A week after some in the media hoped it had another Breivik responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing, then decided the culprits' backgrounds were irrelevant (see Steyn), I discovered Eddie Izzard has been running marathons for a terrorist.
Izzard says, "He’s one of the greatest people who’s lived because he’s not a saint."
Ok-ay. A rare admission that Mandela was a terrorist? Otherwise what's the point of saying it? Most of us aren't saints. Does that make us all great? (With Izzard's "belief in human beings", perhaps that is so.)
"I would say Nelson Mandela isn’t special, but what he’s made himself do is special. He spent all that time in prison - to come out that calm, with that generosity of spirit...this guy needs to be celebrated."
Now I'm confused - he came out of prison and wasn't annoyed. Should he have been annoyed? Wasn't he a terrorist after all? Why does he get to be celebrated again?
Now, let's be clear, Izzard may be being cut short by the editor's knife, and he may have explained himself much better in the original interview. Let's hope so, anyway.
At least, after having to cut his 27 marathons in 27 days for Mandela's 27 years of imprisonment short due to ill health, Izzard still feels he witnessed enough in South Africa to comment on improvements in that troubled country.
"It’s definitely in a better place...There’s still a good deal of separation, but the black community are the people in political power."
Now, that "but" in the clause seems to be Izzard suggesting the black community being the ones in political power is a Good ThingTM. Is he really suggesting there's a right and wrong colour for the people in the political class of a country? I wonder if he popped champagne when the position of leader of the most
powerful nation was filled by a black man, or if he's reserving that for
a Native American to get the job.
"The fact that there was a black South African doctor giving me good
advice in a hospital that was quite far out in the Eastern Cape, very
much in the countryside... that just wouldn’t have happened before."
Sounds like South Africa is finally catching up to the NHS.
Of course, if black people have political power in South Africa, they lose their "free from racism" card. Normally only white people can be racist, you see, because you have to have both prejudice and power. I guess the whites in SA can no longer be racist. That's a nice turnaround for that country. Well done Mandela. Now I see why Izzard thinks you should be celebrated.
