A moment of petulance
One thing. We’ve all been seeing every inch of tape there is of bin Laden over and over again since Sunday evening. That one where his best pal grabs him by the hat for a hug and hangs on to the hat as if it were handles – that’s a goofy one. But that’s not the one I’m going to say about.
It’s the one where he’s holding a microphone. What’s up with that? Why does he hold it in that affected limp loose “look how special I am” way? I want to know. I’ve seen that clip about 50 times now, so I want to know.
I didn’t go outside and run around yelling “we’re number one,” so I get to ask why he held the mike in that silly way. If there’s anything I don’t like it’s affectation.
Bin Laden’s dream was to be a pop star, of course. Everything else about his life stems from that sadly thwarted ambition. He never made it beyond the lounge at the Riyadh Hilton.
I remember a columnist some years ago commenting on the effete way bin Laden presented himself on TV. I’m not generally keen on long-distance psychoanalysis, but I did find the columnist presented an interesting argument that bin Laden was using the body language of a holy man — slow, soft, deliberate motions — as that was how he saw himself (or wanted to see himself).
Confirmation if any be needed, that the Gnu Atheism is all about thwarting human flourishing. ROBOTS!
@Bruce
What?
What? Gnus can’t be FABULOUS?!?
Oh, dahling, and I thought we had a connection…
Being annointed by god has side affectations…..
@Steve: It explains the lounge singer mic grip.
Combination pop star-holy man. That makes sense of it.
Mr Charismatic, in contrast to Rachel Maddow’s Mr Not-so-charismatic.
Man – if there’s anything that makes my flesh crawl it’s people who think they’re charismatic. Ew.
Charismatic personalities are great in the entertainment industry. Anywhere else they are a liability.