Who and or what inspires you?

[Jenna Stannis]

I would be inspired if you be so kind as to elaborate.   

I will respectfully decline that invitation. I consider it enough to merely hint at my opinions, as I find that these sorts of discussions bear no fruit and quickly deteriorate into slanging matches (I'm not necessarily referring to you, but other hotheads who inevitably chime in). Moreover, I don't believe that a transgender support site is the appropriate forum for heated political debate, which only serves to increase my blood pressure and decrease my adoration for my fellow humans.

[peky]

And try not to teach granny how to suck eggs while you are at it

And I thought all along you were a young chick...video games, cartoons, and anime..sorry, I guess my assumptions were wrong.

So, in any case, flash news to you granny..we won the war..we defeated them both...and then out of the goodness of our old American goodense we rebuilt their countries and protected them against the communist hoards....

BTW I do not mind to upset you granny, so ...I gave up..you win! You are the master of history

[peky]

Who inspires me: All the young men and women who join the armed forces voluntarily knowing their service could cost them their lives.

That ^^^ is very much appreciated!! BTW there are not all "young," plenty of old foxes around.

[JulieC.]

Wow, this has turned into quite a strange thread. 

I'm glad he became a better person but - with respect - the man was no saint. He and his organisation sanctioned some pretty evil things that hurt a lot of innocent people, including a former boyfriend of mine who lost his both his hearing and his mother as a result of an ANC terrorist bombing in a family restaurant. So I have mixed feelings about Madiba.

I realize he was no saint.  He was in prison because he deserved to be.  Maybe not under such cruel conditions or for so long.  I think the thing that I find amazing is that a person with so much hate to begin with did not end up with more in the end.  I wonder if all I would think about every day is who I would kill the minute I got out. 

I must admit I don't know about the current state of affairs in South Africa.  Would it be better had apartheid stayed in place?  Could anyone else have led the transition any better?  These are not rhetorical questions.  There is a lot I don't know but would like to. 

History is fluid and is always written by the victors.

[Lesley_Roberta]

I ditched a forum over this sort of nonsense

Old men and their inherent need to argue a point into the dust.

I could take pictures of my extensive library where in lies the facts so many are not interested in accepting.

I could show you my equally detailed wargames collection and mention I have been studying the every last permutation of that conflict since the mid 70s.

I could even show you my old dogtags and point out I am an ex military individual.

But the truth is, I simply do not care if some wish to believe nonsense about the past. I won't live long enough to likely suffer through the conflict likely headed this way. Logic says there will be a tipping point. Those that forget the past are doomed to revisit it. Or your kids. The world of 1945 was NOT the politically correct world of today though.

Back in 1945, Japanese was spelled JAP and it was not spoken nicely. No one was really particularly interested in the future of Japan while fighting ashore on Guadalcanal, Saipan, Tarawa, Iwo and Okinawa to mention a few names the common person might have heard of. I won't waste time on place names no one will have seen in movies.

I feel sad for some of you, your education system has failed you.

But as I said, I ditched forums over this sort of thing, it has run it's course for me. You have had your say, further posts simply will be invisible to my eyes. Arguing history does NOT inspire me. It depresses me. I have seen too much of it accurately.

I'm not a grand parent just yet though, my son appears to know how to keep it in his pants better than my brothers boys

[FTMDiaries]

we won the war..we defeated them both...and then out of the goodness of our old American goodense we rebuilt their countries and protected them against the communist hoards....

Oh, Peky, I do so hope you weren't being serious here... it's hard for an old Aspie like me to tell.

America certainly helped, but they did not win the war. It's not as if everyone else bumbled around Europe like headless chickens for a couple of years before Bruce Willis swept in to single-handedly save the day.

The goodness of your old American [hearts]? If only that were true... but the reality is that Britain has been heavily in debt for generations to pay for every single penny of that help, plus interest. We wound up paying back almost double the original loan in 50 installments, the final of which was paid in 2006. See here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6215847.stm

So whilst we are grateful for your assistance, it wasn't out of the kindness of your hearts and we paid you back in full, at enormous cost to our country and its prosperity. My parents were born after WWII; I was born after WWII; my children were born after WWII... and yet, we've all had to suffer a reduced quality of living because of this inherited debt.

Never doubt that any country that seems to rebuild another country out of the 'goodness of their hearts', does so ultimately for selfish reasons - usually financial or political gain. America certainly prospered from the aftermath of WWII, both financially and politically.

[Jenna Stannis]

Oh, Peky, I do so hope you weren't being serious here... it's hard for an old Aspie like me to tell.

America certainly helped, but they did not win the war. It's not as if everyone else bumbled around Europe like headless chickens for a couple of years before Bruce Willis swept in to single-handedly save the day.

The goodness of your old American [hearts]? If only that were true... but the reality is that Britain has been heavily in debt for generations to pay for every single penny of that help, plus interest. We wound up paying back almost double the original loan in 50 installments, the final of which was paid in 2006. See here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6215847.stm

So whilst we are grateful for your assistance, it wasn't out of the kindness of your hearts and we paid you back in full, at enormous cost to our country and its prosperity. My parents were born after WWII; I was born after WWII; my children were born after WWII... and yet, we've all had to suffer a reduced quality of living because of this inherited debt.

Never doubt that any country that seems to rebuild another country out of the 'goodness of their hearts', does so ultimately for selfish reasons - usually financial or political gain. America certainly prospered from the aftermath of WWII, both financially and politically.

That's right. The Marshall Plan screwed everyone else and helped the US prosper. American goodness? Pfft... more like the ability to recognise how to make a quick buck.

[FTMDiaries]

I must admit I don't know about the current state of affairs in South Africa.  Would it be better had apartheid stayed in place?  Could anyone else have led the transition any better?  These are not rhetorical questions.  There is a lot I don't know but would like to. 

I'm flattered that you'd like to know more. This is probably not the right place to go in-depth - as you said, this thread has gone a bit weird - but I'll try to briefly answer your questions and point you to more info.

Would it have been better if Apartheid had stayed in place? That's a very controversial topic, obviously. At the fall of Apartheid, the ANC promised prosperity to their voters. A lot of ANC voters thought they'd all be driving Mercs, eating caviar and living in posh houses, as promised by the Comrades... but of course that can't be the reality for everyone. As with any regime based on communism, those who know the right people have done very well out of the fall of Apartheid. But those at the bottom of the socio-economic scale have been left severely disappointed. Some of them have reported that they were better off under Apartheid. Isn't that strange? For all their faults, Afrikaners set up the Apartheid system as a way of having a 3-tier government for a 3-tier society at different stages of development, with each tier serving the specific needs of the people it served. That in itself is a good idea but obviously the execution left a heck of a lot to be desired. I wish I knew a better way to serve the different needs of various communities without discriminating against any of them. That having been said, I still believe we did the right thing in voting for the end of Apartheid. I just don't think the right system replaced it.

Could anyone else have led the transition better? Definitely. Democracy isn't a perfect system; majority rule only works in your favour if you're a member of the majority. Because black South Africans hugely outnumber South Africans of other cultures & races (and members of certain tribes outnumber other tribes), there is no way that such people can make their voices heard. So maybe some sort of coalition, with representatives of each culture, would have been better.

If you'd like to know more about everyday life in South Africa, might I suggest you try http://www.news24.com which is a South African news website. It's not always perfect but it will give you a very good overview of the sort of everyday events that are foremost in the minds of South Africans, such as government ineptitude, the murder rate, or the harrowing fact that South Africa has 65 000 rape cases per year.

By the way... I'd just like to point out the correct pronunciation of 'Apartheid', because so many people get it wrong. Ironically, it's pronounced 'Apart-hate'. Now, isn't that an easy way to remember it?

History is fluid and is always written by the victors.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Jamie D]

Lovely end of the topic.

Call me a "screwhead," but I don't think this is going anywhere good.

Thank you very much.