure if you are referring to my comments, but if you are here it goes. If not feel free to reply anyhow.
The article about clarifying an obvious embarassing moment by our embarassing president is showing that the TV's left/right game is a joke. That's why i said the alternative media rocks; i.e. internet. It is about cuttiing through the old guard media that covers for their political side rather than informing the public from an objective stance. The assnapkin that wrote this piece is trying to tell us that we are not seeing what we are seeing.
If you can't see that, YOU"RE either a fool or so deluded with idiocy that you have lost any sense of thought.
Like i said if you are not replying to me the forgive me. It's Christmas. Forgive me. I already forgave you ;-)
Hammer meet nail. Good job.
If it's pointless shit, why do they focus on only one side of the turd?
Any further proof you need that these insane cunts are laughing at you?
Distasteful, and disgraceful. These insane bastards have no feelings regarding their populations, even under the circumstance of someones funeral, infront of the fucking world.
I am personally fucking sick, feel sick, and ashamed these cunts havent even got the sense to act like humans at a fucking funeral, no matter whos it is, but on the world stage acting like kids??
We have these bastards representing us is testament to how far we have fallen.
Ignorant fucking scum is all they are.
"He who laughs last..."
Any further proof you need that these insane cunts are laughing at you?
Distasteful, and disgraceful. These insane bastards have no feelings regarding their populations, even under the circumstance of someones funeral, infront of the fucking world.
I am personally fucking sick, feel sick, and ashamed these cunts havent even got the sense to act like humans at a fucking funeral, no matter whos it is, but on the world stage acting like kids??
We have these bastards representing us is testament to how far we have fallen.
Ignorant fucking scum is all they are.
Not to change the subject but...if the secret service agents weren't out screwing every prostitute in South Africa yesterday, maybe they would have detected that the sign language guy was a fraud. Apparently the sign language guy doesn't have a cell phone or facebook account so the "intelligence agencies of the US" didn't know who the hell he was or is.
White women sure do love the brothers. Zerohedge dorks: not so much.
Nah it is only selective respondents but on these stories (Obama-related) you will have the usual race-baiters and bigots.
I agree. It would be more newsworthy to start publishing photos of innocent child-victims of Obama's drone attacks in Africa. Neither Murdoch nor MSNBC will touch those. (They would be exposing war criminality by the State instead of just juvenile ass-hattery by the Chief Warmonger -- can't have that.)
I see you registered here on ZH and are posting comments. Fucking Dork.
Riiiiiight. Here's a better idea. Perhaps if we just ignore they will simply go away.
Why should this be a surprise?
All government leaders are psychopaths.
Spin, spin, spin.
Mad Magazine took notice.
http://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2013/12/11/the-barackhorns-the-selfie
ZH going Drudge stupid. Another year and it will be unreadable.
See you later, masturbater!
You fancy yourself quite the wit do you?
Why is this story worth 5 seconds of anybody's time?
You're still here, among all us unwashed cretins?
As noted by the author of this post, it's the "damage control" that is the story. This photog is desperate to minimize the impact that his photo had. Why? You can almost imagine his sweat hitting the keyboard as he types. And, you ask a good question. Apologists for this president should ask why this story has legs. You would espect people to move on. Cringe, yes. But move on. That didn't happen. Again...why?
Honestly, I am not going to waste any time on it. I am not an apologist for Obama. He's a mostrous fraud. At the same time, Drudge is a monstrous moron. And Tyler is becoming a moron too. The world has serious problems and Tyler is increasingly going Drudge full on retard. I'm not a Pavlovian dog that jumps every time Tyler wants to boost his page views. One can despise Obama for 999 reasons and still think that in this instance Obama didn't do shit wrong. I am here not because of the story, but because Tyler's web site is becoming a drag to read because of all the stupidity. My comment was directed at Tyler for running the story. That's why I'm "here". And frankly, while I agree with the majority of ZH posters on the majority of stories, I don't give a fuck about the stupid up and down arrows. Yet another instance where Tyler is showing his retard side. What is it with the arrows? High school? Figuring out who is cool and who isn't?
I had to give you one of those UP arrows you don't give a f about...
uhhh, don't get mad or nothing brah, but you're losing :(
" My comment was directed at Tyler for running the story. That's why I'm "here".
WTF??? How would you know Tyler ran the story if you weren't here??
You are a real master of metaphysics.
Even the sign language interpreter at the "Saint" Mandela ceremony was FAKE! A true banana republic.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/11/world/africa/mandela-memorial-fake-intepreter/?hpt=hp_t3
+1 Hilarious. Libtards are lunatics.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafri...
Back when Michelle had a penis I'm sure he was a formibable foe on the basketball court. Now she hulks around like a linebacker in a dress, trying to conceal her manly stride in three thousand dollar Jimmy Choos.
This is nothing, wait till you see the pictures of the tailgating parties in the parking lot at Barry's funeral.
sit on it and spin bitch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkE-R1GbfiI
His time for honoring himself will soon be at an end...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXYkZzs42O0
When I look at these pictures all I could think is what would happen to my rear end at age 10 if I had been with my Mom and Dad doing this at a friend's funeral...
Wake up... Wake up.... Waking Up!...
But it's the President of the United States an alleged adult who is 51 years "young" and just happens to be a psychopath on a state visit paying his respects to another leader's passing?...
Terry Gilliam and John Cleese couldn't have written a more profoundly nutty script to their next movie.
Wake up from your slumber people cause it doesn't have to be like this. You can actually change this if you really want to, and my advice is that given where we are right now "with this" time is of the essence.
wait until the sex tape shows up with Barry jamming the Danish PM up the cheeks - take that Denmark.
hopefully Michelle won't be too upset.
She's the wrong gender for him to show any interest in that. Maybe Reggie Love can wear a blonde wig?
"Denmark, they fight above their weight class
The Danish PM is apparently unaware that Obama is gay.
Don't be too hard on her
She hasn't spotted it in her husband either..
they laugh at funerals
they laugh at us
real laughs
fake croc tears.
these fuckers are rapists and rothschild psychopaths.
the mob had a get together to divvy up africa.
they laughed cos they knew mandinka mandela was on ice for 6 months.
they laughed at how nobody noticed a killer for the jewish mafia went into an african prison at height 5.8 and came out years later at 6 foot 2.
they laugh because they are energy vampyre they feed on blood and human energy.
they laugh the way slaughter house hill billy laughs at his cow work.
Henri Le Riche, patriotic Afrikaner activist in exile in Australia who runs a website focused on many of issues affecting South Africa, says that there are two primary forces holding Western culture together: family and religion.
“This is the focus point of Marxism - to break down these two pillars of our society, with the final goal to break down Western culture. We can see the effects of this Marxist strategy all over the world with moral decay in society and the breakup of families,” says Le Riche.
WND reports: “Quoting an American, Le Riche said that the West may have defeated Communism during the Cold War, but Marxism is still winning. Communism, he added, is the structured form of Marxism – government.”
Download How to be a good Communist by Nelson Mandel to view the following:
When Mandela and Winnie in 1991 went to what they called their "second home" - Cuba - to celebrate the communist revolution with Fidel Castro, Mandela in his commemorative speech said:
In May of 1990 Mandela, visiting America, went on record, referring to Cuba:
In a speech in Harlem, referring to four Puerto Rican terrorists who shot and wounded five US Congressmen in 1954, he said:
http://www.realnews247.com/how_to_be_a_good_communist.htm
The advance of world Communism and its new saint Nelson Mandela is what our world “leaders” are acclaiming this week as the crowd wildly cheered Zimbabwean strongman, Robert Mugabe, and US Socialist President Barack Obama -- the two “world leaders” most cheered at the memorial service held at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday. And, as continues to be proven, daily, “Communism was solely the invention of the Jews” — Sir Winston Churchill London Illustrated Herald (February 8, 1920). And, I might add, so was Obama