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In reply to the discussion: Never mind that handshake....but Obama is in big trouble... [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)People were crying, people were laughing, people were remembering fondly, there were anecdotes told, people were getting choked up and reflective, they were even ... eating! They were singing constantly, in fact, there was a call to "tone it down" so the speakers could be heard at the start of the formal activities.
I think a big huge mistake is made when people overlay their OWN cultural imperatives over an activity -- like memorializing a death -- that can vary across the world. Many Americans adopt the stoic model where they stick the body in a box and everyone frowns. The music is mostly subdued with a little celebration, and no one speaks ill of the dead. Then everyone gathers around the hole in the ground and looks, well...grave.
That's not how it's done in other parts of the world. In South Africa, it looks like you're allowed to "own your own feelings." Personally, I think that's probably healthier. Let Michelle own her own feelings.
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And then--there's THIS....and it's from the Torygraph, too, which might have an ax to grind:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10510877/Michelle-Obama-was-not-unhappy-during-Nelson-Mandela-selfie-photographer-insists.html
Michelle Obama was not unhappy during Nelson Mandela 'selfie', photographer insists
AFP photographer who took picture of Barack Obama, David Cameron and Denmark's Helle Thorning-Schmidt, insists Michelle Obama had been smiling only moments before
.... it was a misleading image capturing a natural and relaxed atmosphere, according to Roberto Schmidt, the AFP photographer responsible for the snap.
"Anyway, suddenly this woman pulled out her mobile phone and took a photo of herself smiling with Cameron and the US president," he wrote in a blog for AFP. "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 didnt see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the US or not. We are in Africa.
"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." ...
Now, those are the words of the guy who took the pictures. I think perhaps we might want to take his word ahead of any social media sites trying to shit-stir, don't you?