December 30, 2001
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:I'm Too Sexy for My Dishdasha....
The holiday season is always an opportunity to hear some strange stuff from your family, especially if your family tends to take a New York Times kind of worldview. I heard little, however, as strange as the independent admission by my mother and sister that they "find Osama bin Laden...{guilty shrug}..kind of..sexy." The roguish, Lawrence of Arabia gone bad qualities apparently hold some strange appeal, according to my psychoanalyst Mom. I guess it is a variation on the weird charisma of those who live outside the norms of polite society.
I have to admit, I thought Catwoman was pretty sexy (TV show and movie). She definitely wasn't one of the good guys, but ooh - that suit and all that purring. It never seemed so strange that women swooned over rock stars who, but for their fame, wouldn't be able to buy them a drink. My wife, I'm happy to say, has no similar feelings provoked about Osama. She does confess that Bill Clinton's sex appeal grew during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. That I can also see, grudgingly.
But if this Osamarousal, if at all typical, has to fall under the heading of "I don't understand (certain) women." How can he have any charisma through all that pedantic talk, not to mention blatant misogyny and mass-murdering tendencies? I think it is also safe to say that the olfactory aspects of Osama's charisma, untranslated by the video medium, might not work in his favor either. Yet it is true that Charles Manson and Ted Bundy have had their female admirer-groupies, long after their crimes were known.
I remember a similar conversation with my mother and sister when they both described how sexy Dracula is in nearly all the versions of the Bram Stoker story. I found that equally odd - that a man who has been "undead" for 300 years and drinks your blood could be so attractive. Many other women have confessed that one to me.
It's enough to make one think that nice guys do finish last.
For an even more bizarre attraction, examine El Al security's reaction to Richard Reid (according to spokesman Nahman Klaiman):
"Our security people were aroused and [Reid] went through a security check, which included a personal check as well as removal of his shoes, which were checked separately," Klaiman said.OK, that's unlikely. But if this doesn't indicate an attraction, were the guards asleep? Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at December 30, 2001 10:12 PM | Technorati inbound links