“Facts” about Gaddafi

In my estimation death brings out the best and then the worst in a lot of people. I have been commenting on the two high-profile deaths last month October – that of Steve Jobs and then Muammar Gaddafi.

The media was filled by reports, anecdotes and factoids that were flamboyant in its praise for Jobs as it was in its disdain for Gaddafi.

Then a few days go by and the frenzy dissipates into a trickle, suddenly the reports, anecdotes and factoids in the media are no longer as rosy or rabid as they once were.

Jobs is being portrayed more and more as a dictator and a hard man to get along with; someone who bullied his way to getting what he wanted, and in the way he wanted it.

Suddenly there are reports on Gaddafi's benevolence.

Gaddafi needn't have been allowed to die a martyr

Last week I had a rather tongue and cheek go at the media frenzy about the passing of two distinct personalities who died within two short weeks of each other. It seemed that both the passing of Steve Jobs and Muammar Gaddafi spun off countless stories and anecdotes in the media and the social platforms.

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.

Jobs & Gaddafi, more in common than apples

The Arab Spring has claimed its first head. Now while other ill-fated heads of government opposed popular uprising to their own downfall, few opposed it with the viciousness and acrimony of Col. Muammar Gaddafi – swearing against the “rats and dogs” and defiant till the last bullet finally entered his skull.

Here was probably the last great megalomania – so eccentric to the core that he was downright weird. Media reports on Gaddafi are pouring through the internet with each news agency trying to outdo the other with salient details of the man that was.

While the frequency of the reports are beginning to rival that of Steve Jobs' passing, not surprisingly the reports are in direct contrast to the eulogies that the founder of Apple received. While Steve could do little wrong in the wake of his passing, Muammar it seems can do little right in the same circumstances.