realthog: (real copies!)
realthog ([personal profile] realthog) wrote2008-07-21 07:58 pm

a question of visuals



The good news for the day is that the vile Radovan Karadzic has finally been captured (and, to their enormous credit, by the Serbian authorities themselves rather than by any external/international organization).

While reading the Beeb's report on this and letting out the occasional cheer, I was struck afresh by how normal Karadzic seems -- at least in photographs. I could see him slotting happily into my circle of friends, if only at the nice-chap-I-met-down-the-pub level:

Photobucket 

In short, he looks like the kind of guy you might imagine bumping into and having an interesting conversation with -- perhaps even a professionally unsound but highly enjoyable game of pool. Hell, on the face of it, I'd buy him a pint any time. He most certainly doesn't look like the kind of person who'd order, or at the very least condone, some of the worst acts of mass murder Europe has seen in the decades since the end of WWII.

Hm. He appears like the kind of fellow you'd be happy to share a beer with.

American voters might want to think about this one.
 

[identity profile] bobhowe.livejournal.com 2008-07-22 10:37 am (UTC)(link)
Funny, I thought the same thing (and have every time I see a picture of Karadzic). Ratko Mladic, on the other hand, does look as though he's assembled from hagfish parts.

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2008-07-22 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)

The alarming thing is that, if you follow the link hutch0 gives in the comment immediately after yours, you find out how Karadzic looked in his hippy disguise. I know for an absolute cast-iron dubious factoid that I've seen this guy in the dealer room at UK sf conventions . . . Next time I do so I'll have to challenge him!

[identity profile] bobhowe.livejournal.com 2008-07-23 11:15 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I saw that picture. He wouldn't look out of place cadging quarters in a tie-dyed tee shirt outside the Albertsons in Eugene.