MetaChat - Is anyone else weirded out by this?

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01 July 2005

Is anyone else weirded out by this? Doesn't the suddent uproar that the new Iranian president may have been a kidnapper seem very odd/frightening?

post by: drezdn at: 13:14 | 23 comments

They do look similar but I don't think it's the same guy. The bones above the eyebrows are different and the lips of the kidnapper are full while the prez' lips are thin.

posted by hojoki 01 July | 13:24

From the "Bush wants to attack Iran" perspective, my concern is that they'll use this as one of the reasons.

posted by drezdn 01 July | 13:27

By that logic, George W. Bush looks like someone who used to attack and kill our protohuman ancestors.

posted by Hugh Janus 01 July | 13:29

From the "Bush wants to attack Iran" perspective, my concern is that they'll use this as one of the reasons.

I dunno, that'd be weak even by Bush's standards but it could be part of a whispering campaign to paint the Iranians as a bunch of American hating religious fundamentalists.

posted by dodgygeezer 01 July | 13:35

It's hard to tell, but I do think they're the same person. The set of the mouth, the head shape, and shape of the eyebrows, allowing for some natural drooping and thinning due to age, is too similar.

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by iconomy 01 July | 13:41

Now hang on, my understanding is that - in the image above - the kidnapper is the picture bottom right, while the other three are confirmed pictures of Mahmoud. Correct?

posted by dodgygeezer 01 July | 13:48

The kidnapper looks meaner.

posted by dabitch 01 July | 13:53

Well, he may be a son-of-a-bitch, but at least he's *our* son ... Oh wait, he's not.

posted by carter 01 July | 13:57

Also I think there's more of a monobrow going on bottom right. Although maybe the prez is plucking, in order to fool the CIA.

posted by carter 01 July | 13:59

Dodgy, you are correct, sir. I saved the image from another site where someone was doing comparisons. It's kind of a confusing image, and my comment didn't make it any less confusing... ;)

I think the guy in the lower right really looks so similar, yet there's something... The kidnapper is frowing, and there's sun shadowing his face, which makes it hard to compare him.

posted by iconomy 01 July | 14:03

Yeah. They sure do look similar, but the shadows are so prominent in the kidnapper photo, it's hard to tell. Also, I think if he was trying to fool the CIA, he'd do a little more than eyebrow plucking. But then again, we're talking about the CIA...

posted by Specklet 01 July | 14:07

the young president's facial hair is rather sparse, while the kidnapper sports a nice thick forest.

posted by mr.marx 01 July | 14:10

Maybe he's just trying to mess with their minds ...

posted by carter 01 July | 14:12

Hmmm..the cheeckbones on the kidnapper are sharp and the space between his squinting eyebrows is so small that it's hard to believe that the young prez could squint his brows so close together. Also the brows droop at the ends on the prez but go straight across on the kidnapper.

posted by hojoki 01 July | 14:15

He reminds me of Hairy Harry, or was it Wooly Willy, maybe? Anyone remember those toys where you have a little polarized wand and you drag little magnet shards over a drawing of a man, and you make moustaches and beards and funny eyebrows with it?

posted by iconomy 01 July | 14:16

God yah! I loved those things!

posted by dabitch 01 July | 14:27

Weren't they awesome?? Here's a bunch of pics of Wooly Willy.

posted by iconomy 01 July | 14:30

Hey I had one of those! Man, it really didn't take much to entertain us back then, did it? Give us an Etch-a-Sketch, some Silly Puddy and a few Matchbox cars and we were good to go.

posted by hojoki 01 July | 14:45

One mans terrorist is anothers freedom fighter

posted by vasco 01 July | 15:13

It's hard to tell with the difference in lighting, but they do look similar. I can't access the story- how do thier ages match up? And I agree with drezdn. Not that the speculation would be a basis for anything, but this probably adds to the anti-Iran propaganda machine. I expect to see a lot of 'little' stories and innuendo over the coming months. (For that matter, anyone notice all the anti-Chavez & Venezuala stories since the election? I wonder if our next misadventure is going to be closer to home.)

posted by maryh 01 July | 15:51

Nah, I don't buy it. If you had an entire line up of photos of young Iranian men from 1979 you'd probably find that many of them bear as much resemblance to the kidnapper. The facial hair covers a lot of the face, the similar hair cuts make their face shapes appear similar. For what it's worth they don't look like the same guy to me, the kidnapper has sharper features and the jaw line (from the little we can make out here) seems narrower. I'd want a heck of a lot more evidence than this.

Now if I could only get hold of a magnet to remove the beards I could conclusively prove they're different men!

posted by dodgygeezer 01 July | 16:09

Start with a fuzzy picture, use the MSM to paint a picture of doubt and suspicion in the masses heads, ramping up anti-Middle Easterner fervor, publish bits of information in the WSJ and FT about how Iranians are hurting American profits, and you have yourself an approval-point-winning war.

posted by AlexReynolds 01 July | 17:07

Give us an Etch-a-Sketch, some Silly Puddy and a few Matchbox cars and we were good to go.

Throw in a few Gumbys, a couple of plastic dinosaurs, and some Play-Doh and you've just described my childhood.

Good times. Good times.

Whether or not the new Iranian President was associated with the hostage-takers, I've no doubt he'll be portrayed as such. It's convenient background noise for an attack on Iran, something I expect this year or next. God knows, I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

posted by Tacky O. Assis 02 July | 01:53

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