The images depicted in the media of the aforementioned personalities could not be more different, where as with the one the media built him up to near impossible heights of achievement and fanfare, the media went to (somewhat) extremes to degrade the other.
Of course that is how the popularity wind was blowing, Jobs was as heaven sent as Gaddafi was the devil's own.
This post is, however, not to ramble about the differences in media treatment meted out to the two; nor is it to downgrade the one and enhance the other. To give the devil its due, as far as I am concerned, the two personalities in question lived their lives according to their own rules and principles – and received their just rewards and their due place in people's emotions.
In my previous post I had listed 12 points on how Jobs and Gaddafi were similar. This post is a discourse on the unlisted 13th similarity – neither deserved to die in the manner they did.
While Steve Job's and Muammar Gaddafi's decline were inevitable in light of the developments over the past few months, Gaddafi's death could (and should) have been prevented.
That he was fleeing from Sirte amid the fall of his last vestige of support was humiliation enough for the self-professed 'brother leader.' By executing him in cold blood (and there should be little debate as to what the act should be labelled) the 'saviours' of Libya demonstrated that they were no different.
The ousting of Gaddafi was a unifying force for the renegades, now that he is dead the unity may be short lived as multiple leaders of the revolution finally find their voice and start talking about the way forward; each with an expectation that his place at the top is the natural order for the country to rise up from the past.
The western media had painted Gaddafi as a pariah again (he had enjoyed a period of respite from media bashing and enjoyed western world approval since 90s ), many news reports reminisced that Ronald Reagan had once labelled him the “mad dog of the Middle East.” But it should not be forgotten that this mad dog was one of the first regimes that came in with support for the forces against apartheid in South Africa.
It should not be dismissed that he was one of the first Arab leaders who categorically shunned the Al Qaeda for its hostile actions following the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
On the same account it cannot be dismissed that he was probably the man behind the PAN AM hijacking and subsequent bombing of the aircraft at Lockerbie, which left nearly 300 passengers and crew dead.
While he was not below calling the revolutionary fighters 'rats,' the revolutionary fighters in their passion could not rise above that denigration and prove him wrong.
His capture and subsequent beating and murder in the hands of a revolution force will make him a martyr and could potentially fuel unrest in the years to come... particularly because the mobile camera footage of his last few moments alive, aired in all the news channels and stills printed on the front page of many newspapers worldwide, showed that he was a scarred and defeated man and was at the mercy of his captors.
[You may click on the image on the right to see an image of a bloodied and defeated Gaddafi. In the interest of decorum I chose not to post the image here. But be warned, the image is not for the faint hearted.]
The Obama administration was quick grab any video footage of the Osama bin Laden assassination, lest the images show a similarly scarred and defeated man; showing that he too was to have no mercy in the hands of his captors.
In one shot it would be revealed that trained elite US forces were not above undisciplined Libyan freedom fighters when it came to heated revenge killing.
Gaddafi had a chequered past for sure but he, like Osama, should have been allowed to account for his sins.
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