Nelson Mandela RIP

[jean]

I am not quite sure what is meant by gushing here. Could someone give an example?

[MrGongGong]

A great example of how collaboration and reconciliation are more powerful tools than the egoism and competitiveness that seem to afflict so many politicians

[BBMmk2]

A very sad day for South African and it's citizens and the world.

[ahinton]

I am not quite sure what is meant by gushing here. Could someone give an example?

I'm by no means sure myself; I'm assuming that unde hyperbole is what's meant but you'd perhaps best ask whoever it was that first mentioned it here.

[MrGongGong]

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2013/12/classical-masterwork-that-was-saved-by.html

Worth a read IMV

[jean]

I'm by no means sure myself; I'm assuming that unde hyperbole is what's meant but you'd perhaps best ask whoever it was that first mentioned it here.

Well, vinteuil mentioned it first:

I do not like all the gushing...

But you agreed:

I don't care for the "gushing" either...

So I don't mind who answers - I just want to know what you mean.

[eighthobstruction]

I took 'gushing'....to mean coming out in large amounts....taking over airwaves....I also took it to mean - in high volumes....feeding lines and tone to interviewees by the the interviewers, whereby the interviewee has no option but to follow the tone of the interviewer....To be fair the seasoned and mature old guard of the ANC have more than seen off the BBC and answered in measured and authorative manners....

[french frank]

I am not quite sure what is meant by gushing here. Could someone give an example?

I thought cloughie's reply in Msg #42 was referring to it. That when the BBC gets hold of big news story it takes over. In terms of news, the fact that someone has died doesn't require a lot more to be said other than 'gush': further coverage looking at his life and achievements would more appropriately be broadcast during the following week (and perhaps will).

[eighthobstruction]

you can bet BBC journalists and producers will have been all over SA this year....readying programmes....

[jean]

I thought cloughie's reply in Msg #42...when the BBC gets hold of big news story it takes over...

Gushing to me implies something about the attitude of the coverage, not just the quantity of it; what the OED calls Extravagant display of feeling or sentiment.

There may have been too much - but what there has been has been quite measured, I thought.

[MrGongGong]

you can bet BBC journalists and producers will have been all over SA this year....readying programmes....

Well of course they would, after all that is their job
Compared to the Jubilympics its very restrained IMV

You can bet there are BBC journalists looking at the floods at Snape as well
because that's what NEWS is about
things that are happening or have just happened

as you were

[Barbirollians]

May I venture a note of dissent to the growing hagiography: he was I think sadly misguided. Government by the wise and fair is a goal infinitely more desirable than government by the populace at large or hoi polloi.

Who summoned Henry VIII from the dead ?

[Barbirollians]

I find superlatives of this kind most unhelpful, but of course many get caught up in the maelstrom of emotion that follows the death of a high profile campaigner for social justice. Of course such hyperbole ("greatest man of my lifetime") are nourished by the mainstream media so as to become unquestionable perceived wisdom. Let us please not forget that there have been many unswervingly principled individuals of the last century who, having found themselves and their people living under an oppressive regime committed themselves to campaign tirelessly for social justice, and (at great risk to themselves and their family) advocate civil disobedience, and were subsequently incarcerated for their unshakable convictions. And here's the important bit ... for many such people the dice fell very differently than they did for Mandela, they perished in labour camps, or were simply executed or never heard from again. There was no happy ending. Can we really say that these individuals, whose causes and plights didn't benefit from the media spotlight, were any less courageous, self-sacrificing or principled than Mandela?

Nelson Mandela a great man? Undoubtedly. But the "greatest man of our lifetime" ... a bit of a slight to all the forgotten Mandelas elsewhere.

This is a particularly inappropriate posting . The greatest man of MY lifetime - not necessarily yours or anyone else's .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Boilk's Middlemarchian final sentence is fair enough - and with all respect to Tutu, Biko, Donald Woods and all the unsung millions who shared Mandela's cause, and without wishing to gush - so I will alter my agreement with Barbirollians to read "the greatest public figure of my lifetime"; the one who personified the causes and plights of those others with the greatest dignity and respect for what they suffered and strived to achieve.

[eighthobstruction]

Well of course they would, after all that is their job
Compared to the Jubilympics its very restrained IMV

You can bet there are BBC journalists looking at the floods at Snape as well
because that's what NEWS is about
things that are happening or have just happened

as you were

.....Yes GG....what a joy you are....