The Truth About The "Selfie"

[Lefty615]

With the Right Wing Media up in arms over their latest delusional "scandal" over a photograph taken by the Danish Prime Minister of herself posing with President Obama and British Prime Minister Cameron, the man who took the photo of the three leaders has posted a blog to set the record straight.

The story behind "that selfie"
By Roberto Schmidt

So here’s the photo, my photo, which quickly lit up the world’s social networks and news websites. The “selfie” of three world leaders who, during South Africa’s farewell to Nelson Mandela, were messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas one might expect.

. . .

Obama took his place amid these leaders who’d gathered from all corners of the globe. Among them was British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as a woman who I wasn’t able to immediately identify. I later learned it was the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt. I’m a German-Colombian based in India, so I don’t feel too bad I didn’t recognize her! At the time, I thought it must have been one of Obama’s many staffers.

Anyway, suddenly this woman pulled out her mobile phone and took a photo of herself smiling with Cameron and the US president. I captured the scene reflexively. All around me in the stadium, South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honour their departed leader. It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid. The ceremony had already gone on for two hours and would last another two. The atmosphere was totally relaxed – I didn’t see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the US or not. We are in Africa.

I later read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved on seeing the Danish prime minister take the picture. But photos can lie. In reality, just a few seconds earlier the first lady was herself joking with those around her, Cameron and Schmidt included. Her stern look was captured by chance.

I took these photos totally spontaneously, without thinking about what impact they might have. At the time, I thought the world leaders were simply acting like human beings, like me and you. I doubt anyone could have remained totally stony faced for the duration of the ceremony, while tens of thousands of people were celebrating in the stadium. For me, the behaviour of these leaders in snapping a selfie seems perfectly natural. I see nothing to complain about, and probably would have done the same in their place. The AFP team worked hard to display the reaction that South African people had for the passing of someone they consider as a father. We moved about 500 pictures, trying to portray their true feelings, and this seemingly trivial image seems to have eclipsed much of this collective work.

(emphasis mine)

http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/Selfie

[NYC_SKP]

1. Oh, the comments. Either Michelle is an Angry Black Woman, or Barack an Uncaring Twit.

Well if he's an uncaring twit then so are the Prime Ministers of Denmark and Great Britain.

It would be funny if it was so tragically ignorant.

[Lefty615]

2. Coherence?

The President is not uncaring.
The President is not a twit.
The First Lady is not angry.
The First Lady IS black.
The First Lady IS a woman.

Any questions?

[uppityperson]

3. I've a question. How did you miss the fact that NYSkip was agreeing with you?

Sarcasm and all that.