Selfie's at a funeral

tsingtao

SLAYER69
reply to post by luciddream

 

Yup, anything can be taken out of context....

i love danish pastry, too.

Hey - you guys have to realize that Obama is kind of a feminine guy, for starters. And look at his wife, she wears the pants in the family. I'm not trying to joke or generalize about it.

So when Obama is out there talking to or kissing women politely on the cheek or whatever, he probably isn't attracted to them - in fact, I bet he gets along better with females than males as friends.

I'm sure he likes Michelle. And she seems like a pretty serious woman. On a side note, that's the disadvantage to being a feminine guy married to a masculine woman. There is a lot less of a support system for that.

The positive angle is that you can do a lot more to help society if your gender role is not the same as your sex or whatnot.

reply to post by darkbake


Nah, Obama likes white chics. Michelle hates it. Her expressions speak volumes.

reply to post by darkbake


A woman being upset about the ridiculousness of her husband flirting openly right next to her, completely ignoring her as well as what was going on in the front has not one thing to do with wearing the pants in the family.

I do not wear the pants in mine, and I would be shooting daggers out of my eyes too if my husband acted like that! Funny thing though, mine wont... he has more respect than that.

reply to post by myartisstrong


This thread is hilarious!

I do however, have some points to make about the joviality of the President of the United States of America, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and Danish PM Helle Thorning Schmidt.

Nelson Mandela's death came after a long, full life, and after a long battle against various manifestations of ill health. He is credited by his people, as having been the tool by which the grip of segregation was released from about the necks of the population, leading to a significantly improved (although less than perfect) future for his nation. His own countrymen, people who revere this man in such a way as to provide him near legendary status, people whose adoration was in evidence in the streets, and outside his home, places where he lived, and in every town and city all over South Africa, were celebrating his life like this:

www.youtube.com...

Link would not embed... bastards...

And like this:

www.youtube.com...

You will note, a total lack of sombre faces in amongst the gyrating population of South Africa, both at the memorial, and at the many spontaneous street level celebrations of Mandela's life. The only people who failed to express a cheery disposition, were those nearest to him, who lost not just the father of a nation, but the head of a family, a personal friend, people who had, for reasons of solidarity, placed their own grief on hold for the duration, people who basically were holding themselves together until they could get some privacy to mourn.

But everyone else in the country was celebrating the life of Mandela, having what we in the UK would (stereotypically speaking) call a right old knees up! South African culture places different emphasis on the method of marking the passing of loved ones and great figures. Celebration of life is considered more worthy than the mourning of death, remembering the deceased as they were in life more important than despairingly considering their imminent decay.

And of all the world leaders at the event, (God help me for saying this about a Tory PM, or for that matter ANY US president) the only two who actually seemed to get into the spirit of things as intended, were Cameron, and Obama. Every other suit in the place was basically a part of Operation Buzzkill, because that is what was supposedly expected of them, but Cameron and Obama threw all that crap on the bonfire, and proceeded to actually allow the moment to wash over them. In the case of Cameron, that is precisely the ONLY time, I have been even a little bit happy with his performance as a representative of the United Kingdom.

Now, what passed, or did not pass between (apologies everyone for my initially false statement) the Danish PM Helle Thorning Schmidt , Mr Obama, and indeed his lovely wife Michelle, is beyond my knowledge. If something inappropriate was said by either party during the incident which lead to the seat change, then obviously, that is of course terrible, because world leaders should know better than to try and score with each other, and their counterparts ought to know better than to flirt back, and both parties concerned ought to know better than to do either thing at a memorial service, no matter how jovial. However, in terms of the way that both Mr Obama, and Mr Cameron dealt with the atmosphere, I cannot fault them. It would be the height of rudeness to ruin such a massive party, by being the sort of stoic, slab headed depressives that the rest of the VIPs seemed to want to represent.

In short, in terms of their getting involved with the moment, Mr Obama and Mr Cameron seemed to be the only bigwigs in the crowd, who were behaving in keeping with the cultural traditions and practices of the nation in which they found themselves. They were, therefore the only leaders paying proper respect to the passing of the man himself.

reply to post by TrueBrit


I admit I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been posted but a similar sentinment is echoed here by the photographer who took the pictures.

www.zerohedge.com...

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.

reply to post by alldaylong


Whoa! As an American, I can tell you that we know how to behave! Most of us anyway. Seems Obama has no manners, no respect for anything or anyone. Michelle should have slapped him for his behavior. Small children behave better than ole Barry did! He is an embarrassment to this country!! I have absolutely NO use for this 'man' ... man? hahaha!

reply to post by myartisstrong


Really and everyone just knows who's phone it is? Or is this just another case of making an a$$ of you and me. (Assumption)
There are three people in the photo so it doesn't even count as a sulphur. Streeeeeeeeetch.
Boing. That's your imagination snapping back in place.

You've never been to a funeral have you?
People don't sit around crying. They socialize and oh yeah they laugh. Why are you so harsh on perfectly normal behavior ? Making a mountain out of another mole hill.

I'm going to chime in on this one....
It's not about the 'selfie', it's not about what is acceptable behaviour in a funeral as much either.....it's his sooooo obvious flirting with the Swede......it's not the first time he has belittled Michelle in this way.
Rainbows
Jane

Quick question. Who captured these photos in such a timely way to tell a story so clearly? Gotta say, it seems deliberate. Reminds me of the photo of Obama smiling with Emily Parker on his lap at Sandy Hook. Oops, sorry. Emily Parker was dead. Oh, well.

WHY would Obama be smiling and making a fool of himself and his wife? Perhaps because this entire event is a hoax. Mandela at 95 was on death watch months ago. Then we heard nothing and suddenly he's dead. Odd too that the signer for Mandela's kid was a fake and was signing NONSENSE. It's because it's all nonsense. It's a hoax.

Even Obama haters would have to admit this guy is not an idiot. So why get caught doing something stupid? Or was it intentional?????

Seriously guys??

Look, I'm no Obama-lover by ANY means, but a modern professional camera can snap off about 6 pictures a second or better, and the paparazzi types I'm sure would sit there waiting for Obama do make the slightest move or gesture and clickity-clickity-clickity.

She might've said "wow, I must be pretty boring to be considered safe enough to sit next to the president of USA" and he laughed politely and same something joking back and that't it.

Non-story.

I think it's really indicative of how stupid and feeble minded we Americans have become that we're always slamming the president (take your pick of which one) for silly shi++ and acting like HE singularly is the end-all/be-all of the USA.

C'mon, let's grow up a bit. Personally he ranks very low on my list of presidents, but we're sounding dangerously close to the court scene from "Idiocracy"

I totally thought "selfie" meant something different and ..well, a tad "dirtier."

I am disappointed.

I would like to see the pic when Michelle told Barack to change seats. That would be priceless.

Wrabbit2000
I'm not sure Michelle is necessarily upset most about the woman. Mandela meant different things to different people and Michelle is far more serious ..taking her by public comments..about her racial identity in her life, than Barack is.

This event could well have had deep personal meaning to her....and here he is, cutting up like they're at a horse race or something. You can see the guy behind them with the 'selfie' trying to hide. How shameful.

I see real rage in her.

I'm sure she was angry, but also because she knew her husband's behavior would be scrutinized, and rightfully so. Their behavior was disrespectful, but what else can you expect from a man who thinks he's a rock star?

AutumnWitch657
You've never been to a funeral have you?
People don't sit around crying. They socialize and oh yeah they laugh. Why are you so harsh on perfectly normal behavior ? Making a mountain out of another mole hill.

I've been to many funerals over the span of my life, some of them culturally different than ones I am used to, and I cannot say that I have ever once witnessed a person cutting up and taking pictures of themselves and others during a service. I have however seen smiles and laughter AFTER a funeral, say at a dinner, or a relaxed gathering outside of a service, which I do believe would constitute as normal and respectful.

khimbar
reply to post by TrueBrit

 

I admit I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been posted but a similar sentinment is echoed here by the photographer who took the pictures.

www.zerohedge.com...

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.

If the scene were that of laughter and dancing in that moment, then why is Michelle sitting there with a serious look on her face, including all of the other people in that photo? I don't see anyone else there laughing and dancing. Just saying.

reply to post by NellahB

Whoa! As an American, I can tell you that we know how to behave!

I LOL'd.

Anyways...

As an American you are not aware of how a African Memorial works. Africa is that country that is south of the place 9/11 planes claimed to come from.

Obama no man...We want a "man" like Bush leading Murica!

'What Does Michelle Say...."
www.youtube.com...

reply to post by coldkidc


Probably on the charlie, Cameron is known to used it, some say he still does ....in parliament.

Aisling


If the scene were that of laughter and dancing in that moment, then why is Michelle sitting there with a serious look on her face, including all of the other people in that photo? I don't see anyone else there laughing and dancing. Just saying.

Well I'm just guessing, but it might be because you're only looking at pictures of a handful of people which show approximately 1/250th of a second of a four hour plus memorial celebration (not funeral by the way OP) attended by tens of thousands. Just a guess mind.