Saturday, May 07, 2011
5 wives, no balls
These little domestic clips of Osama's inner sanctum have convinced me that he lived in Abbottabad for a while.
I'm still not convinced that he was killed there; the stories are too scattered and the evidence points more to an obfuscated failure than to a proud success. In other words, no picture = no body.
What catches my attention in these clips: You'd think a rich man and tribal chieftain would be able to get more work from his 5 wives. Looks like the hippie pads I inhabited in the early '70s. Completely disorganized, nothing ever picked up. I couldn't get any work from my wife either, but I'm a small poor nerd, not a tall rich chieftain with many scalps on his belt.
His Arab followers will see this and lower their estimation of his powers. That's undoubtedly the purpose of revealing these particular clips. And it's a good purpose! This is the best type of propaganda: visual and candid, no obvious manipulation or voice-over.
American media are focusing exclusively on an aspect that doesn't seem salient or newsworthy to me. They're mocking Osama because he appears to be examining his own speeches and productions. I don't know why this is supposed to be bad. Any writer, teacher, preacher or communicator likes to check out his productions. It's a chance to revise them before release, or to fix problems the next time around. Just a normal occupational habit. Maybe it looks weird to American journalists because they never fact-check or proofread their own work.
= = = = =
Later: After watching this a couple times, I caught something highly suspicious. The old guy on the floor who looks somewhat like Osama is flipping through channels with a remote control, and all the channels show images of Osama. How did that happen? Does Pakistan have a set of cable channels devoted solely to 24/7 Osama speeches? No. Well then, did the camera operator in the room know in advance that a unique moment was about to happen when all the channels were showing an Osama speech?
Only one possibility. The TV is playing a pre-edited tape of Osama speeches, and the remote control clicking is fake.
Why would Osama and his allegedly vast technical staff want to create this scene? Easier to assume that CIA with its actually vast tech staff created the scene. ¶ 12:40 PM
I'm still not convinced that he was killed there; the stories are too scattered and the evidence points more to an obfuscated failure than to a proud success. In other words, no picture = no body.
What catches my attention in these clips: You'd think a rich man and tribal chieftain would be able to get more work from his 5 wives. Looks like the hippie pads I inhabited in the early '70s. Completely disorganized, nothing ever picked up. I couldn't get any work from my wife either, but I'm a small poor nerd, not a tall rich chieftain with many scalps on his belt.
His Arab followers will see this and lower their estimation of his powers. That's undoubtedly the purpose of revealing these particular clips. And it's a good purpose! This is the best type of propaganda: visual and candid, no obvious manipulation or voice-over.
American media are focusing exclusively on an aspect that doesn't seem salient or newsworthy to me. They're mocking Osama because he appears to be examining his own speeches and productions. I don't know why this is supposed to be bad. Any writer, teacher, preacher or communicator likes to check out his productions. It's a chance to revise them before release, or to fix problems the next time around. Just a normal occupational habit. Maybe it looks weird to American journalists because they never fact-check or proofread their own work.
= = = = =
Later: After watching this a couple times, I caught something highly suspicious. The old guy on the floor who looks somewhat like Osama is flipping through channels with a remote control, and all the channels show images of Osama. How did that happen? Does Pakistan have a set of cable channels devoted solely to 24/7 Osama speeches? No. Well then, did the camera operator in the room know in advance that a unique moment was about to happen when all the channels were showing an Osama speech?
Only one possibility. The TV is playing a pre-edited tape of Osama speeches, and the remote control clicking is fake.
Why would Osama and his allegedly vast technical staff want to create this scene? Easier to assume that CIA with its actually vast tech staff created the scene. ¶ 12:40 PM
