This Is My Rifle: Nelson Mandela - An Imperfect Hero Posted by Jason James on 12/18/13 | Filed under Opinion, This Is My Rifle, Politics

Before we get this thing started I just want to take a moment to apologize to everybody, including Nathan, for my absence from the site these past 3 weeks. Unfortunately, due to the whirlwind of chaos that is my life, I was unable to find time to write anything and I had to step away from my column for a little while. But, in retrospect, I'm glad that I did.

>I've never wanted to be the asshole at the party who interrupts a conversation by saying, "well, actually...." and then rips into a never ending tirade of pretentious "I'm more learned than you" bullshit all the while being completely uninvited to engage in the discussion. I fucking hate that guy. I hate his carefully matched outfit, his abrasive tone, his stupid hipster glasses and, most of all, I hate his disposition. Everything about the way that guy sits and stares at you like a disapproving adult looks at an unruly child tells me that he's never been punched in the face before but probably should have been many times over. Fuck that guy and his $80 shirt with every inch of massive elephant cock that has ever existed on planet Earth. EVER.

So when Nelson Mandela passed away two weeks ago I was lucky that I was a few short steps away from moving to the jungle never to be heard from again, because if I hadn't have been a smoking pile of exhaustion I would have been that guy. As I looked at the "RIP Nelson Mandela" posts cascading down the timelines of my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, I had to constantly fight the urge to launch into Nelson Mandela trivia questions in the comments. Out of all of these people posting photos and copied and pasted Mandela quotes, I knew that 99% of them had no idea who he was or what he had contributed to throughout his lifetime. No, to them Nelson Mandela was nothing more than the real life version of Morgan Freeman's character in Shawshank Redemption. In their minds, his passing was merely another bit of sad celebrity news that came along a week after Paul Walker died in a fiery car accident. Some of them even took it upon themselves to generously combine the two into photos as if their deaths were directly related to one another in some twisted way.

All I wanted to do was open up my laptop and give those people a lashing for their ignorance. In all honesty, I felt a little betrayed by their stupidity. Here I was- somebody who had taken the time over the years to actually read about Mandela and apartheid- being terrorized by pictures of a delicate old man with bright white lights behind him smiling at the heavens peacefully as he ascends to his magical throne in the afterlife next to Jesus and Marilyn Monroe. Nobody knew the truth about Mandela and fuck; I just don't want to be THAT guy.

The true history of Nelson Mandela is much more complicated and dark than any of us here in North America can fathom. As I've said in the past, Africa’s story is a very confusing web of war and poverty and I am not smart enough to intelligently unravel and explain it. We here in Canada and America tend to think of conflicts as being black and white, hero versus villain. But in the larger context of the world these conflicts often involve many sides, not always good but not always bad. Nelson Mandela was very much so one of these figures- a communist and terrorist but on the same hand a freedom fighter and righteous man. He and the ANC were responsible for hundreds of bombings and countless murders- all of it done in the name of justice and racial equality. As a result of his actions, he spent 27 years in prison as the leader of a brutal group of extremists, but he acted only because he wanted to end apartheid, and upon his release he was elected president of South Africa and oversaw the dismantling of the very system he sought to do away with. Ironically, in the years following his election, South Africa plunged into an economic, social and political tailspin that would have never been possible during apartheid. When he stepped down from his presidency in 1999, it's my personal belief that he knew he was not capable of fixing South Africa's problems and, in fact, the ANC was making them worse. He was a revolutionary, not a politician, and South Africa had learned a vital lesson in discerning between the two.

But... fuck. I must resist the temptation to be that guy. If you'd like a brief summarization of who Nelson Mandela really was then click here. If you're happy with the tiny bit of information I've already shared then please continue to follow along.

Despite all of his shortcomings, I admired Mandela because I understood his frame of thought. He knew that the Black African revolution would not be peaceful and he met apartheid's unjust policies with naked aggression so extreme in nature that they had no choice but to respond to him and the ANC. No, I do not agree with the tactics he used - the bombings of innocent people and brutal murders of White South Africans were deplorable to say the least- but these are the actions of people who were conquered and forced into servitude by an equally unsympathetic empire. These were people desperate for freedom and desperation will always bring both the best and worst out of men- Nelson Mandela and the ANC were just the few who shot back.

So as I watched our side of the world mourn his death I began to think about what the other side might think. The media was not providing a fair analysis of who Mandela was and most of us just kind of felt like our distant great uncle died. Nobody I spoke to had even a basic understanding of South Africa and apartheid, and I could tell that none of them wanted to either.

Then I came to a realization; maybe it would be better if they didn't. To them, Nelson Mandela was a man who was imprisoned for no good reason at all and went on to become the golden king of that place where people sound kind of Australian but not really. Maybe this was for the best. If Mandela's story gave people inspiration to strive for peace and a greater existence than who am I to say anything? Don't be that guy, Jason. Don't ruin the party.

We all need heroes- and nothing is more disheartening than finding the flaws that make them less than perfect. Nelson Mandela, Che Guevara, JFK- all of these men have gone on to symbolize something bigger than ourselves. They are icons who remind us of what is possible within the human character. Perhaps the negative aspects of their respective legacies should be lost in the sands of time. Do we really need to know the bloody path of destruction they left behind? Or can we slightly alter the big picture so those of us who don't want to peel through the layers of myth don't have to face the truth?

Myself, I'm on the fence with that idea but I understand the virtue of not being the prick who pretends to be a deep ocean of thought and poetry that nobody likes. If Nelson Mandela is your hero then please, continue to let his life inspire you to pursue greatness. I wish you nothing but happiness in your endeavors.

And if you spot a couple of flaws along the way, we'll just paint over that shit. Nobody will notice. Party on.

(Jason James is an artist, freelance columnist and writer for RefinedHype.com. You can read/download his free eBook, "This Is My Rifle" and listen/download his most recent album, "Pyramids in Stereo". You can also contact him here and here.

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