5. Get Over To South Africa Sharpish, And Say How Much Nelson Mandela Has Influenced Her
Rod Liddle of The Spectator thinks that Nelson Mandela's obituary should be short and succinct: "Very old critically ill man dies." He is, of course, a complete moron belonging to a special clique of morons who believe things were better when we had Golliwogs on jam jars, you could watch The Black And White Minstrel Show on television, homosexuality didn't exist and women knew their place. For the rest of us who walk upright and have opposable thumbs Nelson Mandela represents something significant. President Obama recently took a trip to South Africa and visited Robben Island, and stood in the tiny cell occupied by Mr. Mandela when he was still Prisoner 466/64. He showed his wife and two daughters where Mr. Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars during his long campaign to end his countrys policies of racial apartheid and oppression. In the visitors book, located on a rickety wooden table in the courtyard, Mr. Obama wrote that his family was humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. Later, President Obama again invoked the legacy of Mr. Mandela, 94, who - at the time of writing - remains in critical condition at a Pretoria hospital, during a speech at the University of Cape Town. As the President Of The United States spoke all of his transgressions of ethics and decency were forgotten. Just being in the vicinity of a political icon absolved him of his crimes at home, albeit temporarily. The same tactic could work for Paula Deen. Mr. Mandela is the embodiment of the process of peaceful change. Paula should slide on over to South Africa, visit Robben Island and talk about the the sacrifices that Madiba and others made for freedom. She could reference a speech made over there there by Robert F. Kennedy in June 1966 where he said: Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. If she can't get to South Africa she should at least hang out with Idris Elba, who plays Mandela in the biopic Long Walk To Freedom which is released later this year. A little of that Hollywood sheen might restore an alluring gleam to her profile.