Only Obama's olinguito...

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The story behind this famous selfie is HERE

Last month the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was declared as "selfie". The word has become more popular with the ubiquitousness of smartphones but has in fact been around for over a decade (yes, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed). Barely a month later the site Selfies at funerals closes up shop because Obama just put the cherry on the icing on the cake. The main reasons why the picture of Obama's selfie stands out are many as a great article in the New York Post makes clear and few that pay any attention at all can doubt Obama's narcissitic tendancy: "Days before the funeral selfie, the White House tweeted out a Pearl Harbor remembrance that consisted of a photo of Obama laying a wreath. Six days before that he honored Rosa Parks by tweeting out a picture of himself sitting on the bus she desegregated. Nine days before that he honored the anniversary of JFK’s death with a tweet of himself looking at the fallen president’s White House portrait." [Link NYP]. Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press has another word for it: "Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda." [Link, NYT].



For those interested the Word of the Year shortlist (see first link above) was as follows: bedroom tax (the BBC's favourite); binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito (Ows' favourite), schmeat (WTF?), showrooming and twerk (any perv's favourite).

Only Obama's olinguito...

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The story behind this famous selfie is HERE

Last month the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was declared as "selfie". The word has become more popular with the ubiquitousness of smartphones but has in fact been around for over a decade (yes, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed). Barely a month later the site Selfies at funerals closes up shop because Obama just put the cherry on the icing on the cake. The main reasons why the picture of Obama's selfie stands out are many as a great article in the New York Post makes clear and few that pay any attention at all can doubt Obama's narcissitic tendancy: "Days before the funeral selfie, the White House tweeted out a Pearl Harbor remembrance that consisted of a photo of Obama laying a wreath. Six days before that he honored Rosa Parks by tweeting out a picture of himself sitting on the bus she desegregated. Nine days before that he honored the anniversary of JFK’s death with a tweet of himself looking at the fallen president’s White House portrait." [Link NYP]. Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press has another word for it: "Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda." [Link, NYT].

For those interested the Word of the Year shortlist (see first link above) was as follows: bedroom tax (the BBC's favourite); binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito (Ows' favourite), schmeat (WTF?), showrooming and twerk (any perv's favourite).

Olid obloquy III...

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Evil smelling disgrace...first, the caveat, "there are many wholly honest Labour MPs – and quite a number of Conservatives MPs are repulsive" [and some are crooks and liars I'd add] but, writes Peter Oborne in the DT, "It’s no coincidence the MPs found guilty of fiddling are all Labour".

"There is an overwhelming likelihood that it is indeed statistically significant that only Labour MPs have been found guilty as a result of the expenses investigation. Labour members of the House of Commons need to face up to the uncomfortable truth. The outcome of the Telegraph investigation strongly suggests they are much more likely to lie, cheat and steal than members of other parties. Now that the expenses scandal has drawn to a close, they urgently need to ask themselves why that should be."

Go on, read that again but you didn't misread it. It is perhaps the new sense of entitlement (perhaps the same one that infests the BBC, as Martin Bell said earlier this month "...no more scandals please. No more palaces. No more crazy payouts"), the new position of power and sudden access to the sweet-shop with a pocket full of change; we know power corrupts but so does wealth. The Raw Story has part of the answer, quoting Paul K. Piff's (Department of Psychology at the University of California) new study (confirming what we know) that wealth [and power and privilege, I'd add] tends to increase a person's sense of entitlement, which in turn can lead to narcissistic behaviors:

"Narcissism is a multi-faceted and complex construct, but that wealth is specifically associated with it suggests that as a person’s level of privilege rises, that person becomes increasingly self-focused – in a sense, becoming the center of their own world and worldview..."

Looking at Piff's previous work (Upper class more likely to...) we see he clearly thinks it's a class/wealth issue but I don't think it's that (dare I say that I think that's piffle?) and certainly not in Labour's case: we have a Parliament full of lying, cheating, stealing fuck-wits, the fact that statistically more of them are Labour seems logical to me, it's just the way they are. :-)

Olid obloquy III...

---

Evil smelling disgrace...first, the caveat, "there are many wholly honest Labour MPs – and quite a number of Conservatives MPs are repulsive" [and some are crooks and liars I'd add] but, writes Peter Oborne in the DT, "It’s no coincidence the MPs found guilty of fiddling are all Labour".

"There is an overwhelming likelihood that it is indeed statistically significant that only Labour MPs have been found guilty as a result of the expenses investigation. Labour members of the House of Commons need to face up to the uncomfortable truth. The outcome of the Telegraph investigation strongly suggests they are much more likely to lie, cheat and steal than members of other parties. Now that the expenses scandal has drawn to a close, they urgently need to ask themselves why that should be."

Go on, read that again but you didn't misread it. It is perhaps the new sense of entitlement (perhaps the same one that infests the BBC, as Martin Bell said earlier this month "...no more scandals please. No more palaces. No more crazy payouts"), the new position of power and sudden access to the sweet-shop with a pocket full of change; we know power corrupts but so does wealth. The Raw Story has part of the answer, quoting Paul K. Piff's (Department of Psychology at the University of California) new study (confirming what we know) that wealth [and power and privilege, I'd add] tends to increase a person's sense of entitlement, which in turn can lead to narcissistic behaviors:

"Narcissism is a multi-faceted and complex construct, but that wealth is specifically associated with it suggests that as a person’s level of privilege rises, that person becomes increasingly self-focused – in a sense, becoming the center of their own world and worldview..."

Looking at Piff's previous work (Upper class more likely to...) we see he clearly thinks it's a class/wealth issue but I don't think it's that (dare I say that I think that's piffle?) and certainly not in Labour's case: we have a Parliament full of lying, cheating, stealing fuck-wits, the fact that statistically more of them are Labour seems logical to me, it's just the way they are. :-)