Obama taking selfie at Mandela memorial

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Bromsy**

Co'tor Shas wrote:

He was a revolutionary. He is only a terrorist if the american revolutionaries were terrorist. Was George Washington a terrorist. Was Thomas Jefferson a terrorist? Any revolution is terrorism according to your logic.

Naaah, that doesn't ring true. Terrorist and revolutionary isn't a binary choice. As said earlier, I am glad he was the man on the scene, because with someone else things would have almost certainty ended up worse - he did truly end up as a great man; but pretending like rising up against foreign domination in a largely military struggle and fighting an oppressive local regime using tactics like putting bombs in public locations is the same thing is a bit silly.

**Bullockist**

The thing that always bothers me about holding up Mandela was the inter and intra party violence in South Afrika. It was so savage and brutal and for a while pervasive. Granted,I think Mandela was in gaol for most of this period but he must have had some knowledge of what was happening. I don't know why it bother me but it does, a lot less than someone taking a selfie at a funeral.

**Cheesecat**

Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

**djones520**

Cheesecat wrote:
Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

It wasn't even his phone... he was just getting in on someone elses pic.

**Cheesecat**

djones520 wrote:
Cheesecat wrote:
Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

It wasn't even his phone... he was just getting in on someone elses pic.

Maybe he forgot his phone.

**Relapse**

Cheesecat wrote:
djones520 wrote:
Cheesecat wrote:
Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

It wasn't even his phone... he was just getting in on someone elses pic.

Maybe he forgot his phone.

Maybe he was trying to answer Mandela's call.

**dogma**

djones520 wrote:
Cheesecat wrote:
Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

It wasn't even his phone... he was just getting in on someone else's pic.

Yeah, that was pretty bad. Though it is interesting that Michelle Obama seems to be the only person in the picture paying attention to the memorial; even ignoring the 3 most relevant individuals.

The picture of him and his family in Mandela's old cell is unremarkable, though.

**Stuebi**

This ran for about an hour on the radio this morning.

"DEAR GOD HE TOOK A PHOTO ON A MEMORIAL!"

Yeah! We should lynch him right now! Get the torches! Lets hang him, then burn him, and then feed whats left to rabid dogs! Nevermind that, he shook SOME DUDES HANDS! Get his children too! I bet they allready caught the dirty communist...-stuff all those people got! Execute everyone who has a last name that starts with an "O" JUST TO BE SURE!

Dear god. Allways those social justice warriors getting up in arms about stuff like this. There were numberless people making photos, texting and whatever. It was more a celebration of Mandelas live than a "Lets collectively cry for 12 hours, and if i catch someone smiling im gonna rip off their legs!".

**Imposter101**

Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this is silly?

Like, by silly, incredibly stupid and overblown in order to take pot shots at Obama.

**djones520**

Imposter101 wrote:
Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this is silly?

Like, by silly, incredibly stupid and overblown in order to take pot shots at Obama.

Why do I get the feeling that if this had been Bush, instead of Obama, you'd not be saying the same thing.

**Imposter101**

djones520 wrote:
Imposter101 wrote:
Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this is silly?

Like, by silly, incredibly stupid and overblown in order to take pot shots at Obama.

Why do I get the feeling that if this had been Bush, instead of Obama, you'd not be saying the same thing.

Assumptions are fun, aren't they?

No, both Bush and Obama have plenty of things to criticise, but this doesn't really seem like a legitimate one to make.

**Cheesecat**

djones520 wrote:
Imposter101 wrote:
Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this is silly?

Like, by silly, incredibly stupid and overblown in order to take pot shots at Obama.

Why do I get the feeling that if this had been Bush, instead of Obama, you'd not be saying the same thing.

Why would you assume that this shouldn't register on anybody's "give a feth-o-meter" regardless of who it is even if it's a nobody.

**Dreadclaw69**

Alfndrate wrote:
Obama just wanted to make it on to Selfies at Funerals
http://selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com/

Which he did

That was my first reaction too

Anyway, regardless of your station in life taking selfies at a funeral is just tasteless. It is an event to celebrate the life of someone who has just passed. Not a photo opportunity

**dogma**

Stuebi wrote:

Yeah! We should Lynch him right now!

That isn't a word you should use in this context, especially if you want to capitalize it.

**Ahtman**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Alfndrate wrote:
Obama just wanted to make it on to Selfies at Funerals
http://selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com/

Which he did

That was my first reaction too Anyway, regardless of your station in life taking selfies at a funeral is just tasteless. It is an event to celebrate the life of someone who has just passed. Not a photo opportunity

So it is a celebration, but everyone must be dour? Most people don't have a funeral in a stadium filled with world leaders and dignitaries, so I imagine there are all sorts of things that went on that may not be normal at some random person's Aunt's funeral. This is a non-story, and considering all the actual things the administration is doing wrong it seems a bit silly and petty to make a big deal of it.

**Dreadclaw69**

Ahtman wrote:
So it is a celebration, but everyone must be dour? Most people don't have a funeral in a stadium filled with world leaders and dignitaries, so I imagine there are all sorts of things that went on that may not be normal at some random person's Aunt's funeral. This is a non-story, and considering all the actual things the administration is doing wrong it seems a bit silly and petty to make a big deal of it.

Good thing I'm not making a big deal out of it then

**Stuebi**

dogma wrote:
Stuebi wrote:

Yeah! We should Lynch him right now!

That isn't a word you should use in this context, especially if you want to capitalize it.

English isnt my native language, corrected it tough.

If its really the word you have a problem with, i thought the sarcasm was obvious enough.

**Captain Fantastic**

LOL!

Holy hell, look at his face! What a little teenager! This is the most powerful man on the planet for christ's sake.

I may be one of the only people in the world who actually likes Obama still.

**Cheesecat**

Also it's nice to see Whembly defending Obama.

**fishy bob**

Can't help but thinking of this:

**Lord Spartacus**

You'd expect this from a bunch of bored high school students, not the frickin president of the USA.

**MeanGreenStompa**

The entire stadium's mood, just as the mood outside of his house by the massive crowd gathered there, has been one of celebration of Mandela's life, not an austere grief but dancing and shouting and singing.

Smiles for a camera shouldn't even raise a second glance, Obama was being polite to another world leader by appearing in the photograph. But just like all the slime that have suddenly decided or been informed by right wing blogs that they should now regard Mandela as a terrorist, they can now take a swipe at Obama for another pointless reason, regardless of the continued widening gulf with the middle ground and common sense that this demonstrates.

As to the handshake, I shook hands with my cousin Karl at my great aunt's funeral and I hate that guy more than I hate olives. It was a demonstration of peaceable intentions, a demonstration of the service bringing together world leaders from seemingly different or opposed cultures and above all else, a diplomatic photo-opportunity.

Get over it all, right now, and concentrate on legitimate issues. You'll sound far less like someone driven by blind hate and more like someone with weighed and serious concerns.

**Soladrin**

Giant who cares.

Are you people really so bored of life that this is important? :S

fething hell world.

**reds8n**

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/11/mandela-memorial-sign-language-interpreter-making-it-up-fake

seriously ?!

The translation of speeches into sign language at Nelson Mandela's memorial service was seen as a sign of inclusiveness, but it appears the sign language interpreter was a fake, according to several expert organisations.

Braam Jordaan, a deaf South African and board member of the World Deaf Federation, said the interpreter was making up signs as he went along. "The structure of his hand, facial expressions and the body movements did not follow what the speaker was saying," Jordaan said.

The man who signed for a section of the ceremony, including Barack Obama's speech, was simply making up his own signs, he said.

"I was really upset and humiliated," Jordaan told the SBS news website. "He made up his own signs. What happened at the memorial service is truly disgraceful thing to see – it should not happen at all. What happened today will be forever aligned with Nelson Mandela & Deaf Community, thanks to this fake interpreter."

Members of South Africa's deaf community has previously raised concerns about the interpreter, who has been used at other African National Congress events. During his apperance on Tuesday, Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, the first deaf woman to be elected to the South African parliament tweeted: "ANC-linked interpreter on the stage with dep president of ANC is signing rubbish. He cannot sign. Please get him off."

South African sign language interpreter Francois Deysel added on Twitter that the interpreter was "making a mockery of our profession".

Sheena Walters, of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters, noted that the sign language the interpreter was using was unconventional at best and not recognisable as any accepted form of international or South African sign language. "It seems quite obvious that the interpreter isn't using South African sign language," she told SBS.

"Most sign languages across the world share a similar structure and pattern and this person seems to be making a lot of repetitive signs and isn't displaying the usual facial expression or structure of sign language that you would normally see."

Deaf news blog The Limping Chicken agreed and criticised the interpreter's methods of communication. He signed with a "strange repetitive rhythm to his movements" and "the structure of his hand and body movements didn't seem to change no matter what the speaker was saying", they wrote.

**Easy E**

djones520 wrote:
Cheesecat wrote:
Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

It wasn't even his phone... he was just getting in on someone elses pic.

So he photobombed a selfie at a Funeral! Even worse.

**Alfndrate**

Easy E wrote:
djones520 wrote:
Cheesecat wrote:
Why is this a concern? We don't know how meaningful Mandela is to Obama and maybe having a "selfie" as a way to remember the event is something that is important to him.

It wasn't even his phone... he was just getting in on someone elses pic.

So he photobombed a selfie at a Funeral! Even worse.

It was probably a carefully executed drone strike.

**malfred**

reds8n wrote:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/11/mandela-memorial-sign-language-interpreter-making-it-up-fake

seriously ?!

The translation of speeches into sign language at Nelson Mandela's memorial service was seen as a sign of inclusiveness, but it appears the sign language interpreter was a fake, according to several expert organisations.

Braam Jordaan, a deaf South African and board member of the World Deaf Federation, said the interpreter was making up signs as he went along. "The structure of his hand, facial expressions and the body movements did not follow what the speaker was saying," Jordaan said.

The man who signed for a section of the ceremony, including Barack Obama's speech, was simply making up his own signs, he said.

"I was really upset and humiliated," Jordaan told the SBS news website. "He made up his own signs. What happened at the memorial service is truly disgraceful thing to see – it should not happen at all. What happened today will be forever aligned with Nelson Mandela & Deaf Community, thanks to this fake interpreter."

Members of South Africa's deaf community has previously raised concerns about the interpreter, who has been used at other African National Congress events. During his apperance on Tuesday, Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, the first deaf woman to be elected to the South African parliament tweeted: "ANC-linked interpreter on the stage with dep president of ANC is signing rubbish. He cannot sign. Please get him off."

South African sign language interpreter Francois Deysel added on Twitter that the interpreter was "making a mockery of our profession".

Sheena Walters, of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters, noted that the sign language the interpreter was using was unconventional at best and not recognisable as any accepted form of international or South African sign language. "It seems quite obvious that the interpreter isn't using South African sign language," she told SBS.

"Most sign languages across the world share a similar structure and pattern and this person seems to be making a lot of repetitive signs and isn't displaying the usual facial expression or structure of sign language that you would normally see."

Deaf news blog The Limping Chicken agreed and criticised the interpreter's methods of communication. He signed with a "strange repetitive rhythm to his movements" and "the structure of his hand and body movements didn't seem to change no matter what the speaker was saying", they wrote.

Wow. This is more newsworthy than the op.

**Hivefleet Oblivion**

djones520 wrote:
Imposter101 wrote:
Am I the only one who thinks the reaction to this is silly?

Like, by silly, incredibly stupid and overblown in order to take pot shots at Obama.

Why do I get the feeling that if this had been Bush, instead of Obama, you'd not be saying the same thing.

We have this in the UK - where it was our idiot prime minister in the shot.

the labour - as in socialist, as in evil satanists - poked fun at him at Prime Ministers Question Time, but even on the radio their MPs were saying "c'mon, it was a memorial, not a funeral, a celebration of the man's life, chill out."

**gossipmeng**

Trust me, if Obama taking a selfie is the worst they can dig up - be happy. If I had cameras following my every move they would easily be able to portray me as a monster.... despite being a really nice, average guy.

No one wants to see obama shaking hands or hugging his kids, that stuff is just boring. Gimme the pics of him hitting children and eating kittens!

**d-usa**

At least be didn't duckface...