Breivik: Pay Attention

Believe it or not, there is actually a subtlety built into this photo of Breivik doing his fascistic, “in-your-face,” “don’t-you-realize-I-massacred-all-those-people-exactly-so-I-could-get-this-kind-of-attention” pose which, indeed, is sensational and has been broadcast everywhere and seen by God-knows-how-many-people in the past 24 hours.

In this case, what I consider almost as notable is the contrast between Breivik, enhanced by the evil chic of the gold tie and jet-black belted suit, and the others in the photo at the heights of mundanity.

While we’re being exploited by an international media as hungry for sensational fodder, and the clicks that come with it, as we are by Breivik, I have to say I’m just a little bit jealous of the inattention paid by those in the photo who see his psychosis on a daily basis.

(photo: SCANPIX/Reuters caption: By turns defiant, impassive and, just once, tearful, Anders Behring Breivik, the self-described anti-Islamic militant who admitted to killing 77 people in Norway last year, including scores of young people at a summer camp on a tranquil, wooded island, went on trial in Oslo.)